Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“Brady is the OG. He’s been with Rhett since they were first getting started. And Layla has been with them since the first album, so probably eighteen months, right Layla?”
So those twothey did know Bridget. And I can assume they all knew Heidi.
“Um, yeah,” she says. “Twenty months, actually. Where are they anyway? They should be here by now.”
“Declan and Eli were fighting again when they got into the car,” Brady says. “They’re probably finishing whatever that was. Oh, wait. There they are,” he says, pointing toward the door.
“Layla,” River says. “Let’s go dance.”
“I don’t feel like it,” she says. “You go ahead.”
“No, Layla. I think you need to go dance,” she says a little more forcefully.
“Only if Alana goes, too,” she says.
Alana sighs and sinks further into the booth, shaking her head. “Layla ” She sighs, looking at the sad blonde girl for a moment before saying, “You know what? Fine. Let’s go dance.”
I watch them cross the space and descend the staircase, passing Luca and pulling him back downstairs on the way.
“Wondering what the fuck is going on?” Brady asks me.
“Yes,” I tell him. “Perpetually. There is literally no limit to how much I’m wondering what the fuck is going on.”
“Well, I can fill in a small gap for you.”
“Please do.”
“For a long time, Layla was Declan’s favorite, but now, Alana is his favorite, and Layla isn’t handling it well. She can’t stand to see them alone together, so that’s why she dragged Alana downstairs with her just now. They were always really good friends, so Alana’s giving her a lot of grace, but it’s getting tiring. And she’s not supposed to be like this. We have rules.”
“Right,” I say. “I think I heard that one. No one belongs to anyone.”
“Exactly.”
“It’s a good rule.”
“Are you poly?” he asks.
“Um, I don’t know. I’ve never really been in a situation where anyone has expected me to label myself. But I’ve never been monogamous,” I tell him. The truth is that I haven’t really ever been in a real relationship. “So maybe? I’m not really sure.”
“You’ve never had a boyfriend or girlfriend? Ever? You’ve never been in love?” He looks me up and down, likely trying to find whatever flaw has prevented me from forming that kind of bond with another human being. Luckily, I don’t think mine is the kind you can find just by looking.
“No. Never.”
“Interesting,” he says. He tilts my chin up with two fingers and appears to examine me some more. “I wonder what that would be like. It’d either be peaceful or terrible.”
“It’s slightly jarring, honestly.”
Hunter was the closest thing to a relationship I’ve had in my adult life, and that wasn’t love. And maybe I’m no expertmaybe I don’t know what love is supposed to feel likebut I’m no stranger to the human experience or the potential to feel. I feel things all the time, so I know I’m capable. I have to be. Right?
But I’ve heard the things they say about me, and I’ve lain awake at night trying to process the idea that maybe I’m not, and it terrifies me.
So no, that’s not it. I’m not a sociopath or anything like that. I’m just I don’t know what I am.
“I bet,” Brady says.
He laughs and leans forward, grabbing his drink from the table. Before he can bring it to his lips, his eyes lock onto something that wipes the smile from his face.
“What?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he says, attempting to shrug it off.
I try to follow where his eyes were before and land on Rhett kissing another guy downstairs. He breaks away, then takes the other man by the hand and pulls him behind him toward the back exit.
“Oh ” I say. “You don’t like it ”
“I’m fine,” he says, poking at the ice in his glass with a stir straw. “I know what he and I have is real. It doesn’t bother me. I just thought he’d at least come say hi first or something.”
“Does he know that you don’t like it?” I ask.
“I’m fine with it,” he says.
I cock my head and wait for a better answer.
“I’m not bi like him but doesn’t bother me so much if it’s one of the girls,” he says. “They’re family, and I love them. Or if we do it together, but yeah. We don’t talk about it, but he knows.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him.
“Don’t be,” he says. “Why would you feel sorry for me? I know Rhett loves me. And it’s not like with Declan and Layla. He tells me he loves me, and I know it’s true.”
His tone comes off harsh, reminding me that while he knows that feeling, I do not.
I pick up something else in there, too. Layla thought she and Declan were in love, but he never felt the same way.
“I don’t pity you,” I tell him. “That’s not what I meant by that. I just can’t imagine what that would feel like.”
“Well, someday you’ll know,” he replies. It sounds a lot more like a threat than a well-wish. “And someday, the tours will end, and the sun will set on this season of our lives, and you know what? I’ll still be here, and it’ll just be us. We’ll grow old together, maybe have a couple of kids. And none of this will matter. It’ll just be a story we tell themabout how Daddy was a rockstar once, and now we have enough money to send them to private school.”
Hazel moves over and sits next to him, hooking her arm in his and showing him something on her phone. He laughs, and it’s like the conversation never happened.
But that that’s love. I heard it in his voice, even in this painfully loud club.
I watch them for a moment more before I see Declan and Eli approaching.
Eli grabs a beer from the middle of the table, and Hazel stands up and slaps him hard on the back.
“Heyyyyyyy,” she says. “What’s up, Big E?”
He grimaces like he’s in pain, then leans over and hugs Hazel. “Ready to get the fuck out of here,” he tells her before plopping down on the couch.
“Yeah,” she says. “I think we’ve all been ready to be home for a while.”
“You’re Teagan, right?” he says. “I’m Eli. Welcome to the shitshow. May the odds be ever in your favor.”
He tips his beer toward me, and the other two laugh, but given what I know already, I’m not sure that’s funny, so I don’t join in.
“Stop,” Hazel laughs.
“Teagan.”
I recognize the voice well enough by now to know it’s Declan who’s calling my name, but still, I hope I’m wrong when I look up.
He’s leaning against the railing, staring at me, emotionless. He inclines his head when my eyes meet his, gesturing for me to come to him.
I hesitate for only a second, thinking about how if any other man tried to summon me like this in any other bar, it wouldn’t matter how big his biceps were or how nice his chest looked in a tight v-neck shirtI’d kick that mother fucker in the knees. But now, for him, I force myself to stand and then my feet to move until I meet the enigma himself and lean against the railing next to him.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.