Seduction by Song (25 page)

“Come inside, honey,” she says, shushing the other girls as she pulls me inside.

They pamper me like the best friends in the world—which is exactly what they are—while I start up my fight with tears again. I’m sniffling by the time they all pile into bed with me for a group hug.

Then, slowly, I tell them everything.

I tell them how well Romeo treated me, how wanted me made me feel, and how I thought I was falling in love with him. I tell him how much I missed him after just one day away and I even tell them about my dad’s blessing.

Finally, inevitably, I tell them about Louise Valdez.

“She’s so
horrible
, though,” Maddie says.

My voice comes out all watery when I laugh, but I do mean it—Maddie is so sweet. Even if Louise
wasn’t
horrible, she would feel obligated to say that as a friend. Although I typically didn’t care for defaming others just for the sake of saying nasty things about them, I had to feel thankful for Maddie in this moment.

“She’s pretty horrible,” I admit. “I guess I’m pretty horrible, too. I mean—I mean, she
is
his
wife
.”

“
No
,” April says, her tone firm. “You can’t think like that, Erin. None of this is
your
fault. That bastard should have told you.”

Even though I know better by now, I flinch at the harsh words. Of course it
was
Romeo’s fault for not telling me about Louise, I still couldn’t stand to hear anyone speaking so badly of him. It was instinct more than anything else, but I bite down on the urge to defend him and instead just smile when Juliet hands me a tissue.

“Thank you,” I say. “It’s—not important, anyway. It’s over now.”

I excuse myself to the restroom after they each hug me again. After wiping my eyes dry and staring at myself in the mirror for a good, long minute, I head for the shower to turn the tap on. However, before I can get the water running, I hear the girls talking outside and I can’t help but listen in through the door.

“I’m not
not
blaming him,” Maddie’s voice insists.

“Then what
are
you saying, huh?” April asks, harshly.

Maddie huffs. “I’m just
saying
that maybe we should give him a chance to explain. Look at her phone—he’s been calling
endlessly
.”

“Yeah, like the creep he is,” April says.

I cringe again even though I can’t see them, mostly at how much she sounds like Logan when she says this.

April continues, “Look, I get it. I had fun on this trip, too. You think I don’t like free backstage passes at every concert in the biggest rock tour in years? But I’m not going to let one of my best friends keep seeing a terrible human being
just
to get
backstage passes
!”

Maddie, I think, gasps. “That is
not
why I think we should give him another chance! April, don’t you see how
happy
she is with him? Maybe—maybe there’s a reason. Even if he
is
married to Louise Valdez, that relationship is long dead. There’s
no
passion there.”

“This isn’t a fucking gossip story, Maddie,” April says. “This is Erin’s
life
. We need to butt out.”

There’s a long silence. I hold my breath, too, even though I know they wouldn’t have heard me anyway. I love them both for trying to fight for what they think is best, and even though I know, logically, that April is right, I—well, I can’t help but want Maddie to fight harder, to give me some reason to let Romeo back into my heart.

He hurt me, he betrayed me, but I still wanted him in my life so badly that I was on the brink of giving him that second chance Maddie is advocating—all I needed was one reason. Any reason would do.

“What do
you
think, Juliet?” Maddie asks when it becomes apparent that she can’t win this argument.

“Oh,
real
mature,” April says. I can practically hear her rolling her eyes.

“Hey, wait, I
do
want to say something,” Juliet says suddenly, interrupting the heated back and forth between the other girls. “You know, when this sort of stuff happens, it’s always
Erin
that talks us through it. She’s the smart one—the psychologist in training. So—so we just have to think about this like she would, and I think she’d do anything to keep us safe. To keep our hearts safe.”

Juliet pauses and the girls remain respectfully silent. I almost start to think that they’re finished, and they’ve made the decision—I’d stay safe, and away from Romeo.

But Juliet continues, suddenly, “Though, she’d also want us to be
happy
—and sometimes happiness means taking risks. I say we pick up the next time Romeo calls. Erin’s in the shower anyway, right?
We’ll
talk to him, and
if
he’s got a good enough reason,
maybe
we’ll let him see Erin.”

“I don’t like it,” April says.

“Well,
I
do,” Maddie interjects, “and I think it’ll be for the best—for
Erin
. Though, speaking of Erin—I don’t hear the shower. Do you think she’s okay in there?”

Startled out of my little eavesdropping session, I scramble away from the door and turn the tap on high. If they say anything else, I don’t hear it. My heart is pounding in my ears again, and I can’t even begin to process what they’ve just said on top of everything else that’s happened today.

My rage still shouts at me, telling me I don’t
ever
want to see Romeo away, but deeper down inside I feel this terrible sorrow. I miss him already, and I know it. I should probably stop the girls from taking this into their own hands—it isn’t their job to take care of me, after all—but I also know I’d never take Romeo’s calls myself. This was the only way I would ever know why he lied to me.

I sigh. Sometimes I hated my extensive studies in psychology. Being so self-aware was infuriating, especially when I can’t ever stop self-analyzing my own thoughts and feelings.

I step under the spray, trying to wash away all my doubts with the hot water. Romeo couldn’t be trusted and that was that. There was nothing more to it.

