Saxon(40)

It sucks being away from her—but she’s worth it.

The moment I get her back it will be worth everything.

*****

A week later, Ryder walks over to me with a solemn look on his face.

“What happened,” I ask, standing up from the chair I was sitting on.

“Fuck Sax,” he grits out. “You aren’t going to believe this shit.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “Is Tee okay?”

Ryder sighs and places a magazine on the table.

A trashy gossip magazine.

He opens it and stops on a page. The title reads ‘My life as Saxon Tate’s mistress.’ The picture of the woman, Eliza, when she jumped on me is right there. Her arms are all over me, her legs around my waist. Her hair is covering our faces and our expressions.

It looks f*cking bad.

There’s also the picture of us together in front of the Sydney hotel.

Really bad.

I skim through the article about how apparently I’ve been sleeping with this bitch for some time. I stop after I read that. I can’t read anymore bullshit or lies.

Like I would ever touch a woman like that.

“You told Tee about what happened though right, so who cares what anyone else thinks,” Ryder adds.

Yeah, about that.

Fuck.

“I went to tell her but she didn’t call me back until the next day and then I forgot,” I tell him, wincing.

He cringes. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll tell her. I was there and know what happened.”

I throw him a curious look. “You think you have that much pull with your cousin? To pull me out of this bullshit?”

“We all know the truth Saxon. Everyone here does, including Lexi.”

This is true, I just hope she will listen to what I have to say. “The evidence is pretty damning.”

“Saxon—”

“You know this is the reason she didn’t want to give me a chance initially. One because I was with Lexi first and two because I cheated, so I gave my all to get her to trust me. And now because of some unstable, lying bitch those thoughts are going to be running through her head, making her second-guess all her choices about me.”

“Fuck—you really do know her,” Ryder says, looking surprised. “She might second-guess, but I think that she will know deep down that you wouldn’t do this to her. She was there that night in Boston, I’m sure she will realize that chick is clearly an obsessed nutcase.”

I bury my face in my hands. “I thought the lead singer was meant to attract all the crazies.”

He slaps his hand down on my back and chuckles. “Apparently they like the bad boy drummers even more.”

I grab my phone and scroll through my recent call history, clicking on her number.

No answer.

“Maybe she hasn’t even seen it,” he says, shrugging.

“Yeah right,” I grumble, standing up and walking into the room Tee and I stayed in when she was here, punching the door on the way in.

This is it—the test of trust in our relationship. Except there’s more to it. There’s f*cking evidence for the world to see, and it doesn’t matter that it’s all bullshit. I can just imagine the comments she will get about it. I didn’t want to put her through anything like this, but I know problems like these can come with fame. I guess I never expected it to affect Tee like this, which is kind of na?ve of me. I decide that if I can’t get in contact with her by tomorrow, I’m flying my ass home.

Fuck the concert.

I’m sorry to my fans but this is more important to me right now.

There will be other shows, other tours.

Other opportunities.

But there is no other Tenielle.





Chapter Twenty Seven

Tenielle

I don’t know why Taryn has the smuggest face I’ve ever seen when I walk into work, but a bad feeling creeps up my spine. I ignore her and walk straight to my office, my heels clicking against the marble floor with each step. My boss walks in and we chat briefly about the case I need to research for today, then he leaves and I pull out some candy from my drawer and munch on it. Today is Layla’s birthday, and I just dropped off the little husky puppy to her on the way to work. I was kind of reluctant because over the last two days I’d actually grown attached to the little monster. She named him Kovu and fell in love at first sight, and I’m happy she was happy.

A knock on my door makes me scowl in its direction.

“Come in,” I call out.

Taryn walks in. “Just thought you might want to see this.”

Her sparkling eyes let me know whatever it is isn’t good. She puts a magazine down on the table, opened to the page. My eyes skim the headline, and then see the picture of Saxton with this stupid bitch in his arms.

I remember the woman, of course.

I look back at the picture. She’s standing in front of the bus, and her arms are wrapped around his neck. I can’t see his face—or hers for that matter because her hair is covering it like a curtain.

What the f*ck.

I’d say I couldn’t believe this except for the picture staring right at me.

Taryn mock sighs. “Such a shame for you.”

I snap my head to her. “Get the f*ck out of my office if you want to keep your job.”