RARE (THEROCKAFELLABOYSSERIES#1)

"I want her gone."

Zoey Kagel

There's ten days left on tour. Hours of torture that I can't get out of because Erica isn't letting me. I signed the contract, so I have to work until the sixteenth, end of discussion.

A lot has happened. Too much to process, really. I stayed in a separate hotel with my parents last night, tossing and turning at the replay of the horror Luke's words.

I always knew he had a nasty side to him, having witnessed it when other people pissed him off, but never did I think he would switch it onto me.

I didn't recognise the man he was yesterday;
The cruel behaviour just something else.

It's clear he's going through something big. That much is obvious. But, humiliating me the way he did, in front of everyone yesterday is unforgivable.

The day already feels too long and it's barely nine o'clock in the morning. And the awkwardness everyone feels as we travel down to Newcastle is crushing.

"She needs to go," Luke is saying while he points at me.

I shrink to the size of a pea, folding my arms around myself, praying it somehow makes me disappear.

Maeva speaks up. "You shut your mouth, Luke. Zoey isn't going anywhere unless she wants to."

His nostrils flare. "There's no use for her now."

Elijah jumps up from his seat to barge at Luke, pinning him to the wall with his forearm pressing on his windpipe. "Enough. That's fucking enough, okay?"

Luke stares straight at his face, eyes lost in a world of anger, hands reaching out to shove at Elijah's shoulders.

It feels easier for everyone if I get out of the way, so I head over to the bunkbeds. Every muscle in my body aching when I walk. Tiny shocks of pain spreading all over. I choose my bunk, crawling inside to slide the curtain across so I'm hiding from all of them.

This is so humiliating.

I think the thing getting to me the most is that I didn't see it coming. Luke came out of nowhere and tore my heart right out of my chest.

Searching my pocket for my AirPods, I pop them in and FaceTime Roman, warm tears already slipping past my nose as soon as I see his face. The tears turning into silent sobs, my body jerking uncontrollably when I move onto my side.

"I'm going to kill him," he growls, face scrunching with pain when my tears come faster. "Oh, Zoey. I'm so sorry. It's going to be okay. I promise you. Please don't cry, precious girl. Please. I hate to see you cry."

My tiny world has broken into a thousand pieces.

"It hurts so much," I say choppily, a loud cry escaping.

"I don't know what the hell he thinks he's doing," he says, walking out of our kitchen and towards the sitting room.

"He's being so horrible," I whisper, wiping my wet face on the pillow.

Roman suddenly looks ready to fight. "Zoey, fuck the contract. You need to get out of there."

"I can't. The management team won't let me," I say, jostling around when the bus hits a bump in the road.

He rubs his face. "Then you spend no time with them unless you have to. I mean it. The bare minimum."

"I booked into a separate hotel tonight. My parents are following us up here on the other bus, so they can stay with me."

The Lost Boys don't know what they got themselves into by inviting my mother onto that tour bus.

"Good," he says.