Don’t get me wrong. My penthouse is posh as they come with every bloody luxury I could think of. I have the money to spend. More than my grandchildren will ever spend, not that I expect any. What is the saying?You can’t take it with you.But I don’t think my ancestry or money makes me a better person, and it is my money that has aided in causing me the most pain.
But this house? This is just too much. It’s ridiculous that someone would think they needed something this pretentious and grandiose.
“Why are we here again?” Dane grumbles, unsurprisingly. He’s never made it a secret how he feels about events like this. He’d rather be behind his kit or in his tattoo shop.
Of all of us, he hates this kind of thing the most. Angel, our rhythm guitarist, grew up with an actress mother and a lawyer-to-the-stars father. He joined the band a few years ago after Jake was surprised with suddenly becoming a father. I remember the day he told us all. Of course, he tried to tiptoe around me, but I waved him off like it didn’t matter. It did, but I will never let him know that. Besides, I love his little girl - and now his son - more than anything.
“Stop complaining,” Camilla, Dane’s girlfriend, tells him with an elbow to his stomach. He only grins at her. “It won’t kill you to be seen among the rich and famous for a few hours.”
A lot has changed with all of us over the years. Dane found his two sisters, and even took legal guardianship of Cara, his youngest sister. Jake hasbeen to UCLA and back. Angel come to us as grumpy and brooding as I am. He just didn’t hide it as well. He reunited with the love of his life a coupleof years ago - even if said reunion was bumpy as hell.
Then there is Maddox and me. We have changed too. We’ve sunk into the pits of our darkness over the years. We drown our pain and anger in alcohol, drugs, and sex. Maddox fell off the wagon years ago after Zoey nearly died on his bathroom floor. I couldn’t let him fall down the rabbit hole alone, so I willingly jumped right in with him.
Who am I kidding? I was in that hole long before he slipped. I doveheadfirstthe day I realized I’d handed my heart over to a liar and a thief.
“But that’s time I could be seeing you, naked,” Dane waggled his brows at Cami, garnering him another elbow.
“We’re here because you just swept the Grammys for the second year in a row and because the man who holds your contracts insisted,” Liam, our band manager, grunts with an eye roll. He hates this shit too.
“This is supposed to be a Grammy party?” Maddox looks around with disgust marring his sharp features. “There are more celebutantes and influencers than actual musicians.”
“Who planned this shit?” My grumbling sounds a tad like Dane at the moment. A tad bit petulant and whiney. Not that I care. I don’t care about much these days.
“That would be Davis’ wife.” We look to Liam to see his jaw tense and a vein throbbing at his temple. This place is really getting under his skin. “She’s always trying to flaunt their wealth. Wants the world to notice her.”
“Sounds like you know her well.” Angel’s brows quirk up a bit with curiosity.
Liam shrugs his shoulders. His brows furrow deeper between his eyes, showing his growing frustration. Or maybe it’s anger. He looks a little pissed. “Thought I did once. Turns out I never knew her at all.” I can relate to that statement. Nearly a decade later and I was still bitter.
We don't wait for him to elaborate. We know he won't. Over the last two years, we’ve learned a lot about him, including that he had a kid when he was fifteen. We’ve met her a few times. It’s strange to think that he has a twenty-year-old daughter when he’s only thirty-five, but that’s life.
None of us know anything about his ex-wife. Not even a name. I’m sure it would only take a second to Google it, but Liam is family. If he doesn’t want to share, we won’t pry. We respect him too much for that. That’s what I get told every time I try to dig into it anyway.
What I do know is whatever happened has made bitter and left him jaded. I can truly understand those feelings. Women have a way of tearing your heart out and feeding it to the wolves, leaving behind an empty husk of nothingness.
“Let’s find Davis so we can get out of here,” Dane grumbles again. “I want to be with my girl without all of you.”
“You could just be sociable for a change,” Cara scolds him. I grin at her. Can’t help it. I am so proud of the progress she’s made with her PTSD over the years. The kid struggled for a while after some tough shit went down. Didn’t help that she hid so much of it from everyone, but she finally started opening up. Jake played a part in that. Hesawher and made it his mission to bring her back to life. They are so happily married it is disgusting. “You’ve been holed up with Cami since we got to L.A.”
“I can’t help it if I can’t get enough of her.” His smirk only lasts a second when he noticesJake’s wide grin. His smirk falls so fast, you’d never know it was there. He knows what’s coming. None of us can resist poking fun at him.
“I understand what you mean,” Jake says, nibbling at Cara’s neck.
“No. Just no. Now I just want to be sick.” Like clockwork, Dane turns an interesting shade of green.
“Hey, it’s not everyone that can say they were present when their nephew was conceived,” Angel chides.
We all chuckle at the joke. Well, Cara doesn’t laugh. She looks as mortified as she did the first time we made the joke. Dane doesn’t laugh either. He turns a bright shade of red before dragging Cami off somewhere.
“Never fails to get him to shut up,” Jake laughs some more. “Stop frowning, baby,” he tells Cara, pulling her even closer to his side. “It is something we’ll always remember.”
“I wish I could forget,” she mutters, looking at the floor.
“No, you don’t. You love knowing when he was conceived.”
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Angel comments to all of us, clearly ready to be done with this place. I am just in a hurry to get away from the conversation of kids.
“We could find some pussy while we’re at it,” I smirk at Maddox, waggling my eyebrows.
