Tetris in Red

37: Tetris in Defeat

37: Tetris in Defeat

Alec

Pained sobs filter the tension floating in the air.

Missori, Peyton, Toro, Cyprus, and I watch helplessly as Rhys fall into pieces in the middle of the living room. Every sob wracks the entirety of her body and whispers of denial tumble from her lips and straight into my chest.

The hurt she's experiencing feels as though she's holding us hostage. No one moves. No one says a thing. We just stare. All of us know so well the vulnerability she's feeling, as if we're there again ourselves.

The first time it happened to me, I wasn't ready too. They had dug around my life and exposed my mistakes to the world like they were theirs, like they were things that they should have an opinion about. Twisting them into something far from the truth and making me feel bad about them all over again. I had wanted to turn back and reclaim the soul I sold to the devil. No one heard from Eunoia for a long time after that.

Tetris shouldn't have experienced this. They dug around her past life because of her connection with me. I swallow the bile growing thick in my throat.

Toro tentatively reaches out to Tetris' shaking shoulders. She quickly recoils, breathing hard as she looks back at him, green eyes glaring. "Let me bring you upstairs, honey. Take a rest and clear your mind."

Toro's voice is so soft, one that we haven't heard before. But he's always the soft one in the band, the most empathetic and caring. I never appreciated him like I do at this moment.

Tetris crumbles again in front of our eyes, fresh tears begin to cascade down her flustered cheeks. My heart breaks at the sight. I want to reach out to her, but I'm afraid when I do, she'll say something I can't bear to hear.

"I wasn't a stripper..." Her words are nothing but shaky breaths.

Toro gives her a reassuring smile. "We know, honey."

"I dance, but I don't strip. There's a difference. They are so dumb."

We all but hide our chuckles behind our palms. She's hurting but has still managed to make us laugh. This woman.

"I wasn't a prostitute either."

"We know..."

"I'm not a gold-digger."

Toro nods gently.

"I wasn't two-timing Cyprus and Alec—"

Every one of us freezes, the anger in Rhys' voice is back. I carefully try to get near her again, fearing that she'll retreat from me like the first time. My eyes lock with Cyprus when I lift my head. He shakes his head, his gaze flaring with regret, lips squeezed in a thin line as if he's holding himself back.

There's a nagging voice inside my head that has my guard against Cyprus rising up. He's my friend, but he can also be cunning, especially if he badly wants something.

I turn my attention back to Rhys who grows silent, her lips still quivering. It hurts to look at her like this. So out of her depth, her head down, shoulders low in defeat. No traces of the proud Tetris Posziel we've all been used to.

"Red." She looks up at me, her eyes still watery, her face now swollen from all the crying. I offer her my hand, "Let's go upstairs, please."

She stares at it, forehead wrinkling, as if she's thinking hard over letting me hold her or not. Then she shakes her head like something clicked inside her. Grabbing her phone, she slowly stands up, then walks away from us without looking back. Our heads shift to watch her running up the stairs, taking a bottle of gin with her.

Oh, Rhys...

"She's a big girl, she'll get over it." I turn to see Cyprus rising up, his eyes still on where Rhys went.

My blood runs cold. I take a step toward him, my jaw clenching when I've had a clear view of his passive face. "You sold her to the press."

He halts. His eyes widening, mouth closing and opening as if he's struggling to find the right words. The guilt in his eyes is so clear that it feels like a slap to the face. "What the fuck are you on about? Why would I do that?"

"You were here when we got back from the beach."

He lets out a short laugh that pricks on my skin. "So? Holland was there, too."

"Well, Holland wouldn't sell us like that and you know it. You've been on Tetris' back these past few weeks. You made it clear you wanted her gone."

"Dude." He gets up on my face, giving me a mocking grin. "You're really choosing her over us? We've been friends our whole life and what did she do? Threatened to take away all our hard work just because. Get your head out of your fucking ass."

I push him away from me, then land a solid punch to his jaw. His body flies to the sofa before he falls to the floor, taking a vase with him. It cracks into pieces, the broken bits cutting into his skin. Cyprus doesn't care. He stands up from the ground, his eyes darkening with hatred. "That's all you got asshole?" He waves both of his hands in the air signaling me to come at him.

I fucking do.

I swing my arm for another punch, channeling everything I'm feeling about the situation we found ourselves in. Every punch I knocked onto him is charged with anger and frustration and everything in between. The sound echoes around the house; glasses breaking, furniture moving out of place, punches and bones breaking from intensity.

The other guys tear us apart while we are rolling on the floor, the other preventing one from pummeling the other.

"You think you're being a hero, fucking noble and honorable. Is she that good in bed that you're willing to fight for her?" Cyprus lets out a humorless laugh. "What kind of pussy—"

"Say it," I say in a warning. "Say it and I'll break your face more than it already has."

I'm fully aware that my face is just the same. The pain from both my face and ribs creeping up to me. But he doesn't need to know I'm that affected. Cyprus can barely hold it together to stand straight.

Cyprus sighs, his body deflating in defeat. He looks at me ruefully. "I sold the pictures of you on the beach, but that's the extent of it."

"Why the fuck did you do that?" I suck in a breath, despite expecting it. Hearing his betrayal feels like a punch to the gut. "There's already enough rumors running around."

"I know, all right? I have no reason. I was just pissed at her for everything. She's fucked with our heads. She instilled us this empty fears for our career."

I shrug off Toro's hold on me. It's depressing that I'm agreeing with him about the last part. But I already hid those fears away and allowed it to be overshadowed by the moments I have with Rhys. I hate that she had to get hurt because of coming forward. I hate that we felt threatened. I feel the fight leaving out of me in a drawn-out sigh. "The photos of both of you."

He shakes his head. "I have no idea. Must be some staff or a journalist."

Holland had said the same thing.

I look away, my palms brushing my face aggressively before I start to pace. My hand finds a fallen picture frame and throw it across the wall, the sound has never felt so satisfying.

There must be something I can do to fix this.

Something that won't put Rhys in the limelight than she already has...