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Home / YA/TEEN / Blunt Pain / Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

All Chapters of Blunt Pain: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

95 Chapters

Part 61

MeritMerit learned how to be invisible long before anyone ever asked her to disappear. University was supposed to fix her. That was what she’d told herself when she’d packed up her life and moved into an apartment on campus.She had believed distance could rewrite her life. There would be new streets to explore, a new routine to get used to and lose herself in. She had imagined herself becoming more outgoing, funnier, and more likeable. She wanted to be someone that didn’t flinch, that didn’t doubt her own worth.It was a new city with new people and a new version of herself. Instead, she learned how loneliness just filled the voids. Her lectures were full and the campus loud. The cafés were crowded, yet, she’d never felt more alone. The noise was there, but she didn’t feel like someone new. She felt half invisible, there, but also not there.She attended classes and handed in her assignments. She sat in the back row and took meticulous notes. She smiled when people spoke to her, lau

Part 62

AxlThe days all blurred together. The guys were nice, especially to Aspen. They treated her like a little sister, and it put Axl at ease. They started at 7 a.m. every morning, broke for lunch, and finished at 7 p.m. Aspen made sure to have dinner ready, and they all sat at the kitchen counter to eat.The routine grounded him in a way he hadn’t felt in years. No chaos. No running. No wondering where he’d sleep or what he’d eat. Just music, exhaustion, and the quiet certainty that this was finally his life.She always made sure he had honey tea to soothe his throat, and the guys complained after the third day. Jack was the first one to voice it.“Why does he get special treatment?”Aspen’s cheeks colored a little, but she didn’t miss a beat. “He can do for me what you can’t.”Jack took that as a challenge as Rihon and Leon laughed. “Nuh uh, I’m sure I’m better, and I smile more.”Axl shook his head. “I smile, asshole.”“I can hold my breath for like two minutes,” he countered, and Aspe

Part 63

NorthHis jaw was clenched tightly. They had moved into their apartment in Cambridge two days earlier. Tickets for Axl’s first show were being held in place on the fridge with a magnet. He’d gotten used to spending his days with Charlotte, but as Weston stood in front of him, he felt like burning down the whole world.The apartment still smelled new—fresh paint, unopened boxes stacked in the hallway, furniture that fitted the space but not necessarily him.“What are you doing here?”“Checking in on my investment,” Weston said.An eerie coldness crawled along North’s spine as he looked at his father. “I’m doing everything you want.”“Yes, you’re a good son, North, albeit a little gullible and naive.”His jaw clenched again. The words landed harder than any slap ever could. “So… Merit told you everything? She told you about our plans to leave after graduation, didn’t she?”“Yes.”“Did you plant her in our lives from the start? Was this your way of screwing both your sons over?”Weston c

Part 64

NorthNorth couldn’t stay in the apartment any longer. He just drove. He didn’t know where he was going at first, only that he couldn’t be anywhere near his father. Fake. The word echoed in his head. Weston’s voice rang in his ears. Bile was rising up his throat. You were never married, North. That contract was designed to protect me. And Charlotte? She was very cooperative. The word cooperative carved itself into his skull. Not forced. Not manipulated. Cooperative. His hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles burned, his shoulders locked so hard his arms ached. His clenched jaw had a muscle ticking there.He stopped the car so suddenly on the side of the road that the engine shuddered. His hands were shaking on the steering wheel. He pulled his phone out and stared at Charlotte’s name. For a brief, traitorous moment, he wanted it not to be true. He wanted this to be one more thing his father had twisted.But he hadn’t said it to hurt him. It had been too casual. Like

Part 65

AspenShe stretched her arms over her head, groaning, when her elbows popped. Axl chuckled next to her, and she opened her eyes. His hair was tousled, and even having just woken up, he was still gorgeous. She got to her feet reluctantly, and Axl followed her to the bathroom. They both brushed their teeth at the basin, but the moment she put her toothbrush down, his mouth was on hers.She pushed him away when she needed air, and laughed. “We should do something today. Tomorrow morning we get on a bus, and then it’s just work, and more work.”Axl kissed the side of her neck lightly, and she shivered. “What do you want to do?”“I don’t care what we do, as long as we do it together,” she said.“Fine, go wash your armpits,” Axl said, and ducked as she tried to slap him. The bathroom door closed behind him, and she could hear him chuckle as he left the bedroom.They spent the day walking around the beachfront, buying small souvenirs, eating ice cream, and holding hands. It was a day well sp

