Wild Chase (31 page)

Panting, out of breath, and completely lost for words, we stay like that until Avery lets me go, slowly setting me to my wobbly feet. Avery steals the last bit of breath from me when he wraps his arms around me and kisses me as though his life depends on it. He pulls back suddenly and cradles my face in his hands.

“I’m fixing this, Chase. I promise I’ll fix everything. I’m leaving her. You and I have wasted enough time, and I’m done pretending like you haven’t been with me since the night I met you. I swear I’ll make this right, just promise me that you meant everything you said. Twenty-one year old guys don’t dream about being with one girl for the rest of their lives, Chase, but I’ve been yours since you bumped into me on that dance floor. Tell me you’re mine, too,” Avery manages shakily, his voice laced with so much emotion.

I look up into the eyes of the man I am so madly in love with and I know there’s only one thing left to say.

“Only yours, Avery.”

Two spots on my ceiling. At least, that’s how many I can see in the dark as I lay here, completely unable to shut my eyes. I don’t need to shut my eyes to see what I want to see anyway. Visions of the epitome of male gorgeousness are so fresh in my mind that I start to sweat as soon as I begin to think about the way he… sweet Lord.

I roll over and play idly with my lip ring, smiling too brightly for such a late hour. I still don’t know how I managed to escape the club so quickly afterward, but my brain couldn’t handle anything else after he and I three-wayed that wall.

My cell chirps from the other side of my bedroom. I stumble across the dark room and swipe it up.

… I can’t sleep at all

Can’t stop thinking about you…

God, I can still feel you Chase

Chills run up my body as I read the text messages across the screen. Every inch of my skin begins to heat as I recall his breath along my jaw, the taste of his desperate kiss, and the sweat that glistened off his hard, muscular body. I can feel him all over me too, as if I finally let him in and allowed him to invade every fiber of my soul. My fingers dance across the keys.

Can’t sleep either

I tug on my lip again with my teeth, wondering if I should send the next message or not, but my trembling fingers hit send for me.

I wish you were here

My heart falters as I wait for his reply, the seconds feeling like hours with every heavy beat in my chest.

You have no idea

The pit of my stomach clenches and I blush fiercely. Oh yes I do Avery McGuire, four years’ worth of ideas.

I promise you won’t have to wish much longer.

Fluttering takes over me completely, until the next message pops up.

Olivia passed out on the drive to the hotel, but I’m talking to her first thing in the morning.

Flopping back down onto my bed, I let out a long sigh. The fluttering dissipated quickly as thoughts of what tomorrow will bring surfaces. Clenching my eyes shut I repeat to myself that everything will be ok.

Everything will work out. Jesse won’t hate you. Everything will work out. You’ll finally get to be with Avery. Jesse won’t hate you. Everything will be fine…

Dark circles are heavy beneath his normally bright silver eyes as the sun began to peek through the silk curtains. Avery sits up slowly on the uncomfortable couch he attempted to sleep on, and rubs his face warily. Olivia lay in the bedroom, still asleep, from the sound of it. Avery lets out a long sigh, his mind slipping back to where it always goes.

After finally holding Chase again, kissing her, taking her—it took every ounce of will power he had left in his body to walk away from her and back to Olivia. Of course, the moment feels tainted with guilt. Betrayal. First, the strain this would put on the relationship he had with his best friend had him feeling utterly sick. Secondly, he could sense the resentment boiling in his blood for what he had done to Olivia; for some of the time they were together, he had thought maybe he could have loved her.

A powerful laugh burst from his lungs at the thought passing through his mind.

Yeah, that’s bullshit. Chase never left him in all the time they had been apart. She had been in the music he wrote, the starlight in the night sky, and the air that he breathed. He never let her go, and never even tried. Olivia never stood a chance, she just didn’t compare. It wasn’t her fault. It was just fate. He knew it the moment he kissed Chase in that loud, Texas bar. There had been a magnetic pull to the brunette that he couldn’t ignore, time and space weren’t even a factor. And finally, he didn’t have to ignore anything anymore.

But, Olivia was still a person he had cared for, and what he had done to her was wrong.

“Why didn’t you sleep in bed with me last night?” a soft, sleepy voice spoke from beside the couch, startling Avery.

Jumping to his feet, he turns quickly to a very suspicious looking Olivia, who hadn’t changed out of her clothes from the night before yet.

Swallowing roughly, he grimaces, knowing it’s time. The band has had enough success and has proven themselves by now to stand on their own if her father’s threats prove true. He takes a deep breath.

“We need to talk, Olivia.”

She visibly tenses, her jaw stiffening, as she appears to brace herself for whatever it is he’s about to say.

“I’m so sorry, Olivia, I really am, but you and I, we’re over,” he states evenly, holding her gaze.

The corner of Olivia’s eye rises slightly, but she holds her expression as if his words don’t faze her in the slightest. The silence between the two of them is louder than any scream Avery had anticipated.