And if the girls were going to do anything about it…well, then that would be their business. I couldn’t stop them if I tried.

(And of course, I wasn’t going to try.)

Maddie’s the only one in the room when I get out from the shower after the water runs cold. I hear April and Juliet shuffling out in the hallway, though, so I shoot Maddie a confused look, hoping that nothing had gone wrong after I stopped listening in on their conversation. I would never forgive myself if my problems caused them to have a terrible fight.

It’s with a great big smile that Maddie greets me, though. I blink, feeling even more confused at the sudden shift in her demeanor.

“Erin!” she says, waving me over excitedly to the laptop she has open on the bed in front of herself. “Look,
look
.”

I head over cautiously, still drying my hair with a towel as I settle down next to her. “What is it?”

She turns the screen towards me, showing me a new article on her favorite entertainment blog. I stare at it for a moment, shake my head, and then stare again—the headline was preposterous.

Romeo Ortiz to Louise Valdez: You’re a Liar!

I can barely keep my eyes focused as I read the rest of the article. Romeo had just delivered a late night interview, apparently, to tell the public of the
truth
about his last concert.

“Yes,” he said, the article reports, “I married Louise Valdez in secret several years ago. We have been separated for the past two years. She forced herself on stage at my last show. I did not invite her to the stage or to the concert—we are not on good terms. We are not reconciling.”

I skim the rest of the article—more denials, more thinly veiled anger. I could tell that Romeo was truly upset at having Louise back in his life for whatever reason, but—but that didn’t
change
anything. He still lied to me. He still hid her from me.

“They were
separated
,” Maddie whispers after a moment. “I mean, that’s
obviously
still bad, but it’s practically like being divorced!”

I feel giddy for one split second, allowing myself to think,
she’s right! That’s not so bad!
It’s only a fool’s dream, though. Although it’s not any of my business whether a person who is separated from their spouse can or can’t date someone else, but
I
would never have gotten involved with someone who was separated—
I
would never be a home-wrecker in a marriage that might still be saved.

I sigh and shake my head, pushing the laptop away. “Thank you, Maddie—for trying, but this really doesn’t change anything. He should have told me about her.”

“I know, I
know
,” she says, a small frown coming to her lips, “and I’m sure
he
knows, too. Erin, you’re so happy with him—.”

I try to smile, covering her hands with my own. “It’s okay, Maddie. Thank you, truly. I just—I just can’t be involved with a married man. I just can’t be the other woman.”

“But don’t you want to hear him
explain
?” she asks, squeezing my hands lightly. “Don’t you want
closure
? Are you telling me that if he were outside right now, dying for a chance to explain himself, you wouldn’t want to hear it?”

I sigh, pulling my hand back and standing to slip into my clothes. “Of course I want to hear him explain it, Maddie—I want a good explanation that would make me forget all this ever happened so that I can keeping seeing him,
loving
him. But that explanation doesn’t exist. Nothing can make this right?”

“So he shouldn’t even be allowed to
try
?”

I smile at her—she’s every bit the hopeless romantic that my father is, and I know
he
wouldn’t want me to give up so easily. Even though I have no intention of seeking Romeo out and talking this through, I nod, admitting, “I would let him try.”

“Oh,
good
,” Maddie says, hopping out of bed, “because he’s outside. April and Juliet have been keeping him at bay.”

I blink at her a few times just to make sure I heard her right. Once I’ve confirmed with my ears that they
did
just hear her say that Romeo was
outside
, I allow my mouth to gasp.

“He’s
here
?”

Maddie nods, so giddy that she can barely contain herself. I would be annoyed with her for delighting in the pretty fucking awful time of my life, but I know she can’t help herself—hopeless romantic and all.

“Can I tell them to let him in?”

I bite at my lip as I finish getting dressed, and I shift my weight on my feet a few times before I shake my head. “I don’t know, Maddie. What he did—.”

“I know, and
oooh
, I am
so
angry with him,” she says, nodding sympathetically. “I’m going to give him a good piece of my mind—but only
after
you’re able to talk to him. I think you deserve to hear it, at least.”

We stare at each other for a while, her eyes full of hope and mine full of weariness—though I would be lying if I didn’t feel a spark of hope starting to flare within me again.

“You’ll stay close?” I ask, quietly. “If I—need you to take me away from here?”

She nods. “Of course, honey. We’ll all be right outside. We’ll always be here when you need us.”

I hesitate for a moment longer before finally nodding, settling down on one of the beds. I know I must look like a complete wreck—my hair is sticking out in all directions and I removed all my makeup in the shower. I couldn’t even bring myself to care, though. I
felt
like a wreck, and I suppose a small part of me
wanted
Romeo to see that.

Maddie smiles at me one last time before pulling the door open and slipping out. She leaves it open just a crack, which is exactly where it stays for a minute while I hear April saying something angry, but muffled, out in the hall.

Finally, the door opens and closes behind Romeo.

He looks terrible and terrific at the same time. He’s still dressed in his stage outfit and looks every bit like the rock star that everyone calls a sex god, but his shoulders are hunched and he eyes and cheeks are more sunken in than I’ve ever seen them.

He looks, more than anything,
sad
. My heart flies out to him, but I rein it back in—or I try to, anyway.