My boy / Drew Starkey

42

Drew

Reading Jaden's stupid post made my blood boil. Not just because it was a clear PR move—something crafted by a team of people who probably didn't even know him personally—but because after all this time, the truth had finally come out. The truth I spent years ignoring. The truth everyone around me tried to warn me about.

I scrolled through the caption again, my fingers gripping my phone so tight my knuckles turned white. Every word felt like a slap in the face. The carefully worded damage control, the vague apologies, the "this was a misunderstanding" bullshit.

It wasn't a misunderstanding. It was a betrayal.

I exhaled sharply, throwing my phone onto the couch. It landed face-down next to Rudy, who was already watching me like I was about to explode.

"Dude," Rudy said carefully, "maybe you should—"

"Should what?" I snapped, running a hand through my hair. "Calm down? Be rational? You guys all knew, right? You all fucking knew and I just—" I let out a bitter laugh, shaking my head. "I was the idiot who refused to see it."

No one said anything.

That was the worst part. The silence.

Because that meant I was right.

I paced the length of my apartment, my head spinning. The walls felt like they were closing in, like the weight of every lie I had ignored was suffocating me all at once.

At the time, I didn't want to believe that my best friend—my brother—could do something like that to me. I didn't want to believe that Kiara had cheated. We were good. We were strong. At least, that's what I told myself.

But now? Now it all made sense.

The way they got defensive when I confronted them. The way they both got mad. The way Jaden acted like I was crazy for even asking.

"Drew, man, sit down," Chase finally spoke up. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, watching me like I was seconds away from punching a hole in the wall. And honestly? He wasn't wrong.

I ignored him.

Everything felt different now.

I had already lost Jaden a long time ago, but now I felt like I was grieving him all over again. Because the version of him in my head—the one I used to be proud to call my brother—was officially dead.

And Kiara?

I didn't even know who she was to me anymore.

Chase finally stood up, clapping his hands together once. "Alright, I think we've all hit our emotional limits for the morning. Who needs a drink?"

Rudy exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I could use a drink."

Jonathan and Austin agreed.

I didn't say anything.

Because even though a drink sounded great, I knew it wouldn't fix anything.

I still had to face the reality of it all. The fact that the whole world now knew. The fact that every fan, every interviewer, every fucking person with an opinion was going to be dissecting this for weeks. The fact that people were already saying that I was secretly dating Mila, which was a whole other mess waiting to explode.

Jaden and Kiara were old news now.

But Mila and me? That was the new headline.

And I had no idea how I was going to handle that.