Gabe didn't cry. Not ever.

I don't think I knew how far he had fallen until he started crying right there.

Beau, with his finely tuned senses, was the first to grab him, yanking his arm so that he was out of the room, tugging him into the hallway and motioning for Finn to shut the door. It was a measure of how fucked up the situation was that Finn just listened to him instead of arguing or trying to fight Bennett.

"I quit," Gabe said again. It seemed like the only set of words he was able to say and every time he said them it was like a knife to the heart.

"Get him upstairs," Beau instructed. I nodded and looped my arm under Gabe, nodding to Finn as he grabbed Gabe's other arm. We half dragged, half carried our brother back to the fire stairs before Beau stopped. "Hang on."

"What are you doing?" I grunted. Gabe was heavier than the last time I'd tried to carry him. When we were kids.

"One sec." He ran back down the hallway and stood there in front of Bennett's door for a moment with his head down. I could hear Noelle's voice now, shouting and sobbing, and wondered if Beau was going to confront her. It would be totally out of character for him, but also totally justified.

But after a moment he crouched and plucked something off the carpet. "Got it," he declared as he ran back to us.

Holding the ring.

I nodded, impressed. "She doesn't get to keep this," Beau said, more to himself than anyone else. He slipped it into his pocket. "Okay, Gabe? Can you put one foot in front of the other for me please? Let's get you upstairs."

"I quit," Gabe repeated as we hustled him back to the suite.

Once the door was shut behind us, I leaned back and let my head fall for a second. "I quit," Gabe said, louder now.

I dragged my hand down my face. "Look, I get it," I finally found the words to say. "That was - ."

But I trailed back off again. There were no words to describe what we had just seen so I didn't try to say them. I also caught myself before I told Gabe we'd all suspected Noelle didn't love him the way he loved her, that we had literally been discussing that fact a short while ago. That we all figured Noelle was just in it for the fame, riding the coattails of the King brother who most needed the ego-boost of a pretty girlfriend.

I don't think I had ever hated anything more than I hated her right now.

But that wasn't the important thing. "We'll take some time off," I encouraged. "I'll rearrange some dates."

Gabe, who up to this point had been just a crumpled wreck suddenly straightened back up again. "Did you not hear me?"

I blinked. "I did but - ."

"I said, I quit."

I tried to swallow but my throat was dry. "You don't mean it though. You're upset."

"Jonah." He was looking me full in the eye without blinking. "I quit."

I looked at Beau and Finn. "Guys? You wanna maybe jump in here?"

Finn shrugged. He stepped closer to Gabe and put his hand briefly on his shoulder. "Sounds fine to me," he said. "I never wanted this in the first place. I was just going along with the rest of you."

Panic clawed at my throat. This couldn't be happening. "Beau?" I demanded. "Come on now."

I looked at my younger brother. I'd never begged anyone for anything. We'd gotten to where we were by hard work. High standards. Sleepless nights.

And we'd done it. We were living our dreams every single day. Were they really ready to throw it all away so easily?

"Beau," I started, but stopped as my throat tightened and my voice caught. "Beau. Please."

His face clouded and in that moment I knew I had lost him. "It's not working any more, JoJo," he said with a shrug, following his twin's lead and putting his hand on Gabe. "It hasn't been for a while now."

I felt something pop behind my eye, and had the sensation of falling off a cliff. "It has too been working!" I shouted. "It's been working because I'm working!" I turned away and started pacing but the room was too damn small. Like a cage. Panic was making me angry, making me lash out. "I've been carrying you all on my back from the moment we signed on," I spat. "'King Brothers,' what a joke!" Hysterical laughter bubbled at my lips. "It was always the Jonah King show and his shitty back up band!"

I stood and glared at them, ready. I expected arguments. I expected punches. I expected them to jump in to defend themselves. I hadn't meant a word of it, I just wanted them to fight for what we'd built together.

But there was no fight coming. Finn, who could always be counted on to get riled up at the slightest thing, just closed his eyes.

And that was when I knew it was all lost, when not even Finn was ready to fight. "You're right, it's not the four of us. It hasn't been for a long time."

I blinked at them. Three against one. We always pretended this was a democracy, even when I was clearly running the show.

And now they were taking the show away from me.

"Jonah," Beau said. "Gabe needs rehab. I need a break. And Finn - ."

Finn laughed. "Finn needs to sit on his ass and fish for a summer. Finn needs to get the fuck out away from all these people."

I clenched my fists. "And what about what I need?" I hissed through my teeth.

"You need the limelight," Beau started. "I get it."

But Gabe broke in. His voice was steady even as the tear tracks still marked his cheeks. He seemed at peace, and that was terrifying. I wasn't falling off the cliff. He was throwing me over the side.

"You say it's the Jonah King show?" Gabe asked. He gestured to the door. "Well go make that show." Gabe looked at the twins. "But leave us out of it."

I could have said something, but instead I went to the door. That's what I'll always remember. That in the end, I did what they asked.

But I wasn't the one who was walking away. They were.

"Jonah?" Beau called.

I froze, a tiny frission of hope raising the hairs on my neck.

"Thanks," he said, sounding choked up. "You're a Prince,"

I squeezed the door handle until my knuckles were bloodless but I still couldn't make myself say the words I was supposed to.

"Fuck you," I said instead, and walked out into the next stage of my life. Alone for the first time.

What the hell were we going to do now?