I wait for him to recognize me, for that moment out of the movies where he can see past all of the changes, and just look into my eyes and know it’s me. That magical cut-scene where he makes a declaration of his undying love and sweeps me off my feet.
He clears his throat and bites his lip—to keep from laughing.
“What?” I squeak out, still lost in the movie playing out in my head.
“I was just saying that if you’re nervous, you don’t need to be,” he says, offering me a hand.
Unbelievable.
He doesn’t have a clue. Something inside me feels a tad bit disappointed, but I slowly let out a small breath of relief as I take the last step up.
“Thanks,” I say quietly, tearing my eyes from his as I try to figure out a way to get into position without touching him too much.
I pause too long because I hear Angie shouting something about not having all day, and just like it’s not a huge, life altering moment, Avery’s hands slide around my waist and he lifts me up onto his lap.
I gasp as he laughs out loud, “Sorry, it just seemed easier this way. Looked like you were trying to solve a math problem.”
Per instructions, I hesitantly stretch out, leaning back on my elbows as if I’m just casually lounging around.
Casually lounging around, my ass!
Peeking down, I make sure that my top isn’t riding up too much. At least that was ok, for the moment.
We spend a while taking photo after photo, until they call time for a short break.
Angie yells out that she is going to take a minute to look over a few shots and figure out what she wants to shoot next. A few people come over to touch up our makeup and rearrange a few limbs while we wait.
“I’m pretty sure that I had this exact dream last night,” Adam chokes out when Vic is told to move. She drapes a long leg across his, and wraps an arm around his chest.
I hear my friend giggle, “I bet you did. I star in a lot of dreams; at least that’s what I’m told.”
Almost instantly, Avery speaks up.
“Where are you from, Victoria?”
My friend hesitates a whole second, and then answers proudly, “Texas. Born and raised.”
Jesse busts out laughing, “Oh god, don’t tell Avery that! He has an obsession with that state.”
Avery’s body tenses slightly underneath me.
“I do not have an obsession.”
Kennedy finally breaks his silence, “Dude, you kind of do. I get it. The southern accent is kind of hot.”
Victoria’s smile lights the room as she turns in Kennedy’s direction and winks at him. Suddenly, the gleam forming in her eye begins to worry me.
“Well it must be your lucky day, Melanie there is a Texan, too,” Vic states playfully, in a move that I can only assume is one to reveal me. The anger in me starts to rise as I picture strangling her pretty neck right here on the green screen. They could even CGI in some explosions afterward for dramatic effect, but I was about to kill me a model.
Avery’s eyes soften as he looks over at me and whispers, “I’m not obsessed, but your home state is, well it’s pretty amazing.”
Something in his words tugs at my heart. Thankfully, we are interrupted by an intern as it’s my turn for a touch up. Insisting I stay put in his lap, they quickly do it right there, pinning me in the most awkward moment of my life for just a minute longer. When they finish, I stand up quickly, needing a moment to breath. I lean down to fix the heel of my shoe, or at least that’s my excuse.
“No way! Can I see that?” Jesse asks from close behind me. I turn to see him now standing beside Avery.
“Who me? See what?” I ask anxiously.
“The tattoo on your back. What is it, wings?” Jesse inquires with a wicked sparkle in his eyes.
I blush slightly, “Yeah, those are wings.”
Avery’s eyes fall on my face and he stares hard.
Too hard.
My heart nearly combusts as I quickly turn around, not wanting him to look at me like that again. I was normally a little bashful about showing off my tattoos, but I was willing to do just about anything to keep Avery’s eyes from looking at me that way again.
I lift the back of the shirt up, making sure to keep my hip hidden, and show off the very detailed, light blue, gray, white, and black feathery angel wings that I have tattooed on my shoulder blades and down my back.
