Toxic (Addiction #1) (46 page)

“Baby, look at me?”

Maisy focused on Rook’s beautifully handsome face and was instantly sedated. His eyes were calming and full of concern. He kissed her mouth, expressing to her that he was there for her, he was going to take care of her. She wrapped her arms around him and started crying.
 

Rook didn’t ask her what happened again; he just held her and then helped her back to the hotel. He held his guitar in one hand and her in the other. When they got back to their room, he undressed them both and pulled her close to him in bed, so his warmth radiated through her. He knew her so well because his skin on skin contact was exactly what she needed.
 

She fell asleep in Rook’s arms, but then was rudely awakened by a pounding on their door. Rook shifted on the bed and sat up as he called out, “What?”

Cruz peeked his head through the door. “Dude, sorry to interrupt, but there is someone to see you outside and we can’t get rid of him.”

Cruz looked serious, for once in his life, and Rook must have sensed it because he said, “Give me a second.”
 

The door was shut and Rook turned to Maisy. He cupped her face and looked deep into her eyes. “Are you doing alright, boo?”

She nodded her head even though she was still shaken. She knew if she told Rook she wasn’t alright, then he would stay with her and not help the band with the problem they were having, so she sucked it up, gave him a kiss, and told him she was fine.
 

He looked at her one last time before putting on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He leaned over the bed and kissed her deeply. His hand ran through her hair as his lips worked magic against hers. Instantly, all the fear and anxiety that was building up in her body dissipated and instead she was filled with love, Rook’s love.
 

“I’ll be back, boo.” He stroked her face before giving her one last kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Rook walked out of the bedroom, where she heard Cruz tell him their visitor was in a conference room on the third floor. Maisy was extremely curious as to who was visiting Rook, but decided not to think about it. Instead, she rested her head on the pillow that she and Rook shared and breathed in his scent as she closed her eyes for a little bit of extra rest.
 

Chapter 22

Grey sat on the couch in the main living area as Cruz took care of Rook’s problem with him. Cruz was the only one who could really help Rook out at the moment, so Grey wasn’t going to butt in. Instead, he thought about last night, how Quinn broke up with him and how Willow spent the night in Cruz’s arms. He didn’t know what he was more upset about, which upset him even more.
 

Did he really not love Quinn as much as he thought he did? Was he really just going through the motions with her? He was upset that Quinn was no longer with him; he had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach, but was it because he felt like he lost his best friend or because he lost the love of his life? He was so damn confused and upset; he wished that his brother would stop being a lazy ass and get up so Grey could talk to him.
 

Grey thought about busting through his brother’s door to talk to him but on the off-chance that he actually might be with a girl, Grey refrained. Instead, he sat on the couch, nursing an orange juice and stewing about his screwed up life.
 

Landon’s door cracked open and Grey smirked to himself. He hadn’t seen a walk of shame in a while and he was curious to see what kind of girl Landon finally gave in to last night. He wondered if it was the brunette he danced with all night or the little Latina with the giant ass. Grey’s money was on the Latina.
 

It wasn’t until Quinn’s face registered in Grey’s brain that he realized she was the girl that was leaving Landon’s room, shoes in hand, and hair all rumpled. Landon came out of the room and said, “Hey don’t forget…” His words stopped immediately when he made eye contact with Grey.
 

Blackness crept over Grey’s body as he started connecting the dots of what was transpiring in front of him. Grey shot up from the sofa and ran right after Landon. He tackled his brother to the ground and threw a punch so hard at his brother’s face that he thought he broke his hand right there on the spot.
 

Blood from Landon’s nose scattered across the floor, painting the bright white tiles with red. Quinn screamed in the background and attacked Grey’s back, trying to pull him off his brother.
 

“Grey, get off of him. What the hell are you doing?”

Her voice didn’t even register in Grey’s mind. All he could think about was his double-crossing brother. His fist connected with Landon’s face again, as Landon struggled to get out from under Grey. His last punch didn’t have as much effect as the first one because Landon was able to tip Grey’s fist.
 

All of a sudden, hands grabbed Grey off of Landon and threw him to the side. Kaid stood next to Landon, blocking his friend from Grey’s attack.
 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kaid shouted. He was wearing only a pair of boxer briefs and Grey was actually kind of impressed with the physique Kaid was sporting. He never would have guessed.
 

“You’re dead to me,” Grey shouted at Landon.
 

“I didn’t do anything,” Landon replied, while wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
 

“Don’t fucking lie to me. What the hell was she doing in your room?”

“She came to me because you’re a giant fuckhead and you can’t appreciate something when it’s standing right in front of you; instead, you fantasize about someone who you can never have.”

A sob broke from Quinn’s lips as she looked between Landon and Grey.
 

“Do you have feelings for her?” Grey asked, not bothering to touch upon the jab his brother threw at him.
 

“What do you think, dickhead?”

“Are you the reason she broke up with me?” Grey asked, but didn’t even wait for a response. He threw his hands up in defeat. He couldn’t deal with his brother right now. It was too much to handle. He turned and walked towards his room.
 

Before he closed the door, he turned and looked at Quinn and Landon and said, “I don’t want to see either of you. You’re both dead to me.”

Slamming his door shut, he went to his bathroom, turned the shower on to the hottest setting and scalded his skin until he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to wash off the dirty feeling that was settling over his body. There wasn’t enough soap to wash away his problems, so instead he tried to burn them away.
 

