“Is this the place, Serena?” Thomas asked, dropping her outside a coffee shop near her parents’ house. Josh and her had been meeting here for years, it being close enough not to trigger her mother’s separation anxiety too much. It almost felt like coming home as she took in the familiar sight. It was probably the closest thing to coming home she was going to have for a long time.

“Yeah. This is it. Thanks, Thomas. For everything. You’re a truly nice person. Take good care of him, okay?”

Thomas gruffly agreed. If he was surprised at her request, he didn't show any sign of it. She hopped out of the car and gave him a tiny wave as he pulled the car back into traffic.

Josh was already there, waiting at their favorite rickety table outside. One of the few freedoms she'd always enjoyed was meeting Josh for coffee and the familiarity of it all caught her off guard. Josh was blowing into his cup, hands laced around it and staring at his coffee like it held the secrets to the universe.

He stood as he spotted her, pulling her into a hug.

“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice. I’m really sorry I’ve been so quiet. I should’ve let you know what was happening with me, but it was… difficult.”

“Anything for you, Ser. You know that. Always. Don’t ever doubt that. I’m glad you called. What’s going on?” Josh pushed her usual order toward her and waited for her to talk.

She looked into his familiar face and she was overcome with verbal diarrhea. The coffee, the place, Josh - it all took her back to a time when she used to tell him everything, and that’s exactly what she did.

Well, she told him everything but the part about it being fake- and the sexually explicit parts, she knew how he felt about that.

“I’m sorry to be doing this to you again, Josh. I just feel so stupid and used and fucking naïve!”

“Ser, no one would have passed up on the chance he gave you as an assistant to Misery. I don’t think even I would have passed up the chance to work with Misery! You got to know them, see the inside workings of the band a little. People would kill for that chance. Hell, people would kill for you to write a tell-all novel, but you won’t, will you?”

“No,” she sniffed. “I love him, Josh. Fucking sad, but just as true. I love him, everything about him, everything that he is, was and will be. Not only the parts of himself the world knows and think they love, I love the real him. All of him.”

He inhaled a sharp breath. “Between assholes like Bryan and Rhys, how do you even know what’s real?” he questioned.

Without waiting for an answer, he slid over to her and lifted her chin so that her teary eyes were looking straight into his clear ones, set with determination. “I’m real. I’m real, Ser. Always have been.” Without warning, he brought his lips possessively to hers, his hands in her hair, holding her to him.

She was so completely shocked that she stilled. Not kissing him back, not moving, she'd just let him move until he was done, until he realized that this was a mistake.

Suddenly, Josh’s warmth was off her, his breath huffing from him as he was flung against the wall. Out of nowhere Rhys has appeared. Fuck! Thomas must have told him where he had dropped her. Rhys? Why was he here? Why did he even care where she was?

Rhys’s fist slammed into Josh again.

“No!” Her voice sounded far more commanding than she felt. “Stop, Rhys.”

“So this is where you disappeared to? To a secret meeting with your friend? What, you’d rather be with this fucker than with me, Serena?” Rhys demanded, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Have you two been together this whole time, taking my money and laughing behind my back? Should have waited until we started recording, Serena. You would have had hours before I would have noticed you weren’t there, but you couldn’t even wait through a band meeting? These last few days must have been hell for you, no wonder you wanted me to drop you off on the way to the beach…” He had the audacity to look hurt, really hurt.

She kept quiet at first, then gathered her wits and started seething quietly. “First, that fucker - as you so eloquently put it - is one of my oldest friends and you’ve hurt him, and me. Second, how dare you accuse me of that? You know very well what my feelings are about fidelity in relationships, Rhys. Not that that’s what you and I had, obviously. But if I was with Josh, I wouldn’t have been with you. Not for all the goddamn money in fucking world. Last, these last few days at the beach were the complete opposite of hell for me - best days of my life, even - can’t imagine they’ve been the same for you though. So if it’s all the same to you Rhys, I think it’s best if you just leave.” Her throat burned as she said the words, tears streaming down her face again, but there was no escaping what she was to him…

She had no idea why he had come after her, maybe it was because she shattered his public image, maybe it was because she ended his little game and not him, she didn't know. But she couldn't care, it wasn't because he loved her, that was the only thing she knew for sure, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Rhys looked at her, hurt and disgust and rage clear in his piercing eyes. “Maybe you were never anything but a fucking fake after all… Don’t fucking call me. Ever. I’m not changing my number again just for this, okay? So do me one fucking favor and lose it!” He didn't look back as he strode toward the car and Thomas sped away.