Free Exit Stage Six: A Contemporary New Adult Romance Novella by A.J. Downey Page A

back on me. I wanted to scream or throw something at him, which
wasn’t entirely childish but enough so to keep me from doing it.
    I went back to my table.
    “What are we having gents?” I asked, plastic smile back in
place.
    “Moscow Mules all the way ‘round sweetheart.” Hal answered.
    I set to work making the drinks.
    “L.B. look at me.” Evan said.
    I kept my eyes resolutely on the task at hand.
    “L.B. please look at me.” His tone was a bit annoyed. I
didn’t care.
    I forced my smile bigger and handed Hal his drink, then the
man beside Evan his and finally, Evan. He took the drink with one hand the
other clasped loosely around my wrist.
    “London, please…” the desperation in his voice caused me to
look up sharply.
    “What Evan? What could you possibly want?” I demanded.
    “I want to fix this.” He said harshly.
    “Haven’t you done enough already?” I snapped and he
flinched.
    “Dorian.” He said.
    “What?” I asked.
    “My name is Dorian.” He said. I rolled my eyes.
    “Yeah I know, my classmate who sold me out to the
reporters told me.” My tone was icy bordering on hateful. He grimaced.
    “Let me explain…” he licked his lips and I arched my brow.
    “Just sit down and listen.” He said pulling me forward. I
switched seats, following the insistent pull on my wrist, shoulders dropping in
defeat.
    “Eva… Dorian,” I corrected, “Just how many chances do you
expect me to give you?” I asked.
    “Just one more babe, please …” and it must have been
the please because I swallowed hard but made no commitment one way or the other.
    “I’ll tell you everything.” He breathed.
    “Start talking.” I pinned him with an angry stare.
    “Drake and I, we grew up together. His grandparents raised
him… and me too for the most part.  I mean I was with my parents but they were
a mess.” He grimaced.
    “Drake was like a brother from another mother in the truest
sense of the words. His grandparents even took me in for a while, let me live
with them from my sophomore through senior years in High School when shit fell
apart at home with my folks.” He palmed the back of his neck and I waited for
him to go on.
    “It was me and Drake since the time we were three…” he took
a fortifying drink and downed half of the glass in one go.
    “We put Elysium together in High School, played out of Hal’s
garage.” Hal smiled.
    “Those were the days.” Hal said, raising his glass and
fondness flickered across his face before something haunted drowned it out in
the depths of his clear blue eyes. My eyes flicked to the third man in the
booth. He sat with his arms crossed and was staring at me like he didn’t like
me much. I blinked.
    What the Hell had I done?
    “Then we went big and it all just happened so fast… Touring
and photographers in our faces and no privacy… more money than we knew what to
do with. At first it was great but Drake, he was never happy and the more
attention we got the worse he got and I didn’t know what to do.” He drained his
glass and I poured him a glass of water. He looked at me dubiously.
    “I’m still listening, but damn it you’re going to tell me
sober.” He took the glass and put his straw into it and sucked a good deal of
that down.
    “Yeah well he may have to tell it sober but I don’t have to
listen to it sober.” The man whose name I didn’t know clunked his glass onto
the table. I made him another Moscow Mule and took up Evan’s hand without
thinking. He restarted his story:
    “I went over to his place because he’d missed some days at
the studio with us. He’d done it before but something just wasn’t right this
time. Something in my gut was telling me it was all wrong. I found him hanging
from his second floor banister.” He choked and his face scrunched in agony and
I could feel my anger slipping. I put my other hand over his where it rested in
mine.
    He looked down at our joined hands and this look crossed his
face that was