Echoes of the Heart, Casey, L.A. [reader novel .txt] 📗

rude and called me . . . oh my god! Look at what your fans are saying about me. I’ve never been called fat and ugly this many times in my life.”

“You’re not fat or ugly, these people are not Sinners.” I took the phone and scanned over the twins’ messages. “They’re just obsessed with me or the guys and think they get to decide who we date. It’s kind of our own fault though . . . we’re rock stars, we’re aren’t perfect. We’ve all had sex with groupies, we talk shit during interviews, we talk a certain way to our Sinners on social media because they like it. Sex is always a topic. Women are always a topic. Especially sex with women . . . fuck, we’ve actually been heartless bastards when it comes to women. I didn’t realise we objectify them so much because they always come to us so willingly.”

Frankie remained quiet.

“Maybe if we didn’t link women and sex together so often, our Sinners wouldn’t do the same when it came to the women in our life. Fuck. Looks like I’ve a shit load more to work on than just being sober.”

Frankie brushed her hand over my chest.

“You’re a good man,” she said. “No, you aren’t perfect, but realising flaws like you just spotted and knowing you have to make a change makes you perfect to me.”

My heart felt lighter.

“I’ll work on that and I’ll talk to the guys about it but even if we change our ways you just have to realise that some people are just hateful. Summer, Hayes’s wife, has her comments turned off on Instagram because she gets so much abuse over being married to him. She’s Chinese so a lot of people have a problem with that. He’s black, she Asian. Interracial couples have it insanely hard still.”

“Well, the comments I’ve seen are mainly about my appearance, and a few about me being a gold-digger, so it’s not nearly as bad as what Summer goes through.”

“Just because she gets abuse over something different doesn’t matter, you both are receiving it because you’re connected to members of Blood Oath. To some of the crazier people, we’re off limits to every woman. Some of the teenage girls even write fan fiction where me and the guys are secretly in love with one another and fuck like rabbits behind closed doors.”

Frankie’s face was comical.

“You’re joking!”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “May reads one about me and him and he’s such an avid reader and fan of it that he hopes we end up together at the end of the story.”

Frankie burst into gleeful laughter.

“That’s actually brilliant.”

I chuckled. “Surely you’ve gotten one insult that you actually thought was a little funny.”

“Well,” she shifted. “I read one when I was walking into May’s garden. One commenter said I looked like a long-lost Weasley sister from the Harry Potter series, that made smile.”

She pinched my nipple when I snickered.

“See?” I smiled. “You have to find the fun in some of those comments because if you didn’t, you’d reach a real low point.’

“I guess.”

“Always remember these people are insecure and want to be dating me, or one of the other guys, when they tear women down who are connected to us. It’s jealousy that fuels it. Even if some of them did find you unattractive and think I could do better than you, the main reason they comment hateful things is because they wish they were in your position.”

She processed my words and nodded, accepting them.

“Besides,” I looked down at her phone. “They now know that you’re my muse, that’s likely why some of the more hateful ones are being extra cruel when speaking about you.”

Frankie titled her head.

“What do you mean?” she quizzed. “How am I your muse?”

She had to be yanking my chain.

“You’re joking, right?”

“No.”

“You’ve heard our songs, right?”

“I’ve heard all of your band’s songs, I have the albums downloaded.”

Definitely yanking my chain.

“Then you know that you’re my muse,” I stated. “You’ve heard the songs. You know.”

Frankie played with my sobriety coin and didn’t reply. I assumed she was embarrassed to have me confirm that she was the reason I wrote so many songs. She was too modest to take credit so I knew that was why she was quiet.

“I think you should post something about me,” she then said. “You know, something about me being an old girlfriend so your fans can relax. I know May posted that picture of us and called me his sister from another mister but I think your fans need an update from you.”

“You’re not just an old girlfriend though,” I said. “You’re the only girlfriend I’ve ever had. That’s why that video is making the rounds so much.”

Frankie rolled her eyes and the action took me back.

“What the hell was that for?”

She tried to take her phone back from me, but I held it out of reach.

“Answer me and I’ll give it back to you,” I said. “What’d you roll your eyes for?”

“C’mon, Risk,” she grumbled. “I’ve seen magazine covers over the years and I’ve heard Hannah and Anna talk about you. You have been with models, the real ones and the Instagram ones as well as actresses, singers and I think Anna even said you dated a famous zoologist before.”

The fucking media twisted everything. I didn’t date a zoologist, nearly all animals scared the shit out of me. I went to dinner with that woman to prove to May that I could sit near a woman who took handled snakes, lions, bears and a bunch of other animals that would make me piss myself on sight.

“God’s sake.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Frankie, I just have to be pictured with a woman to make headlines about being in a secret relationship.”

“So you’re telling me you’ve never dated any of the women you’ve been pictured with?”

“I’ve gone on dates with a lot of them,” I admitted. “But I’ve never dated any of them. You’re the only girlfriend I’ve had. Ever.”

She looked me in the