“I really like it shorter.”
The simple compliment was worth a whole room full of flowers. Same as when he mentioned my voice. Cole had never paid me a compliment in my entire life and it was nice to hear the words from his lips. My face heated. “Thank you.”
“How did you start singing with the band?”
“It was supposed to be a one-time thing. Jackson lost his voice and they had a gig they’d had to call in a lot of favors to get.”
He stopped playing with the pie on his plate. “Why would you guys have to call in favors to play? I’ve seen your crowds. There’s no way a bar owner is going to turn down the kind of money you’d bring in. I see them begging you to play.”
I fidgeted in my seat. “Well, most of that happened afterward. Sawyer asked me to sing for them one night. They practiced in my basement, so I knew all the songs and Sawyer knew I could sing. There was no way I could tell him no. And the rest is history. Our popularity skyrocketed, and here we are today.”
It seemed weird to sit there and talk to Cole. He was genuinely interested in the story I had to tell. I’d thought he might want to know to earn brownie points, but the focus in his eyes said that most certainly wasn’t the case. For some reason, Cole Wallace wanted to know more about me.
I took another forkful of the pie and noticed my phone light up on the table.
Sawyer.
I reached my hand over, then a voice in the back of my head screamed that was probably a bad idea. I snatched my hand away. When I glanced up, Cole was watching me.
“Everything okay?”
I glanced over at my phone and back at him. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
I put the bite of pie in my mouth and my phone went off again. Ignoring it, I turned to Cole. “So, tell me, what do you teach?”
“I’m a phys ed teacher.” He shrugged. “Guess that’s no surprise.”
I laughed. “Not really.” Again, my phone lit up. I tried ignoring the messages, but they kept coming in.
“Do you need to get that?” He nodded his head toward the phone.
“No, but we should probably finish our pie and get going.”
His eyes dropped to the table. “Okay.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that I’m blowing you off. I listened and I’m willing to give you a chance to prove you’re a different person. Maybe, just maybe we can be friends.” I shot my eyes over to the phone, which had lit up with three more messages. “But right now, I’m pretty sure Sawyer is pissed and if you want to help me save Heath, Jackson, and Monty from his wrath, we should probably go.”
Cole glanced up then and nodded.
He motioned to the waitress for the check. I tried to give him some money, but he shook his head and dropped some cash on the table. Once he stood, he held out a hand to help me from the booth.
And, god help me, I took it.
The Cole in front of me was so different from the one I knew in high school, it was hard not to notice how gorgeous he was, or his sweet gestures. Not that I was anywhere close to letting my guard down completely, but little cracks were starting to form in the wall I’d built around myself.
He helped me up and smiled. “I hope I can see you again soon.”
I returned his smile with one of my own. “I think that can be arranged.”
Cole led me out to the car. I gave him the directions back to my place, my phone burning a hole in my pocket as I continued to ignore the messages from Sawyer. Whatever he had to say could be said in person. It wasn’t worth a text war with him.
My stomach fluttered when we pulled into the driveway. Cole hopped out and ran around to open my door. Another surprise.
“Thanks for—” Cole started when a slamming door brought both our attentions around to the angry man storming across the front yard.
“Get the fuck away from her, you worthless piece of shit. How dare you force her to go with you?”
“Jesus Christ, Sawyer.” I shut the door and rolled my eyes.
Heath and Jackson tried to pull Sawyer back in the middle of his advance, but anger fueled him and he shook them off as if they were an annoying fleck of dirt on his sleeve. He stepped right up into Cole’s face.
“I told you to get the fuck out of here,” Sawyer snarled, his hands balled into fists. I didn’t want them fighting. Whether or not I forgave Cole was up to me. Lines of strain formed on Cole’s brow, the muscles in his shoulders tightening as he held himself back from Sawyer. The rest of the guys were waiting to see what would happen. Sawyer was usually the level-headed one. Calm.
Today he wasn’t.
I moved between the two of them, forcing them to take a few steps back. I glanced up at Sawyer, hoping he’d see that I was fine and chill out. “He didn’t drag me out kicking and screaming.”
