The Rocker That Needs Me(67)

“Because your sister beat it out of Gabriella,” Jesse’s deep voice informed me.

“I… What?” I demanded, turning to face my brother-in-law. “She did what?”

Jesse had a look of pride on his face and a half-grin tilting his lips. “Yeah, I know. It was so hot. Between her and Em, I think the bitch is bald in a few places.”

I was sure if my world wasn’t falling apart right at that moment I would have laughed. My spit fire sister kicking Gabriella Moreitti’s ass? I would have paid money to see that! But I was in no mood to laugh. “She admitted that nothing happened and you believed her?”

Jesse shrugged. “She may have only been saying that to get Layla off of her. Not that it worked. I had to pull her off. Em, what was your take? Do you think she was lying?”

Emmie had been quietly standing by the door. Her gaze taking everything in, missing nothing. When her green eyes met mine, I saw that she really had believed the other woman.

“I doubt that anything happened. Drake hadn’t had a drink in months. That much liquor in his system...he was probably useless below the waist.”

My eyes closed as hope flowed through me, but it was short lived. One night away from Drake and our lives—our future together—was all washed down the drain. “It wouldn’t be the first time that he was that drunk and was able to function,” I whispered.

“What are you saying, Lana?” Layla asked, but I could hear in her voice that she knew what I was telling her. “You...?”

I didn’t answer her as I forced my gaze to meet Drake’s. “You can’t remember anything, but until you do, I won’t ever believe that you didn’t have sex with her.”

He swallowed hard. “I’ll never remember, Lana.”

“Yeah, I know. Just like you will never remember our night together.” His head snapped back as if I had punched him.

“Our night together?” He sounded strangled.

I knew that telling him now would only hurt him, but the bitch in me just didn’t care. I was hurting, and I wanted him to hurt just as much. I wanted him to hurt more! “The night before Jesse and Layla got married? The night you took my virginity? I’m sure that night is a blank hole in your mind. Probably why you don’t know why I was so shattered the next night when I heard you fucking some slut against the hotel room door that separated our rooms.”

“No!” He was in front of me in just a few steps, his grip on my arms so tight it was painful. “Tell me that it didn’t happen!” he demanded.

“I can’t.” I jerked out of his hold. There was no need to slap his face, not when he was already beaten from my admission.

“Are you done, now?” Emmie asked, calm as always. “Do you maybe want to pull out his heart and stomp on it too?”

“I think she just did that,” Shane muttered for the first time, joining in. “And he has no one to blame but himself, Em.”

“She knew that it would destroy him.” Emmie pointed at me, looking wild. “She knew that she had all the power here, and she used it against him! If she loved him the way everyone seems to think she does, she never would have done that.”

Her words were like a slap to my face. I couldn’t find the words to defend myself against her because part of me knew that she was right. I stared at the man that stood with his head hung, tears falling form his eyes, and knew that I had made this mess. This was all my fault…

“She used it to protect herself! Drake is a grown man, he makes his own mistakes. Stop putting his mess on her shoulders.”

I didn’t even hear Shane’s words. His voice was just background noise to me as I fought the urge to vomit. I had made a mess of my life, and I had ruined the future I had wanted so badly with Drake. With a pain filled cry, I turned and ran down the hall toward my room.





Chapter 22


Drake

I didn’t know what to expect as I left my apartment with my out of town guests. Emmie flagged down a taxi as soon as we were out on the street, and I was the last to slide into the back. Layla gave me a grim little smile as Emmie gave the driver the address from the front seat.

I tried to return her smile, but my face felt frozen.

The ride felt like it took an eternity, but it was over far too soon. I was torn between wanting to hurry and fix this and wanting to put it off in hopes that it would just fix itself. When we reached Lana’s building, we had to wait downstairs until someone let us up because Emmie and Layla had never been there before.

Some muscle head guy answered the door, and I noticed a shirtless guy seated on the couch that I had to assume was Linc because he was checking me out as soon as we stepped inside the apartment.