“Those are incredible,” Avery says, his voice causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
“Incredible? Those are freaking sexy! It’s about time we get a girl with some ink on one of these shoots. To me, there is nothing sexier than a girl who uses her body as art. Well, unless she’s into music as much as I am,” Jesse replies, his bright eyes flirting with me just as much as his words. He is really cute. Boyishly handsome, but handsome still.
Victoria chooses this moment to open her big mouth.
“Melanie is the biggest music fanatic I know. She taught herself how to play the guitar and the piano. And you ought to hear the pipes on—”
“All right there, roomie! They don’t need to hear all about lil’ old me,” I say cutting my eyes to my soon to be dead friend.
“Come out with us tonight,” Jesse says suddenly, “We’re all going out to a bar, and you and your friend should definitely come with.”
Abso-fucking-lutely NOT!
“Sure!” I blurt out, surprising not only Jesse, but also myself. And Victoria, too. A wide grin spread across Jesse’s face.
Someone shoot me! I think to myself, wanting to smack myself in the head repeatedly for my stupid word vomit.
“Hey there, purple girl! Melanie, was it? Would you mind if we switched up your wardrobe and used your tattoo in the shot? I think it could really add something,” Angie pipes up from behind us.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
Do what?
“Ugh, yeah, I guess,” I say slowly, without thinking.
I was surely losing my mind.
Angie smiles for the first time, “Great. Liza should have you something back in wardrobe. Try and hurry back here so we can get you back into place.”
My feet walk the path back to wardrobe, but my head is floating somewhere else with a million thoughts racing through it.
Crazy. I am crazy. Telling Jesse I would go out with them tonight was pure lunacy. What the heck was that about anyway? It wasn’t as if I’d been a nun after Avery left, but to accept an invite out from his best friend right in front of him, that was kind of messed up in ways I couldn’t even process at the moment. I’d have to fake a stomach bug or something gross to get out of it.
“I already heard. Here,” my favorite snarky, old bitty thrust a hanger with a silver tissue attached to it in my face.
Taking one look at the top, they expected me to wear sans bra with my rack… now this was insanity in its purest form! I’d look completely naked from behind. Lord, if my mama could see me now.
“You have got to be kidding me!” I blurt out with a horrified look on my face, hoping she may show some pity and come up with something else.
No such luck.
Five minutes later, after she helps me with some double-sided tape, I march out there with my tiny silver handkerchief-like halter-top and my hand strategically placed over my hip. I recite a prayer that Avery will look anywhere but at me again. Plus, Angie has a plan to use my tattoo, so hopefully I’ll be placed somewhere else.
“All right, Melanie, get back up there with Avery and straddle his lap. I want it to look like you guys are in the middle of a passionate moment. I think that’s what this shoot is missing. I want a little more passion from everyone, not just posing. Get caught up in the moment, you’re all hot and young, what the hell do I care? Just don’t get carried away… Adam,” Angie says as soon as I rejoin the group.
So much for a hiding my damn tattoo. This whole situation has to be something written in the stars, planned by the angels, and orchestrated by the fat
es because there is no way I can fight where this is heading. I know, without a doubt, that I’m about to crash right into the past.
Well, if I’m going to go down with the ship, I might as well do it like a boss.
I take a deep breath and step right up, staring that sexy asshole square in the eyes as I sink slowly down into his lap.
“Lucky bastard,” I hear Jesse mutter from his place back on the floor. I bite my lip and laugh softly. Looking up at Avery from underneath my extra-long lashes, I catch him eyeing me again, looking at me as if he’s searching for something.
He’s trying to figure it out. I know he is.
“I think they want us to look like we are in the midst of a passionate embrace,” I say softly, moving in closer to him, slipping one of my hands up his collar and down his shoulder. I watch as he swallows roughly, licking his lips very slowly in a way that feels almost dangerous.
“You’re fiancé won’t be upset, will she?” I ask as his hand slides around my hip and settles at the small of my back. That damn fluttering starts up with a furry as his face inches closer to mine. He looks into my eyes for another moment and furrows his brow slightly.