He pinned me with a glare that damn near knocked me over. “That fucker made your life a living hell. Now you’re having coffee? Jesus, fuck, Keys.”
I felt the heat race up my cheeks. Cole took hold of my arm and pulled me behind him.
Protection.
Not exactly where I expected it to come from. Sawyer was usually my knight in shining armor, yet somehow in the twilight zone that was my life, the devil had become the prince who swooped in to save me.
“You want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at me.” Cole held out his hands. “Go ahead. Want to hit me, be my guest. Just leave Mari out of it. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“Like you know what she deserves.” Sawyer’s voice was coated in distain. “You’re the one who made her scared of the world, but what did you care? You were off to your big NFL career. Didn’t matter what you left behind. But you see, big shot, I met her. I spent time with her. I picked up the pieces of what you broke, and I won’t let you come back now and break her all over again.”
“Sawyer,” I cried, my eyes burning.
Monty jumped in and shoved Sawyer back. Heath jumped in and they dragged him to the other side of the yard. Blinking away the tears, I turned to Cole.
“You better go. It’s only gonna get worse if you stay, and I don’t want you two fighting.”
Cole shook his head. “I’m not going to leave you to deal with him.”
I placed my hand on his arm. “I’ll be fine. You’ve already done more than I expected you to by coming to my defense.”
His shoulders dropped. “I told you, I’m not the same guy. I wish I could find a way to prove that to you.”
The voices behind me grew louder. “Tonight was a good start. Trust me, I’ll be okay.”
Jackson wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I got this, but she’s right. You two fighting isn’t going to fix shit.”
Cole’s eyes moved warily around to everyone. He stopped on Sawyer and nodded, then climbed in the car and pulled from the driveway.
“What the fuck is his problem?” I snapped at Jackson. He’d been in on this and until that moment, I’d forgotten I was supposed to be pissed at him, too. Sawyer happened to be taking up all that part of my brain.
“He’s pissed at us for setting this up, and the fact that you’re not flipping shit on Cole only pisses him off more. Plus he’s been drinking.”
I brushed furiously at my face to catch a few escaping tears. “I’m pissed at you, too.”
Jackson sighed and took hold of my shoulders, turning me to face him. “You can’t tell me what he had to say hasn’t helped. Until Sawyer started with all his shit, I hadn’t seen you that relaxed in months.”
I thought back on the conversation in the diner. Everything Cole had said and done since I’d gotten into the car with him. Jackson was right. Even though I hated admitting it.
“It was hard to talk to him, but you’re right, I needed to hear him apologize. Not that I can forgive him yet.”
Jackson gave me his trademark crooked smile, the one all the girls fell for. “I wouldn’t expect you to. He needs to prove that he’s different.”
“That’s what I told him.”
I glanced up to see Sawyer stalking away from Monty and Heath, who caught my eyes and shook their heads. Whatever they’d tried to tell him, Sawyer wasn’t listening. He stormed over to Jackson and me, giving Jackson a small shove away.
“What the fuck, man?” Jackson caught himself.
I rubbed my fingers over my temples. “Let it go, Sawyer, he’s gone.”
Sawyer threw his hands in the air, his eyes wild, his hair in disarray. “Why aren’t you pissed?”
“I was pissed earlier. But they were right.” I looked over at the guys. “Hearing Cole apologizing was a good thing for me.”
Sawyer put his hand out and started counting off things as he said them, the scent of alcohol coming off him in waves. “You revenge fuck him, he apologizes, and then everything is A-okay?”
Heath told Sawyer not to be an ass the same time my hand came forward and his head snapped sideways. Jackson slung an arm around my waist and whispered in my ear, “Don’t do something you’ll regret later.”
I struggled against Jackson’s hold as my gaze locked onto Sawyer’s, a handprint visible on his left cheek. “And right now, what makes him any different from Cole?”
Sawyer’s eyes darkened, but now I was too pissed and too hurt to care. I finally struggled out of Jackson’s hold and stormed into the house, slamming both the front door and my bedroom door behind me.
