Pretty Little Hellion (Rocker Universe: Pretty Little #3)

22. Hayat

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hayat

“Unexpected remodeling?” I repeated, brows pulling together. “What type of incident?”

Keeping her gaze on her phone screen, she kept typing. “Nothing crazy. We’re just making adjustments to fix the unexpected holes.”

Before I could ask more questions, the elevator opened, and we were on the studio floor. The doors were open, and I could hear uproarious laughter coming from inside. All of the laughs were from men I recognized without even seeing them. All of them were men I loved.

But instead of running toward those laughs I loved so damn much, I slowed my pace until I just…stopped. Unable to go inside the studio when I knew I would feel the absence of one man who had been such a major part of my world.

Every cell in my body screamed out in agony, but I knew why he wasn’t in there. Knew what the other four members of OtherWorld would do after Devlin Cutter broke my heart. A piece of me didn’t want to accept it, but another part of me felt vindicated.

Pop-Pop didn’t deserve to be in that room with every other man I adored. He didn’t deserve the continued love that flickered like a weak candle flame in my chest. His loss made all the happiness that should have been flooding me with an endorphin rush big enough that I would feel like I could jump off the top of Carver Towers and fly turn to dust, leaving me feeling weak and exhausted, despite having slept the day away.

Emmie stepped in front of me, her small height having nothing to do with who she was. When she stood before anyone, even Evan, who was six-ten, she always seemed larger-than-life.

Tucking a few of my curls back from my face, she gave me a grim, knowing smile. “It’s okay to mourn him. Even though no one died, he killed something between the two of you that was precious. You can love him and dislike him all at the same time. But please, Hayat, don’t let his words and his shitty attitude overshadow the excitement you should be feeling right now.”

Swallowing hard, I attempted to smile. “I’m trying.”

“Listen to me closely, okay?” I nodded, and she stroked her fingertips down my cheek. “We all know that one of your dreams was to play on the same stage with both Jesse and Devlin. Last night, when I saw you performing at First Bass, I was already envisioning the stage setup for the opening of every show of the world tour. It would have been epic.”

My heart clenched painfully, because I could imagine it too. I’d dreamed about having a day like that in the same way some little girls dreamed of their wedding day. I’d even sketched out the stage setups.

But with every word out of my grandfather’s mouth the night before, those sketches that I’d memorized to the last detail had been set aflame and turned to ash.

“I can’t give you that dream now, Hayat,” Emmie told me, regret lacing her voice. “But just because one aspect of the dream isn’t unachievable, that doesn’t mean we can’t make something more amazing possible.”

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I clenched my eyes closed. “I fucked everything up last night, didn’t I?”

“No, baby. No.” She grasped my elbows and gave me a firm shake until I opened my eyes and looked down at her. “You did nothing wrong, Hayat. Nothing. What happened last night…none of that is on you. Yes, there were consequences that followed certain actions. But they have already been dealt with, and not a single one of them is your fault. Don’t carry the guilt of someone else’s behavior on your shoulders. I won’t stand by and watch you do that to yourself.”

“I thought…” My throat hurt from how tight it was, all the emotions that were choking me. “I thought no one in our family would care that I loved all three of them. In my mind, I never once foresaw something like this happening because of who I gave my heart to. Okay, yes, I did think Dad and Jace would go a little mental for a minute or two. But that’s because they’re the dads, you know? They have been losing their minds over me, Abi, and Ali since I was born. Everyone else, though? I felt comfortable openly loving them.”

“You’re right. Everyone who does matter, they don’t care who you love. Let me repeat that, sweetheart.” She gently grasped my chin. “Everyone who matters doesn’t care who you love.”

“Then why did Pop-Pop and Nana?” I whispered.

With a sigh, she shook her head. “I don’t have an answer for that. Their reactions surprise me just as much as they do you. Especially given how Natalie’s mom treated her for marrying Devlin and having Trinity. That alone should have kept their minds open more than most.”

I heard something in her voice that had me searching her face, hoping I didn’t find the answer I instinctively knew would be waiting for me to discover. “What did you do?”

Her mouth didn’t change, not even a twitch, but there was a tilting up of her eyes. Ah, fuck, that was scary. It was her Don’t worry, baby, I got you expression. Vindictive. Full of wicked mayhem that could make grown men weep.

I wondered if Pop-Pop had cried when she had given him that look as she’d unleashed whatever savagery on my behalf.

“I did what I had to,” she said, so calmly, goose bumps popped up along my arms. “Not only for you, but also for my company’s image. Annabelle and I both decided that Natalie’s recent actions would harm our brand, so I bought her out.”

“But she didn’t even do anything,” I tried to argue.

“Some might say she didn’t, while others may consider her lack of action an action that speaks volumes. I was very generous with her buyout package,” she attempted to reassure me. “And then I offered Trinity the opportunity to buy the shares, under certain conditions. She agreed.”

“You said we weren’t going to ASM because of reconstruction. Does this have anything to do with Nana no longer being a partner?”

“In a way, I guess you could say that,” she admitted reluctantly. One glance at my face and she realized I wasn’t going to let it go, so she explained, “During our virtual meeting, Trin was in agreement with my suggestion of having Maddie placed under a seventy-two-hour court-ordered mental health evaluation. Before the social worker and others could get to Nat and Dev’s house, Maddie ran away. Stole Nat’s car. She went to ASM. At that point, she still had security clearance. Which I should have canceled a hell of a lot sooner, but hindsight and all that bullshit. Using her badge, she was able to get to all of our most important areas of operations and caused some significant damage. Started a small fire in a trash can on each floor that engaged the sprinkler system. She somehow got into Shane’s equipment room, even though only he and I have the security codes for it, and lit another fire. Everything has to be replaced.”

“Fuck! And Maddie? What happened to her?”

Conflicting emotions filtered over my aunt’s face as she let her shoulders droop for a moment. Everything she had worked her ass off to build for the majority of her life had been destroyed. Desecrated. But she was lost as to how or what to feel because the damage had been inflicted by a person she had welcomed so warmly into our family.

All her open vulnerability wrecked me to witness, but I was thankful she trusted me enough to be the one she showed it to. It reminded me that the majority of my family was still there for me, as I would be for them. Because that had always been our dynamic. No one left behind. Love was love. No matter what, or who we were or weren’t related to by biology, we had a place in our crazy family.

“Security took her into custody, and she was then taken to jail. I was able to have them transfer her to a secure psychiatric facility. Not the one I had in mind when I’d originally made arrangements for her rehabilitation, but it was as good as I could manage, given how much damage she caused.” She grimaced. “Trin and Jarrett are coming back from the tour she is currently managing. I have one of our best replacing her for however long it takes her to sort out Maddie. Which could take a while, because of the charges she is facing.”

With my brain feeling like it was on information overload, I tried to wade through all the emotions warring inside me. I needed to focus on the moment and not worry about the past. One day at a time. Until the pain and sadness inside me eased, if it ever would. Regret tried to overpower me, but I pushed it all the way to the back of the line.

Regretting anything meant I also regretted my relationship with Ky, Jamie, and Sparks.

Out of everything that I struggled to understand and come to terms with, what I felt for the three of them was the one thing I didn’t question.