When he couldn’t take the pain anymore, he turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He went out to the room to grab his clothes when he ran into Willow.
 

“What the hell do you want?” he asked in a very offensive tone.
 

“I heard what happened and I wanted to make sure you were okay?”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity…”

“Why did you fuck him?” Grey asked, as he charged toward Willow. “I told you not to fuck him; I begged you. Why did you do it? Were you punishing me?”

Confusion laced Willow’s big blue eyes. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Clearly, because you will do whatever you please.”

“Don’t, don’t take your anger out on me when I’m the one who is trying to see if you’re okay.”

“You’re making this worse; you’ve ruined my life. You’re the reason why Quinn broke up with me; you’re the reason why I couldn’t give her all my attention like she needed because you consume my thoughts. You’re all I think about and then you go and fuck Cruz, even though I told you not to.”

Her hands were on her hips in a defensive position as she responded to him. “Like I told you, you can’t tell me what to do. You don’t control me and I’m sorry that you can’t control your raging hormones; it’s not my fault your dick wants me.”

“It is your fault,” Grey said. “You’re the one who dry humped me in the dressing room, you’re the one who went topless for me in the hot tub, and you’re the one who allowed me to hold your tit in my hand when Quinn told me to.”

There was a gasp that came from the doorway. They both turned and saw Quinn, with her hand over her mouth shaking her head.
 

“I knew it. I knew there was something going on between the two of you. I knew it!” Quinn screamed. “You are such a manipulative bitch. I thought you were my friend, I told you I would never be okay with you going after Grey, but you still did. You never cared about me, you only wanted to get closer to him.”

“That’s not true, Quinn.”

“Don’t!” Quinn held up her hand. Landon came up next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
 

“Come on,” he said, as he moved her away from the door.
 

The world stopped turning as Grey watched his brother walk his ex-girlfriend away from him. What was happening? What the hell did he do so wrong in his life that major shit decided to hit the fan all at once? He looked down at Willow who was now crying.
 

“Save the tears for someone who cares.”

Willow smacked Grey across the face. “How dare you? I genuinely cared about Quinn and tried my hardest to keep away from you, but I couldn’t. I should have, though, because now that I’m seeing your true colors, you’re not worth it.”

Grey watched as Willow walked out of his room, he wanted to stop her, he wanted to beg her for forgiveness, but he was too damn stubborn and too damn hurt to move. Instead, he slammed his door shut, grabbed a drink from the mini fridge and sat in the chair that overlooked the Dallas skyline.
 

Fucking Dallas.
 

***

The ride down to the third floor dragged on forever, as cheesy elevator music played through the speakers, which only grated on Rook’s nerves rather than soothing him. He left Cruz upstairs because he needed to do this on his own. His nerves were shaking and he hated that he had to leave Maisy by herself when she was going through such a difficult time. He still didn’t know what shook her so much, but he planned on getting to the bottom of it.
 

One of their security details in a dark gray suit and balding head met Rook when the elevator doors opened.
 

“We’re sorry about this, sir, but we didn’t know how else to deal with him without causing a major scene.”

“It’s alright,” Rook lied. It wasn’t alright; he wanted nothing to do with the man who was in the conference room. The feeling of being a little kid all over again started taking place in his body, grating on his nerves.
 

The security guard opened the door, letting Rook lead the way. Sitting in the center of the long conference table was Rook’s dad. He looked like absolute piss. His hair was greyer, his clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in days, and his face was so thin and tweaked out that it was almost startling to look at him. At that moment, Rook thanked God that Maisy was upstairs, he wouldn’t want her to see this side of his life.
 

The security guard left them alone and shut the door, leaving Rook to deal with the devil himself.
 

“Look at you, pretty boy. They do your nails as well as your hair?”

“What the fuck do you want?” Rook asked, not wanting to sit.
 

“Take a seat…son.”
 

The feeling of wanting to throw up mixed with the urge to knock his father out ran through his body. Old feelings of being unworthy, not wanted, and used ran through his system as he stared at the eyes that took over his nightmares. The courage and strength Rook built up over the years to defend himself against the devil himself slowly started to dissipate and the little boy he once was started to appear.
 

Rook sat down and ran his hand through his hair, trying to ignore the sweat that started to form on his upper lip.
 

“I have some goodies for you.” His dad tossed a bag across the table at Rook. It was a Ziploc bag full of pot, pills and little bags full of a white substance, a drug Rook never took up, thanks to his dad.
 

“I don’t want that shit.”

“What, you think you’re too good for it now? Well, you’re not. You’re just as much of a lowlife as me. Just because you think you have some little blonde fuck buddy, you think you’re better?”

“Don’t!” Rook shouted. “Don’t you bring Maisy into this.”

A demonic laugh escaped his father’s mouth. “She’s already involved. I saw her this morning.” The hairs on the back of Rook’s neck stood straight from his dad’s admission. “She wasn’t too keen on fulfilling the throbbing sensation in my dick, but that will change.”

“Motherfucker!” Rook shouted. His dad was the reason why Maisy freaked out this morning. “What the hell did you say to her?”

“Just that I wanted her to suck my dick. She’s not as easy as your mom, but we can fix that.”

Rook slammed his hand on the table. “Stay the fuck away from her.”