My throat burned. Tears streamed down my face. Sawyer had said too much and pushed too hard. When Cole treated me like shit, he’d been the enemy. Sawyer had done it when he was supposed to be my friend. My best friend.
I went to the closet and grabbed the box where I kept the cards Cole sent me. They all had his number on them. I sent him a quick message. Two wrongs didn’t make a right.
Me: It’s Mari. I’m sorry about Sawyer.
I stripped out of my jeans and shirt. Yanking a tank top on, I grabbed a pair of pajama shorts and climbed into bed. I didn’t want to deal with anyone at the moment. My phone buzzed.
Cole: It’s okay. Some of what he said was true.
My fingers flew over the keys, refusing to give Sawyer the easy way out.
Me: Doesn’t mean any of this is his business. It’s between you and me.
A few seconds later my phone lit up again.
Cole: I hope we can hang out again. Besides, I still have your guitar.
Shit.
In all the chaos, I completely forgot about it.
Me: We will. Good-night.
I watched the phone, waiting. I so didn’t want to analyze what that meant.
Cole: Night.
My body ached as if I’d run a marathon, the emotional upheaval more than what I wanted to handle for the day. I felt the tears coming on again. Instead of trying to fight them, I closed my eyes and cried myself to sleep.
“I’m so sorry, Mari.”
I jumped. Sawyer had crawled into bed with me and wrapped his arm around my waist. I tried to pull away, but he held me tighter. “Please stay. I don’t know what came over me. All I’ve ever wanted to do is protect you. And tonight all I did was hurt you.”
I bit hard into my cheek. I wouldn’t cry again tonight.
“You needed a friend and I wasn’t there to support you. I was so pissed at the guys. I almost beat the shit out of Heath. Then I tried texting you to make sure you were okay and when you didn’t answer it sent me over the edge.”
I sat there in silence. Cole’s apology hadn’t been enough earlier, and Sawyer’s wasn’t now. And being drunk wasn’t an excuse.
“Talk to me, Mari. Please.” The pleading in his voice caught my attention. He pressed a soft kiss to the back of my shoulder. “We don’t talk anymore. At least not in the last few weeks. Ever since the flowers and gifts started coming. It’s not an excuse for my behavior. I guess . . . I guess . . . shit, I don’t know.”
Sawyer was right. We hadn’t talked much lately, and even though it wasn’t a good reason for him to be such a bastard, it was mainly because I’d been avoiding any conversations about Cole.
Even after everything that had happened tonight, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Cole, but I knew that the only way to be the person I wanted to be was to give him a chance to prove himself. Somehow I needed to explain that to Sawyer.
I rolled over to face him. “You need to realize that I’m not the same girl you first met.”
He brushed a few wayward strands of hair from my face. “I know. I have to remember you can handle things yourself. If you need help you’ll ask. There’s just something about knowing what he did that makes me want to beat his ass into the ground.”
“Did you even bother listening to Heath?”
“Heath’s an asshole,” he growled.
Forget this.
I turned back over. “I’m tired and I don’t feel like arguing.”
He caressed my shoulder with his thumb. “Me neither. That’s why I came in here. I’d blame it on the alcohol, but that’s not fair when I was just being a dick.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “A dick? No, that’s a guy in the audience who keeps screaming obscenities while we sing. You mean a twatwaffle? Nothing like making me feel like a cheap whore who will jump into any guy’s bed even if they’ve treated me like shit, hey, Sawyer?” My voice grew raspy with each word and I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood.
Sawyer groaned and brought me around to face him. He pulled me into his arms, holding me tight to his chest. “Oh, Keys, how can I make it up to you?”
I sucked in a shuddered breath. “I’m not sure.”
“Please don’t shut me out.”
Looking up, I saw the way Sawyer’s eyes pleaded with me. “Fine. But you better not pull that shit again.”
He shook his head. “I won’t, I swear.”