“She’ll live,” he says simply before we’re interrupted again by Angie.
“Cassie, you and Victoria switch places. Avery and Melanie—get into it you guys. Grab onto her! Melanie, maybe lean into his neck and tilt your head so your hair falls to the side and we can see the entire tattoo, it’s already looking better guys!”
I scoot closer to him again, moving one hand around his shoulder and the other up to his neck, realizing a little too late that this position is far too familiar between the two of us. Hearing him make a low noise in the back of his throat reminds me of something I’ve heard from him before, while surrounded by nothing but stars and streetlights.
Immediately, it snaps me out of my little game. The only feelings I’m going to end up messing with here are my own because just feeling his breath so close to my neck is making me want to grab his face and kiss him—hard.
In the next breath, his free hand slides up my neck and into my hair, tipping my face up and back. Just like that, I’m helplessly stuck looking up into his eyes.
“Have we met before?” His voice is raspy and strained. It’s my turn to swallow. Those eyes that turned my entire world upside down and gave me the strength to make a new life for myself are trying to find me behind all the hair color and ink, and I can’t find the words just to tell him.
Fuck, I can’t do this.
Without thinking another thought, I shake my head no and turn my head as quickly as possible, faking a cough so he can’t see that I am obviously lying.
Big mistake.
He looks down at me to ask if I’m ok, only he freezes before the ‘k’ leaves his lips.
Avery’s eyes are glued to my stomach and I know it’s all about to fall apart. His hand falls from my neck and down to my hip, his finger tracing lightly over one of my music note butterflies. The gesture is so tender that I feel awful for lying to him, even if I am furious with the man.
Suddenly, Angie’s voice fills the background, surely fussing about something but all I can hear is muffled voices as his stormy eyes finally lift to mine.
“Chase?”
“Hi,” I mouth. It’s about all I can manage when I hear my name leave his lips. Yet again, I feel my body betraying me when it comes to Mr. McGuire.
Gah, why is it so damn hard not to like this guy?
“Am I dreaming this right now?” he whispers, shutting his eyes tightly for a minute before opening them and blinking a few times. His confused eyes settle back on me. I very tentatively shake my head, wondering if maybe all of this is in fact a dream. It would make more sense if it were. However, the feel of my heart rate starting to speed out of control is very real and all too familiar.
Avery leans in so slowly that I almost think that I’m watching one of my slow motion fantasies taking place in my head. He gently lays the side of his head against mine, sighing, as if no time has passed between us at all. He slides one of his hands down my shoulder and arm, taking hold of mine. Just like old times, I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. For a second, it’s as if I’m back where I belong.
I turn my head, brushing my cheek and lips against the tiny bit of blonde stubble along his jaw and snap back when I find myself thinking about how much I want to nibble at him.
A small laugh escapes his lips and that sexy grin begins to spread across his face. I can feel the small flame of hope still flickering somewhere deep inside of me. I watch as his expression changes quickly; a confused look now takes its place again.
“Wait, why wouldn’t you want me to know it was you?” he asks, sounding a little pissed.
Uh-oh.
Between how amazing he smells and how hot that stubble on his face is, I can’t seem to remember why I’m angry with him in the first place. I open my mouth, but it just sort of hangs open without a single sound escaping it.
Dang-it!
Why didn’t I want him to know it was me?
“You look…” his voice trails off, his teeth momentarily dragging across his bottom lip as his eyes wander up and down me, “Christ. I can’t believe it’s you.”
One side of my mouth comes up in a smile. I can’t help it. I like the way his eyes feel on me. I wonder if his fiancé notices little things like that.
And then there it is; front and center. My voice is back.
“I didn’t think you would remember me,” I begin, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear in a nervous habit kind of way.
Almost instantly his demeanor shifts. Avery shifts from shocked and confused into full on mad. His jaw visibly flexes and tightens, drawing my eyes almost instantly to his neck, distracting me with thoughts of kissing him there.
