My Only Exception (11 page)

“Presley. Damn, girl! We might need to take a couple of bats with us to beat the boys off of you.”

I struck a playful pose. “It’s the new me. You like?”

“I love! It’s perfect for tonight.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope. Speaking of which, we need to get going.”

I shook my head at her excitement and grabbed my pocketbook. I honestly didn’t care where we were going —wherever it was, I was going to make sure I had a blast.

*  *  *

Hours later I was sitting in the front seat of Bree’s Lexus SUV with Wyatt and his girlfriend, Carly, in the back. We had just pulled up to a huge concert arena, and I had a sneaky suspicion of who was playing tonight.

I narrowed my eyes at Bree. “You have
got
to be kidding me.”

“What?” Bree was looking at me innocently, like she hadn’t driven me right up to the last place I wanted to be tonight. I was determined not to let this set me back. Maybe it was just the test I needed to prove to myself that I really was the strong new Presley. Braden had moved on and there was no reason I couldn’t enjoy listening to Chronic Need play. They were extremely talented and I loved their music. And as far as the song “Desperate for You” went, it already played on the radio what seemed like a million times a day, so I had already grown numb to its effect on me.

I could do this. The new bombshell-Presley could do this.

“I take it Chronic Need is playing tonight?” My eyes darted between Bree and Wyatt.

Wyatt put his hands up to ward off my suspicions. “Don’t look at me. I tried to tell Bree I didn’t think it was a good idea. But you know her…”

I sighed deeply and looked at Bree. “It’s okay. I have to face it sooner or later. What better time than now?”

We got out and walked up to the arena. What I didn’t expect was to be met by a member of Chronic Need’s management team at the gate. He was a tall, bulky guy wearing a band T-shirt and a laminated all-access pass hanging from his neck. He introduced himself as Tommy and his eyes lingered on me a second longer than the rest of our group. I wasn’t sure if it was my new look, or if maybe he knew I was the girl the band’s number-one hit was written after. I hoped not. 

I looked at Wyatt, who just shrugged.

As we followed the Tommy guy to our seats, I noticed we were heading toward the front row. I nudged Bree and whispered, “What have you done, Bree?”

“Nothing. I just pulled a few strings.”

I gave her a skeptical look. I
really
hoped she wasn’t harboring some fantasy of Braden finding me and declaring his undying love. I hadn’t had a chance to tell her about the magazine cover I’d seen earlier, but I was pretty sure it would have dispelled any notion of that.

I shook my head. Whatever. She could wish whatever she wanted, but I certainly didn’t have any such false hopes.

As we took our seats, front and center on the front row, I pushed back the niggling worry that it might be a little awkward sitting right in Braden’s line of vision during the concert. Maybe I could just focus on the other guys in the band and avoid eye contact. I was determined not to be the weak, scared Presley I had been before. I was going to handle this like a champ. I was resolute in my mind-set and nothing, not even this, was going to change that.

By the time the opening act had finished playing, I was having a great time. I found I really liked hanging out with Wyatt’s girlfriend, Carly, and we were all having a blast together. Wyatt was into the alternative band that opened for Chronic Need, so it appeared he was enjoying himself too, despite being in the company of three laughing, crazy-acting girls.

When Chronic Need was announced, an ear-deafening roar rose from the crowd. I found it hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement. And in spite of my reservations, I had really missed seeing the guys in person, and was just as thrilled as everyone else when they ran onstage.

Braden grabbed the microphone from the stand in the middle of the stage. “Helloooo, Charleston, South Carolina!”

The screaming of the crowd nearly had me covering my ears. And so far, Braden hadn’t even noticed me. Maybe, if I was lucky, he’d go the whole concert without seeing me. The band started playing the first song of the night and before long I had almost completely relaxed. Maybe the lights were so bright onstage that he couldn’t see the first row. It seemed unlikely but, then again, I’d never been onstage, so I wouldn’t know.

My relief was short-lived when, halfway through the concert, the lead guitarist, Ryan, saw me and winked. I smiled back, but it unnerved me that if he saw me, that meant Braden would be able to as well.

If I could just get through the rest of the concert without Braden noticing me sitting there, I would be so happy. I might be an all-new Presley, but that didn’t mean I wanted to sit through an awkward situation. I wouldn’t let anything get to me like I had in the past, I was beyond that, but looking into his eyes would still hurt.

When I heard the first few chords of “Desperate for You,” I swallowed hard.
I can do this. I can do this.
I chanted that over and over in my head. Get through him singing this song standing just feet away from me, and I could get through anything.

Braden sat down, straddling a stool that was placed in the middle of the stage, and adjusting the guitar hanging around his neck.