Part 66

AxlHe was soaring; the high was so incredible it pumped through his veins. The bass, the drums, his voice, it all mingled together, and it made him feel invincible. The crowd cheered, and it was the single most powerful thing he’d ever experienced.From the moment he stepped foot on that stage, he knew this was what he wanted to do forever. The guys were all in sync, their rhythm perfect, Rihon’s voice mingling with his as they sang the choruses together.They were magic, and he’d found his family. He knew, without a doubt, he could walk the line with these guys. Their passion for music matched his own, and he loved every single second of it. It was a thrill he couldn’t explain even if he tried for a hundred years.It wasn’t just strumming the strings of his guitar, or his fingers gliding over the keys of the piano, it wasn’t the rhythm of the drums, or even the cheering crowd. It was deeper, more intense. Something inside him rose from the ashes; it stirred his soul in a way he knew

Part 67

Axl“Where are you going?” Leon was trying to keep step with him. He’d gone back to their dressing room, grabbed his jacket, and left without saying a word.“Back to the hotel,” he said, his anger swirling in his eyes.“What happened? Why are you so pissed?”Axl stopped suddenly, causing Leon to bump into him. “Aspen left. I need some space.”“Okay. Fine.” Leon raised his hands in surrender and sighed. “What about the after-party? Are you coming back?”“No.”He headed out of the arena, the rain soaking him for a few seconds as he pulled his jacket on and flagged down a cab. The cold hit his skin like punishment, sharp and unforgiving, and for a brief moment he welcomed it. It matched what was tearing through his chest.He sat in the back, brooding, thinking about North’s voicemail. He loved her first. What kind of bullshit was that? His heart clenched painfully as he thought back to the night before. It had been perfect—at least, he thought everything had been.How could she go with N

Part 68

Blunt PainDays turned into weeks and the venues remained sold out. They were reaching new heights as the opening band. Calum had sent one text. A text that had changed everything. They were getting just as much attention as the leading act.Axl walked onto the stage to a roar that still felt unreal to him. He lifted his guitar as Jack counted them in. Rihon’s bass rolled through the crowd. Leon’s guitar cut clean and sharp. Everything worked, it always worked onstage.The lights were hotter than he remembered. Brighter. Sharper. Every show felt a little bigger than the last, every room packed tighter than the one before. Somewhere between the first chord and the second breath, the noise stopped being something he heard and became something he absorbed. The crowd screamed his name between songs. Axl sang until his throat burned. He sang until there was nothing left inside him that hadn’t been dragged out into the open. He used to stop before it hurt. Now he chased the ache in his ches

Part 69

Blunt PainBy the fifth city, the adrenaline no longer masked the exhaustion. Axl’s body moved automatically. His mind drifted. Their shows were electric. Each crowd was louder than the one before. But when he stepped off stage, something inside him dipped too low. He shut himself inside the dressing room and sat on the floor, his back against the wall. He closed his eyes and breathed. Slow and controlled. He hadn’t lost his love for music. He just lost the place where he used to put everything down afterward.The roar of the crowd still rang in his ears, distorted and distant, like it belonged to another life instead of the one he had just lived onstage. His hands were still shaking when he pressed his palms against his knees. The silence in the room felt heavier than any applause.Jack knocked gently. “You good?”Axl shifted and opened the door. Jack took one look at him and sighed. He slipped inside and sat down opposite him. “You look like hell.”Axl huffed out a laugh. “Always th

Part 70

MeritShe took a deep breath as she listened to the line ring. Her phone was pressed against her ear as she paced up and down. It was the fourth time she was calling him. She almost yelled in anger when the phone went to voicemail once again.“Weston, you’re going to want to call me back. We have a problem,” she said, as she looked at the positive pregnancy test in her hand.She threw her phone on the bed and dragged her hands through her hair. It was the perfect leverage. She had five more positive tests in her bathroom. They couldn’t all be false, could they? The thin white stick trembled between her fingers. For weeks she had blamed stress, exhaustion, the strange way her appetite came and went. Now there was a single, unmistakable line dividing her life into before and after.She turned on the radio and froze in her steps. Her head snapped toward the radio, and her heart started beating faster. It couldn’t be. She turned the volume up, and her breath caught in her throat. She knew

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