“What? How could you believe—do you have any idea how often I think—you really think I could forget…?” I listen as he sputters out a slew of unfinished thoughts, each one more heartbreaking than the last. I can’t tell what the look in his eyes means, but it’s just too much. A huge lump is creeping its way up the back of my throat but I am determined not to let him hear it in my voice. I try clearing my throat and turning my eyes from him for a moment to collect my wits before I lose what little I have left.
“So, how’s Olivia?” I ask softly, adjusting myself in his lap, just enough to remind him that I’m in quite the provocative position while talking about his soon to be wife.
Almost immediately, his face falls.
“What?” he stammers. The crease in his brow is so deep that he may have just aged ten years.
I keep my eyes firmly locked on his, praying that I don’t let my emotions take over and back out of this confrontation. I’ve been saying for so long that if I ever saw him again, I just had to know how he could lie, and why—why he would choose her over me.
“You’re girlfriend of the last four plus years? Or rather, more recently, your fiancé,” I say as my voice cracks.
Dammit.
“All right, guys, that’s a wrap! I think we got the shot we needed!” Angie’s voice cuts through our bubble like a ninja blade. I completely forgot that we were supposed to be posing, so the fact that she got a good picture is a miracle.
I immediately slide back and get to my feet, stepping down as fast as my high-heel clad feet will carry me, but Avery’s hand grabs ahold of my arm. I turn back to him, wondering what he could possibly have to say. His face relaxes as he steps down to the floor, trailing his hand down my arm until his finger tips are desperately trying to lace with mine.
Looking into my eyes, “Can we talk somewhere?”
The pleading look in his eyes completely throws me.
“You’re not skipping out on us tonight are you, Beautiful?” Jesse pipes in from beside us. I look over at his boyishly cute smile and it eases a little of the tension in the air.
“Um, well, see I…” I begin stumbling to come up with an excuse to just stay home and
bury my face in a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and cry, but Avery interrupts me.
“Actually, Melanie here was just telling me about how excited she is to come out tonight, but you should probably ease up on the flirting, Jess. You’ll scare the poor girl,” he says, flashing his gaze from me to Jesse, quickly giving him a goofy grin.
What the hell? Did he just call me Melanie?
Jesse gives Avery a huge fake smile and then flips him a quick middle finger.
I’m still just standing between the two… uncertain of what to do or say next.
“Well, I can’t wait to see you there tonight. I was afraid that I was going to be the only guy going stag, but now I’ll have the most beautiful girl on my arm,” Jesse says, tilting his head to the side. His dark hair falls out of his face for a moment, long enough for me to see the slight pink across his cheeks that makes his baby blue eyes that much brighter.
I smile, finding it hard not to like this bassist’s insistent flirting.
Avery roughly clears his throat from my side and Jesse grabs my hand, “We’ll be at Avalon around nine. Don’t be late,” the blue-eyed flirt says, flashing his gaze down to my legs. He grins before pressing a light kiss to my hand and then nodding at Avery before walking off.
Still confused, I finally turn my head to Avery and I see his jaw is locked tight again as he watches his band mate walk away.
“Why did you call me Melanie? Why wouldn’t you introduce me—?” I start to lay into him, but he stops me, stepping up so close to me that I almost swallow my own tongue.
“You’re coming tonight, right? I can’t stay right now because we have to get over to the studio, but I have to talk to you. Please tell me you’ll be there,” he says, his voice trailing off in a raspy whisper at the end. If only he knew what that does to me.
I swallow hard, trying to decide what I should do. Do I even want to know what he has to say?
My head is screaming, rip off the freakin’ Band-Aid already!, but my heart is staring up into those gray eyes and I’m slowly losing sight of any real reason not to go.
As if seeing the hesitance all over my face, he leans in close to my ear and breathes, “Please, Chase.”
Wild Chase Page 9