I frowned, trying to figure out if Dorothy was urgent with excitement or annoyance. Surely it was excitement. Dorothy didn’t get annoyed with me.
Holding back my sigh, I plopped my makeup case down and padded across the wooden floor in my bare feet.
I twisted the bolts and pulled the door back, only to be floored by the last thing I wanted to see or hear.
“You’re dating Jace Tolson? How could you not tell me?” Dorothy held up her phone as I scanned the screen and quickly turned into a gaping, speechless mess.
Taking it off her with shaking fingers, I stared down at the image of Jace and me kissing outside the diner where I worked. It must have been the morning before, when he dropped me off. The next image was of me smiling as I gazed up at him, and then there was one more of him waving goodbye.
My face was so clear in those photos, and the bold headline did me in.
The End of Singledom: Jace Has Caught Himself A Girl!
Dorothy brushed past me, letting herself in and pacing around my living room with a sharp-toned rant. “I’m busting my butt to get a foot in the door in this music industry, which is so much harder than I ever thought it would be, and you’re hanging out with someone who could actually help me. How could you hide something like that? I thought we were friends?”
My heartbeat was thundering so loudly in my ears, and my voice was lost to the panic crawling up my throat.
“The whole country now knows that Jace Tolson has a girlfriend, but the one friend you have in LA had no clue!” Dorothy snatches her phone back off me. “I have to be honest and say I’m really hurt, Jenna.”
The whole country knows? My mind was screaming the question but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. All I could think was “national entertainment news.”
National. Which meant even people all the way in New Jersey could see that photo.
People like Seth.
Shit! My lungs dried up, the air inside of them feeling thin and unbreathable.
The second chance I’d been gifted was going to get ripped away from me if he saw that picture.
If he figured out what I’d done…
My heart threatened to stop beating as my legs turned to jelly and I plunked onto the couch.
“Jenna?” Dorothy’s concern quickly replaced her anger, but I couldn’t respond as I fought for air.
My mind was back in New Jersey, caught in that awful moment when my life ended and began at the same time.
“Jen, you can’t do this. He’ll kill you,” I snapped.
My sister gave me an agonized frown as I shook my head and begged her to leave.
But she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“You can’t keep living this way. We can do this. Now get your keys. If you’re too scared to break up with him, let’s just disappear.”
“He’ll find us.” I bobbed on my toes and shook my head.
“Aleesha, get your keys!” Jenna’s stern look made me walk to the hook on the wall and take the keys. I was so conditioned to doing what I was told, especially when it was yelled at me.
I squeezed the keys in my hand and looked around the kitchen, nerves making me physically shake. “What about the house?”
Jenna’s forehead wrinkled as she gazed around with me, but then her chin bunched with determination. “We need to get you safe first and then we’ll deal with the house. Your freedom is more important than this place. You just need to—”
The click of the front door shut her up. I flinched, fear tackling me from all sides as I snatched my sister’s hand.
“It’s him,” I whimpered. “You’ve got to go.”
“Not without you.”
“Aleesha!” Seth barked, heading for the kitchen. “Where you at?”
Dragging me to the back door, Jenna flung it open and pulled me outside.
I had nothing but the clothes I was wearing. This was insane! But as Seth strode into the kitchen and obviously heard the back door click, he thundered, “Aleesha?” and it injected my body with a panic-laced power that surged me forward.
“Get in!” Jenna shouted as she snatched the keys from me and raced to the driver’s door.
I was already crying, terror making my fingers tremble as I fumbled with the handle and dove into the car.
Jenna shoved my head down, screaming out of the driveway as Seth raced down the side path.
“Aleesha!” he hollered.
My sister floored it, her own fear starting to show as she careened out of the driveway.
We tore down the street, the tires squealing as we took a hard left and tried to escape.
“Shit!” Jenna muttered a few minutes later.
“What?” I whimpered from the floor of the car.
“He’s following us.”
I covered my mouth, my tears coming hard and fast. “I told you. It’s no use.”
“Sit up, put your seat belt on, but keep your head down.” I did as I was told, my quivering body making it hard to clip the buckle in. As soon as I was buckled, I hunched down in the seat and watched the world fly past in a blur.
Jenna accelerated a little harder, checking her rearview mirror and the road like she was watching a tennis match. I slumped down farther, too scared to turn back and see how close Seth’s big truck was getting to us.
“I’m heading for the highway. You dial 9-1-1 and let them know we’re being chased by a psycho.”
I was hesitant to do it. The one time I tried seeking help after Seth beat me, it was pointless. The officer who popped by our house just happened to be a basketball buddy of Seth’s, and my boyfriend spun the lie about my fall so realistically that it was impossible not to believe him.
After he left, Seth made me pay, scaring me so bad that I promised never to call the cops again.
“Aleesha, just do it! Use my phone!” Jenna shouted at me.
