"Oh, it gets better." Raf pitches his voice up to match the almost manic way Carmine has been speaking lately. “Phoenix, when a journalist asks if you and the band are 'close,' the correct answeris 'we're bandmates and friends,' not—" He squints. "—'oh yeah, we're all fucking.' I have a stress rash,Phoenix. Astress rash.’”
"I don't love the implication of that, either," I admit under my breath.
Phoenix almost chokes. "Don't worry, Rex. You're, uh, not my type."
I shoot him a look. "No?" I ask pointedly, wondering ifthisis how the pack's resident overgrown golden retriever is going to fail my test.
Phoenix shrugs. "I need a guy who can cook and make me laugh at the same time."
My eye narrows.
Raf tilts his head back to flash a bright grin at Phoenix. "Oh yeah?"
Phoenix grins back down at him. "Yeah."
Raf goes back to his phone, still grinning like an idiot. "You guys want to hear the list of headlines Carmine forwarded?"
"No," I say, but not loudly enough to drown out the simultaneous "yes!" from both Phoenix and Bells. I groan and let my head fall back against the couch cushion.
Raf clears his throat and adopts the overly formal diction of a stuffy news anchor. "'Isabel Frost Alive: The Pop Star Who Became a Rock God.''Frost and Steele: Inside Vespyr's Explosive Comeback and the Secrets They've Been Hiding.' 'Who Was Stephen Hughes, Really?'"
Bells makes an awkward little sound, which she's been doing lately whenever his name gets dropped. None of us says a word.The investigation is still ongoing, and she obviously won't face any time considering the circumstances.
But I still can't believe she stabbed him in the eye, then the neck, and then he plummeted to his death in a fuckingopera house on fire.
My psycho little omega.
Raf clears his throat and keeps scrolling."'Music Industry Insiders Demand Posthumous Credits for Nash Steele Following Document Leak.'"
Fuckingfinally.
But for some reason, the only thing I feel is a strange sense of relief. Relief that it'sover.
That's it.
There's no surge of justice and triumph.
Just a warm squeeze in my chest.
"'Rex Steele: The Face Behind…'"
He stops talking.
My hand curls into a fist inside the hoodie pocket.
"That one got pulled," Raf adds quickly, glancing up at me. To his credit, he doesn't look away. "The outlets won't show your face uncensored. They're blurring it or cropping it or using the old mask photos instead. So that's good, right?"
Because showing it would be too disturbing for audiences.
Right.
"The Reverie is suing everyone," Raf continues. "Bells, Vespyr, Meridian, some fan account that posted Bells's baby photos." He reads further. "Jake is quoted calling you a… actually, I'm not going to read that."
"Read it," Bells says.
"No."
"Raf."