I had to close my eyes for a split second to calm the butterflies in my stomach. Braden looked incredibly sexy in his worn jeans and fitted T-shirt. I remembered all too well how hard and cut that body of his was underneath. I even knew every last tattoo that covered his arms and the one on the side of his rib cage. His hair had that messy look
 from performing for the past two hours straight and he looked incredibly sexy
.

And I also happened to know he was amazingly sweet and thoughtful and everything else you’d want in a guy.

And I had let him get away —pushed him away, in fact.

I bit my lip. But that was the old, insecure Presley. The new one was way more self-assured and confident or she wouldn’t be standing here right now getting ready to listen to Braden Worthington sing about her.

 I remembered how the first time I’d heard “Desperate for You,” I had run. I wouldn’t be doing that this time. I was facing this and adding it to the things I had overcome. 

Braden ran his hand through his dark hair that was glistening with sweat. His eyes raked the crowd and came to stop on me.

I gulped.

His emerald-green eyes met mine and I noticed his jaw working slightly.

I held his eyes, determined to confront this head on. No more running scared. Never again. It had caused me to lose the best thing that had ever happened to me, but never would again.

He looked away and it felt like losing the warmth of the sun. I felt cold and alone which was silly because he was no longer mine anyway. We weren’t even friends anymore.

Girls in the crowd were screaming for him and he had to hold a hand up to calm the screams enough for him to talk.

He cleared his throat. “This next song is very special to me. I’m sure most of you will recognize it, as it is our most recently released mainstream song.” He had to stop again to let the screams from the crowd subside. “I wrote this about someone who I cared about.”

Braden’s eyes found mine again and I had to use every bit of willpower I had not to close my eyes from the pain of hearing him say the word “cared.” I guess he was well and truly over me.

And then I froze when he said, “Someone I
still
care about.”

My eyes widened at this. He still cared about me? My heart wanted to rejoice at that but I knew that “still caring” was not the same as “still wanting.”

He looked back up at the crowd and said, “What do you say I introduce you to the girl I wrote this song about.”

My breath left me in a swoosh.
Oh God, he wouldn’t
.

I wasn’t sure if this was his way of getting me back for hurting him, but it was a very public way, if it was. This would be all over the tabloids by tomorrow morning.

And there was no way I was going on that stage.

Braden walked to the edge of the stage directly in front of me and dropped down on his knees while continuing to talk to the crowd.

“Her name is Presley and she’s quite possibly the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. And also the most self-destructive. But nobody’s perfect, right?”

The crowd roared its approval of this. I, on the other hand, was close to losing the control I had fought so hard to obtain. I had no idea where he was going with this.

“And, I’m head over heels in love with her.”

And this time I did have to cover my ears from the sound barrier-breaking screams. I closed my eyes. He had just told me he was in love with me in front of thousands of people. I absolutely couldn’t believe it.

I pushed the old Presley, with her self-doubts, behind me and opened my eyes, dropping my hands to my side. Braden reached a hand out to me, his eyes pleading me to take it. He had never looked as vulnerable as he did now after just declaring his love for me and leaving himself open to rejection in front of an arena full of people —and the whole world, quite frankly.

A silence fell over the concert venue as everyone held their breath.

I was facing both my worst fear of getting in front of a crowd and also my fear of accepting a love that had nearly destroyed me and him both —all at the same time.

But, I had learned my lesson well. I would never again let fear of failure or getting hurt prevent me from living and loving.

I stepped forward and walked the couple of steps to put my hand in his.

That gorgeous, megawatt smile lit up his face and the crowd went wild. He pulled me onstage, wrapping me in his arms before kissing me senseless.

And if I had died and gone to heaven, I don’t think I could have been any more happy than I was at that moment.

I felt so right and so whole in his arms. It was only then, wrapped in his warmth, that I realized just how vast the hole in me was without him.

Later, backstage, he pulled me into a room alone, whispering that he wanted me all to himself. The electricity between us was snapping, that was the one constant in our relationship, something that was always there no matter how screwed up everything else was.

As soon as the door closed behind us he grabbed me, pulling me so that we were chest to chest. “Presley, do you know how badly I wanted you to come tonight? How badly I wanted you to stay once you found out where Bree had taken you?”

My eyebrows shot up. “
You
planned this?”

Braden gave me an apologetic look. “Yeah. I did. I didn’t know how else to make you see how much I still wanted you. You made it clear you didn’t trust anything I had to say, so I knew calling you and telling you wouldn’t work. So I called Bree… and arranged this.”

My mouth was hanging open. All of these months I had been tormenting myself, thinking he never wanted to see me again, and he had still wanted me all along.

Now it was my turn to apologize. I took a deep breath. “Braden, I am so sorry that I didn’t give you a chance. I doubted your intentions from the very beginning, when you had never given me any reason to, and that was wrong.” I glanced down and then back up again into his eyes.
Here goes nothing
. This was my chance to lay it all out there. What’s the worst that could happen?