GuiTara

🎵~21

🎶You lied to me ~ Becca feat. Kwabena Kwabena

●Tara Afua Henrie●

Once we made it backstage, I let out a deep breath, feeling the tension slowly leave my body. It had been an intense night, but I did it. I made it through and the only thing I was grateful for was that I hadn't messed up our performance.

Carlos quickly dashed past me.

"Hey, what's the rush?"

"Bathroom!" He tossed over his shoulder before disappearing behind a door.

Eden turned, shooting me a perceptive look and I immediately knew what was coming. But surprisingly she didn't comment. She just picked up a water bottle and walked away, preferring to let Jax handle my little spaz on stage.

And he didn't hesitate to jump right into it.

"What is it?" Jax crossed his arms.

I quickly avoided his stern gaze and reached for the last water bottle in the cooler, screwing it open. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Tara." His voice was heavy with frustration. "You forgot the lyrics, and that has never happened before. Not even at rehearsal. What's going on? Before we went on stage, you were all frazzled and confused—"

"Nothing is going on, Jax. I made a small mistake. Stop reading too much into it." Finishing my water, I chucked the empty bottle into the nearest bin and moved away before he could bombard me with more questions. Now wasn't the time to handle them and I still needed to talk to Shaun. But how was I going to get to him?

I had just turned a corner backstage when my eyes landed on Nando who'd just opened the fridge.

Bingo!

"Hey, Nando."

"Oh hey, T." He took out a bottle of Minute maid apple juice and handed it over to Keke.

"Gracias Papi," she said, then she took off into the kitchen.

Chuckling, my brother-in-law turned to me. "What's up?"

"Listen, I need your help with something. There's someone in the audience that I really need to speak to privately, and I was hoping you could get him to meet me in Pam's office."

"Ah." He nodded. "It's that Shaun Perez guy, isn't it? He's the one you went to meet before the show."

My eyebrows furrowed. "How did you..."

"Roberto and Areli brought me up to speed." Nando folded his arms. "Look T, are you sure that this is the right time for you to talk to him? Cuz I also knows he's the reason why you went blank on stage. You saw him in the audience, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I only went blank because I wasn't expecting to see him here. I thought he had left after the paparazzi attack. Listen Nando," I sucked in a deep breath before continuing. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't need to. All this time I thought Shaun was my friend. I spent weeks trying to get in touch with him, then today, he shows up out of nowhere and I find out that he's not who I thought he was. Don't you think I deserve to know why he lied to me?"

Nando sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and after a moment's pause, he relented. "Fine. I'll get him for you."

My lips cracked into a smile.

"But if he tries anything funny..."

"He won't," I said and wrapped my brother-in-law in a hug. "Thanks Nando."

¤¤¤¤¤

I anxiously paced back and forth in Pam's office.

I didn't even know how I was going to broach the topic once he showed up. But I just knew I couldn't let him start talking before I could.

A knock sounded through the door and I steeled myself for the confrontation.

The door handle went down, and in stepped Shaun. His hair styled back neatly and a sleek black coat covering his frame. How did I not see the essence of wealth drifting off of him earlier?

The moment he shut the door, he said, "Tara—"

"You're Declan's brother!"

"Half-brother." He clarified, twisting his lips.

"So? It still doesn't change the fact that you're actually related!" I blurted out. "You lied to me."

"No, no." He rapidly shook his head attempting to draw closer. "I did not lie to you, I—"

"You told me you were an accountant!" I snapped.

"Y-yeah, I did but..." Frustrated, he hurriedly run his hands over his face. "Look, when we met at the park, the only reason I didn't tell you who I was because I enjoyed spending time with you. We had a lot in common and so much to talk about that I just...I just wanted it to stay that way."

Then like a spark of lightning, realization hit. "That's why you were so hesitant the first time I invited you to the show," I said and his face paled.

"You knew that if you came, people would recognize you. That's why you ghosted me for three weeks. You didn't want me to find out who you were."

"That was at first." He jumped in, sweating. "But later I realized it was a stupid thing to do, and that's why I came here today. I came here to tell you everything, Tara. To fix this."

My head was spinning, resurrecting that migraine I had banished earlier before the show. It was blooming. "Well, it's too late." I rubbed my temples, struggling to maintain my composure.

"What?" I could practically hear the desperation in his voice.

"It's too late, Shaun. There's nothing to fix because everything is broken beyond repair."

"C'mon, you—you don't mean that." He took a step closer and I flinched away from his touch. That was when the door creaked open.

"Tara?"Jax poked his head in first, eyebrows dipping at the sight of my troubled expression. "Everything ok here?"

"Everything is—"

"Leave Shaun."

Those two words had him whipping around. Every inch of his face was covered in disappointment. "Tara..."

"No." I shook my head. "Don't make this any harder than it is for me. Just go."

"You heard her." Jax stepped aside and opened the door wide. "Time for you to go, buddy."

Reluctance held Shaun back for a minute or two, then after shooting me one last look of remorse, he pivoted on his heel, slipping out the door with ease.

Jax shut it behind him and the sound doubled the intensity of my migraine. "Ugh."

"Hey you ok?" I soon felt Jax's wide hands on my arms.

"Yeah...I think." A shaky breath left my mouth and before I could even say more, Jax pulled me to his chest, holding me close. And because it felt so good, I let him keep me there. Maybe it would help ease the blossoming pain in my head and in my heart.

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