Clearing her throat, she finally speaks.

“Is this about another woman?”

It’s Avery’s turn to tense. He did not want to shove that part in her face; the media was going to do enough of that for him.

In taking far too long to answer her, she let out a cold, calculated laugh. “You know, Avery, after two years, I expected to have this conversation sooner. If you need to get a little bit of groupie action in from time to time, I get it. We can talk about this; work things out. We don’t have to end what we have just because you messed around.”

Craning his head to the side, he looks at Olivia with wide, baffled eyes. First, how in the hell did she know that it had to do with someone else, and secondly, who the hell is this woman, and what did she do with the real Olivia?

Squeezing the bridge of his nose, Avery lets out a bewildered sigh, “No, it’s not like that. Honestly, it’s so much more than I can even begin to explain, Olivia. I’m really sorry; I never meant to hurt you.”

The amused look begins slipping from her face.

“I don’t understand. Avery, I’ve been with you for two years! Suddenly you’re pushing me away, ignoring my calls, and acting crazy. How in the hell do you just up and dump me out of nowhere without thinking you don’t have to explain it to me? I just told you that you could cheat on me and you’re still breaking up with me, so you bet your ass that you owe me an explanation and I’m not going anywhere till I get it!” she yells, her nostrils flaring and cheeks turning red with every raging word.

Blowing out a deep breath slowly, Avery swipes a hand through his hair and closes his eyes as he says the one name that he knows will blow the roof off this fight.

“Chase.”

Olivia’s jaw hangs open slightly, a choked laugh breaking free from her lips. She closes her eyes and tilts her head back, her foot starting to tap rapidly against the hardwood floor.

“That purple haired girl. It’s her, isn’t it?”

Without hesitation, Avery nods, “Yes.”

Olivia’s head snaps back down, her eyes burning with fury.

“Are you freaking kidding me, Avery? How could you? I knew she was trouble that very first night. How could you do this to me, Avey? You lied to me! You fed me lie after lie and I knew better all along. I can’t believe this! You told me that that part of your life was over! That you and I had a future,” but before she could say anything else, Avery cut her off.

“I told you that I wasn’t over her from the start, Olivia. And I am sorry. I had hoped that I could move on… Before you, it was her, and even after you, I’m sorry but it’s always been her. I never in a million years thought I would see her again, but I can’t pretend anymore. I won’t lie to you again, either.”

Grinding her teeth, she reaches out and slaps Avery hard across the cheek, leaving behind a pink handprint in its wake.

“How the hell did I ever stand a chance in that bitch’s shadow? Huh? I have had to listen to you mutter her name in your sleep since day one, even had you call me that name in bed! After I forgave you for all of that, you’re ‘sorry’? Fuck your sorry, Avery! You are an even bigger asshole than Jesse! Oh, and some friend you got there! Those two have been shacking up for the last two weeks! You guys have to be the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever met. It’s like a soap opera! And for
that
girl? What a true love you have, Sweetheart! Enjoy his sloppy seconds. You all deserve each other.”

The vein in his neck starts to bulge, “We already know that we’ve made a mess; that I have made a mess, but I’m trying to do the right thing here, Olivia.”

Pulling her hand back to slap him again, she pauses and shakes her head, dropping it lifelessly to her side.

“The right thing? God! You are such an idiot! Sometimes I wonder why I stayed with you so long. Breaking up with me isn’t doing the right thing. It’s a means to an end; I should know.”

Puzzled, Avery watches as Olivia storms off, grabbing her bag, and heads for the door.

Figuring it was best to just shut his mouth before he made the situation any worse, he bites his tongue as she storms out of the hotel.

“I’m coming!” I grumble loudly across our apartment, wiping the sleep from my eyes as I stumble to the front door. The obscene amount of banging coming from the door had woke me from what little sleep I was finally getting.

Tugging down the old t-shirt I’m wearing, I crack the door open an inch and find those cerulean eyes looking back at me. My stomach hits to the floor.

Oh. Oh no. Oh god. Why is he here?

“Are you ok?” Jesse asks harshly, pushing the door open and walking in.

I raise a groggy eyebrow at him and shake my head.

“Uh, yeah, still not feeling so great. Why, what’s going on?” I ask nervously, fishing for some sort of detail as to the nature of the situation. I am in no way prepared for this, I can feel the nausea running rampant in my stomach, and the feeling of dread begins to fill me. I don’t want him to hate me. I don’t want things to be awkward, but what else can come from this, really?

Jesse’s look of concern starts to slip as he grabs his cell out of his pocket. Confusion graces his face again.

“I got a text from some number telling me that something was very wrong, to meet you here.”

The room starts to feel as though it’s closing in around me.
You wanted to be honest with him
, I tell myself as I try desperately to find the courage to tell him the truth.