Being mad at Sawyer wouldn’t get me anywhere. Sure, he’d gone way too far with his words, but deep down I knew it was him lashing out because he cared about me. It was easy for my head to realize it, not so easy for my heart. Still, Sawyer was the one person I could always talk things out with, no matter what. This was one of those times.
“I swear to god I won’t.” Sawyer lay his hand over his heart.
I placed my head back down on his chest, the sound of his heartbeat bringing me a sense of comfort. It took me a few seconds to put my thoughts into words.
“Do you want to hear what happened tonight?
He released a breath. “Tell me. The guys wouldn’t tell me anything except who you were with. I think they were afraid of making things worse.”
I nodded against his chest. “I can imagine, but I have a feeling it might have calmed you down.”
“What happened?” There was a tightness to his voice, almost like he was trying to keep his cool, but everything about Cole pissed him off.
“After the show, I went to the dressing room to change. I thought we were going out to celebrate. When I walked inside, a brand-new Fender was on a stand in the middle of the room.”
Sawyer sat up so fast, I had no time to brace myself and found myself being dropped back onto the bed. At least it was soft. His eyes were wide, his jaw practically sitting on the bed. “A Fender? He bought you a fucking Fender?”
“I was as shocked as you are when I saw it.”
He glanced around the room. “Which one? Where is it?”
“In all the chaos, I forgot it. It’s in his car, though. He wants to meet up again to give it to me.”
He narrowed his eyes as he stared down at me. “And how do you feel about that?”
I shrugged. Sawyer watched me for another moment, before lying down and pulling me back into his arms. “I’m not sure, honestly. But most of that has to do with the rest of what happened tonight.”
He nodded for me to continue. I started with the story about my guitar, finishing with what happened at the diner, including the kiss. The kiss that grabbed hold of me and refused to let go.
“Do you believe him?” I could hear the hesitation in his voice.
“I don’t know what to believe. But if he really has changed, what kind of person does it make me if I don’t at least give him a chance to prove himself?”
Sawyer placed a finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. “I think you need to be careful.” I opened my mouth to speak but he covered my lips with his finger. He tapped my temple gently. “In here you know you should keep him at arm’s length until you’re sure about his motivations, but”—he moved his hand over my heart—“the way you described that kiss, your heart isn’t listening to what your head is telling you.”
“I’m not falling—”
Sawyer shook his head. “I didn’t say you were falling for him. What I’m saying is your heart may be more willing to forgive him than your head thinks you should be.”
Deep down, I knew what Sawyer meant. One kiss and I promptly sat my ass down, ready to listen, even if it had taken me a few minutes to get my mind off the tingling in my lips.
I sighed and dropped my head back down, my breathing becoming slower as Sawyer lightly caressed my back. My eyelids dropped.
“Sleep, Keys. We can look for answers in the morning.”
The exhaustion of the day combined with his light touch pushed me toward sleep.
What possible answers could I find in the morning?
CHAPTER 15
Cole
We will. Good-night.
Mari’s text stayed with me all week. Even the disaster at the end of the night with Sawyer hadn’t diminished how I felt about my conversation with Mari. Only time and actions could prove to her that my apology was sincere, but it was a better start than I expected.
And it was a start.
The start of something. I’d be lying if I said that I only wanted to prove that I’m a different guy and that’s it. Mari was like no other woman I’d met. Mystery surrounded her. I wanted to unravel it. And her.
Ever since our talk, Mari and I had traded text messages. What started with her apologizing for Sawyer’s behavior—which I’d told her she didn’t need to do. After all, I’d put her in that position. If anyone were to apologize, it should be me—became a series of messages ranging from “How are you?” to “What are you doing?” The texts came randomly throughout the day. Whenever I had a break from the students, I’d check my phone. If there weren’t any messages from her, I’d send one of my own. The quick chats gave me more insight into Mari and the woman she’d become, and I found myself addicted to the contact. We had yet to find time for me to get her the guitar so I’d put it in the case, thankfully Heath had grabbed the night we ran out, and placed it in the corner of my room to keep it safe. I wouldn’t risk anything happening to it again.
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