I reached down to pull her phone out of her bag when suddenly our speeding car swerved to the right. Everything shuddered. My mind blanked out as we hit the curb and began to tumble. Jenna screamed and I couldn’t even inhale as we hurtled down an embankment. My car didn’t stop rolling until it was upside down in a low stream. It creaked and groaned while steam hissed and swirled from beneath the hood.
My heart thundered between my ears as the world stopped turning and slowly came back into focus. Blood was rushing in the wrong direction, my head threatening to explode. I squeezed my eyes against the pain, then scanned the car. My brain was fighting for logic, screaming at me to get moving.
“Jenna?” I breathed her name and winced. Talking hurt. Everything hurt. “Jen?”
When she didn’t answer me, a shot of adrenaline surged through me and I whipped around to look at my sister. Blood dripped from a deep gash in her forehead, trailing into her black curls.
“Jen!” I unclipped my seat belt and fell to the roof of my car. “Jen, wake up!”
She drew in a ragged breath, but it sounded wrong, like the air wasn’t able to pass through her lungs properly.
“Jenna,” I whimpered, scrambling over to her and trying to loosen her seat belt. It was stuck tight and she was wedged into the crumpled car, unable to move.
Yanking at it, I grunted and strained, trying to free my sister.
“You have to go.” Her whisper was so soft I could barely hear it.
Going still, I turned to see her eyes flutter open. “Go, Alee. Just go.”
“What?”
“Before he gets down here. Go.” Her lips were moving so slowly, her usually dark skin so pale it looked almost white.
Her eyes shut again so she missed my fierce head shake. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Take my bag. Take my life and make it yours.”
“No!” I pulled harder on the belt, letting out a desperate cry when it wouldn’t budge.
“I’m not…going…” Her voice caught as she coughed and blood coated the inside of her mouth. A trickle pooled at the corner of her lips and began to trail down her face
—a lonely red tear.
Fear gripped me like a vise, telling me what she was struggling to say.
“I’m not…going…to make it.”
“Yes, you are.” My shaky voice told her I was lying, but I kept going, ignoring the inevitable. “We’ll get you to a hospital and get you help.”
“It’s over.” Her eyelids fluttered open again and she looked at me, so sure of herself in spite of the fact that she was dying. “Use this and set yourself free.”
“I can’t,” I sobbed. “I’m not leaving you here to die.”
“Aleesha!” Seth shouted from the top of the bank.
I gasped and leaned into my sister, cowering away from his voice.
“Go, sis. You have to go.” Her breath was barely a whistle against my cheek.
“I can’t.”
“Hide…then disappear. Don’t waste this…this chance.” Her voice hitched, her breathing becoming even more labored as she coughed and more blood spurted between her lips.
“I don’t want to leave you.” I pressed my forehead against hers.
“Aleesha!” Seth screamed my name again.
Glancing up the hill, I could just make out his shadow cautiously working his way down to the car.
Shit!
Snatching my sister’s bag, I crawled out the window and ducked around the back of the car. Bending low, I reached in to touch Jenna’s hand, but she didn’t respond.
Sucking in a sob, I scampered away from the scene, ignoring the pain radiating through my legs and chest as I crouched behind a bush and bit the side of my hand.
“Aleesha!” Seth was close, the stones beneath his feet sliding as he neared the car.
Closing my eyes, I held my breath and softly moved away from him, using the noise he was making as cover.
Seth’s cries crescendoed when he reached the vehicle and spotted Jenna in the front seat.
“Aleesha!” He obviously thought I was dead.
Of course he would. He never knew I had an identical twin, and Jenna had dressed just like me.
It was my out. My only chance at freedom, and I couldn’t waste it.
So against the cry of my heart, I snuck away from that car crash and took the last gift my sister would ever give me—a new life.
“Jenna?” Dorothy’s arm came around me as she sat down on the couch. “You’re as white as a ghost. What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, still struggling to find my voice.
Eventually I murmured, “I have to go.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but…I’m not Jace’s girlfriend. That picture must be of my twin sister who I never see.”
“I didn’t even know you had a twin.”
I shrugged and stood, crossing my arms against my chest. “We never see each other, so it feels like I don’t.”
I stared straight ahead, refusing to look back in case she saw the lie on my face.
“Well, I’m sorry for getting all mad, then. And I’m sorry you’re not in touch with your sister anymore. That must hurt.”
“I’m okay,” I managed, my voice still soft and far away. Swallowing, I looked over my shoulder and repeated, “I have to go.”
“Oh.” Dorothy stood, still looking kind of confused by my weird behavior. “Okay, well, call me when you get back.”
I nodded, then walked to the door and opened it for her.
She slipped out and I softly whispered goodbye before bolting the locks and running to my room.
I have no idea what made my car swerve that day, and even though I’d give anything to have my sister back, that accident saved my life. I would never take advantage of the gift Jenna gave me.
Pulling out my pack from under the bed, I yanked open my drawers and started emptying them.
It was time to get out of LA.
18
Jace
Thumping the toms, I smiled at Ralphie as he stepped up to my kit and slapped the bass strings. Jimmy was singing into the mic while Nessa danced next to Flick, harmonizing with the guys and sounding pretty damn awesome.
I loved the new song. Every time we practiced, it sounded better than the time before, and I couldn’t wait to record it in the studio the following week. Marcus had booked us in for a bunch of sessions so we could get our third album nailed and hitting charts in the new year. All going to plan, the next year would be insane.
Thoughts of Jenna flashed through my mind as I imagined leaving her to go on tour. I wondered if she’d come with me. I knew she wasn’t a huge fan of the limelight, but maybe we loved each other enough to get past all that.
At the end of the day, I was still Jace and I’d love her no matter where I was or what I was doing.
“Woo!” Nessa finished off the song, flicking her hair back and looking every bit the rock star she was.
Jimmy gave her a wink when she glanced at him, and her blushing smile was pretty damn cute.
Glancing at my watch, I calculated how much longer I’d have to wait until I could wink at my woman. She should have finished her shift and be getting ready to come over. My insides surged with excitement.
“Well, well, well…” Fliss sauntered into the room, Maestro trailing in her wake like the loyal dog he was. I think he adored her even more than Flick did.
Her blonde ponytail swung as she came down the steps, glancing at her phone. “Jace, you broke the internet.”
“What?” I groaned and rolled my eyes. Resting my sticks on the snare, I stood up so I could take the phone she was holding out to me.
What the hell had the media conjured?
I’d been doing everything to keep a low profile since the whole Tiffany incident.
Fliss gave me her phone, then leaned against Flick to whisper in his ear.
Gazing down at her device, my insides pinched tight as I read the headline:
The End of Singledom: Jace Has Caught Himself A Girl!
“Aw, crap!” I muttered, handing the phone back and rolling my eyes again.
She giggled and showed the phone to Flick.
“I guess it was going to come out eventually,” he muttered, leaning in to give his girl a kiss.
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “It still sucks, though. I don’t think Jenna’s gonna love it.”
“Maybe she hasn’t seen it yet.” Ralphie shrugged as he stared down at his own phone.
I sighed, pulling the phone from my back pocket and moving to the corner of the room so I could call her.
If she hadn’t seen it, I wanted to give her a heads-up. I was pretty sure she instinctively knew that dating a celebrity would be hard work, but this was our first sighting and it might still be kind of hard to handle.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I held the phone to my ear and waited for Jenna to answer.
It rang six times before going to voice mail, so I tried again.
And again.
Until finally she picked up with a snappy bark. “What, Jace! What do you want?”
I frowned, leaning my shoulder against the wall and softly asking, “So, you’ve seen the news, then?”
“Yes,” she snipped. “I saw the news. I saw the photographs. What I didn’t see was the photographer taking them!”
“I know.” I sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “I didn’t either. I’m really sorry.”
She didn’t say anything for a beat, and an unease I was trying to ignore grew a little stronger in my belly. “Jenna?”
“I don’t…” She sucked in a breath and then her voice began to quiver. “I don’t think this is going to work. You and me.”
My body pinged tight, surprise making me stand up straight. “What?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s over, Jace.” Her voice went wonky like she was fighting tears. “I can’t do this.”
She hung up before I could reply. To say I was taken aback was the understatement of the century. Three little photos, one headline and it was over?
What the hell?
I g
aped at my phone for a second, then tried calling her again.
She didn’t answer.
So I tried again.
And still she ignored me.
It didn’t make sense.
A volcano of mixed emotion rumbled in my belly as I raced back to the drums and grabbed my keys.
I wasn’t going to let her go that easily. Not without a proper explanation anyway.
“Everything okay, man?” Ralphie asked.
“No.” I snatched my keys and started running for the door. “Something’s off.”
“What’s the matter?” Jimmy called as I reached the door.
I turned back to quickly reply. “Jenna’s trying to break up with me.”
Flick clicked his tongue and gave me a sad smile. “I warned you, man. She’s hot and cold. It’s not worth the heartache.”
With an angry growl, I pointed at him and acted like a guy I didn’t even know. “Flick, shut the fuck up! You don’t know shit!”
His eyebrows popped high with surprise while Fliss’s mouth made a great big O. Nessa snorted and covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.
I instantly felt bad for yelling at him that way, but I was in no frame of mind to apologize.
After a painful beat, Flick snickered and lifted his chin toward the door. “Go prove me wrong, then, man. If she comes clean or tells you why the hell she keeps doing this to you, then you can shove this in my face for the next decade, free of charge.”
I glared at him before slamming the door shut behind me.
It wasn’t right. Jenna wanted this breakup about as much as I did. I was sure of it.
Flick didn’t know what the hell he was saying. She was worth the heartache.
She loved me. I knew she did. It was time to finally get to the bottom of what was holding her back.
As I slammed into my car and took off down the driveway, I started praying that she was home…and that she’d have the courage to tell me exactly why I was supposed to let her walk out of my life.
19
Jenna
Fine By Me: Chaos Novella (A Songbird Novel) Page 9