Skirt Chaser

by Stacey Kennedy

  “Oh, yeah,” Holy said, bouncing on the bed. “I had the hotel staff bring us up a big bottle of wine for tonight.”

  “Goodie.” Evie smiled, grabbing the wine bottle from the fridge. “Are you excited for the wedding tomorrow?”

  “I’m somewhere between excited and nervous,” Holly explained when Evie uncorked the wine and began pouring the sparkling white into the two tall glasses.

  “Totally understandable, I’m sure.” Evie recorked the wine, returned the bottle to the fridge, and moved to the bed, offering Holly the glass. “But it’s going to be a great day.” She sat cross-legged across from Holly, just as she’d done so many times while growing up. “Remember when we used to do this back in high school, stay up all night long and talk?”

  Holly smiled. “It feels like no time has passed at all.”

  “I know, it’s crazy.” Evie smiled, realizing, in all this, she was glad she’d come. For Seth. For Holly. They all had history together, and this was a very important time in their lives. With warmth filling her soul, she, for the first time ever, was genuinely happy for them. Maybe it was Grey, maybe it was the orgasmic glow. Or maybe she needed this closure too, because suddenly, a weight was lifted that she hadn’t realized was there before.

  “Everything has changed, hasn’t it?” Holly suddenly said, voice soft and low.

  “What do you mean?” Evie asked, resting her wine glass on her thigh.

  “I mean, remember how it used to be?” Holly’s gaze cast downward at her fingers fiddling with the strings on her worn jean shorts. “How we did everything together, totally inseparable.” She glanced up, tears in her eyes. “Remember those times?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Evie said and smiled. “They’re happy memories for me.”

  “I miss those times,” Holly whispered, wiping at a fallen tear. “How simple and fun they were. Do you ever miss how things used to be in high school?”

  “Sometimes,” Evie admitted with a little shrug. “Things were definitely easier. Well, maybe still emotionally terrible and confusing, but easier.”

  Holly nodded, staring down into her wine glass before addressing Evie again. “I miss who I was back then.” She paused. Then, “I guess I miss us.”

  Evie drew in a long, deep breath, figuring Holly was getting whatever closure she needed as well to embark on this new stage of her life tomorrow. Knowing that, and feeling better about things than she’d ever felt before, she said, “It’s so strange where life takes you. Back in high school, I never would have believed that I’d move to Seattle and have a business that’s all mine.”

  “You’ve changed so much in such a good way,” Holly said with a soft smile. “You’ve evolved into this amazing woman.”

  “I have found my happy nook.”

  Holly’s brows rose. “What’s a happy nook?”

  Evie took a quick sip of her wine then set to explaining, “It’s my own little piece of the world that belongs only to me. My business. My life. My happiness.” She’d chased her dreams along the way, and she caught them.

  “I wish I had done that.” Holly chugged back a good portion of her wine.

  Evie sipped her Moscato, pausing a moment, reassessing Holly’s mood. “You’ve evolved into an amazing woman, too.”

  “No, I haven’t.” Holly gave a measured look, her shoulders slumped. “I’m the exact same person you knew in high school. The only difference is that I’m now older and work as a paralegal. I live on the same street as my parents. I do the same thing every single day.”

  “Oh, stop it. You have an amazing life,” Evie countered, placing a hand on Holly’s leg, giving it a squeeze. “A good life with Seth.”

  “I do have a good life with him, you’re right.” Holly nodded, drawing in a long breath before continuing. “But it’s the life I knew I’d have. You have so much excitement in yours, and I’m so jealous of that. You have this amazing guy who makes you shine in ways I’ve never seen anyone light up. You’re so different than the Evie I used to know.”

  “Is that a good thing?” Evie wondered.

  Holly laughed softly, bouncing the mattress a little, and nodded. “It’s a great thing, but it makes me green with envy.”

  Evie took another sip of her wine, aware of something now she hadn’t considered before. She’d thought she wanted Seth and Holly to be jealous of her. Now that Holly clearly was, it seemed wrong, nasty even. And not the Evie she wanted to be. “Every life has its flaws.” Hers, of course, being the fact that her relationship with Grey was based on lies. While it’d come to feel more real now, it was also temporary, not what Holly thought it to be. “And my life certainly isn’t perfect.”

  “Looks pretty darn great to me,” Holly countered. She took another big, long sip of her wine, and then her expression changed, becoming darker, tears filling her eyes again. “Do you hate me, Evie?”

  “No, of course not.” She squeezed Holly’s leg again, trying to comfort. “Why would you even say that?”

  Holly hung her head. “Because of what I did to you? Because I took Seth.”

  Evie’s chest tightened, but she forced the words out, knowing she needed to say it aloud for herself, and Holly clearly needed to hear it. “You didn’t take Seth from me. I left to go to college, remember?” Holly looked up then, big tears in her eyes, and Evie added, “I left you both. You looked to each other, and you fell in love.”

  A tear spilled down her cheek, chin trembling. “How can you not hate me for that?”

  “Because I don’t. You’re my longest, closest friend. You know me like no one does, and I know you would have never been with him unless you madly loved him.” She hesitated, then she realized in all this there was a point that stood out above all else. “You two are really happy together, so I am happy for both of you that you found your forever in each other.”

  Holly’s face slowly began to brighten. Evie realized they’d never done this. Talked it out, and Evie knew why. It’d been too hard before. Maybe she had truly gotten past all this. Life had such a weird way of working things out. All she’d needed was Grey to see that the past was the past for a very good reason.

  “I’m happy for you, too,” Holly said, wiping away her tears from her pink cheeks. “Grey’s amazing and charming and simply sexy as hell.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Evie agreed. “He’s all those things and more.”

  “You deserve that.” Holly grabbed Evie’s hand, squeezing tightly. “I hope you know that. You deserve all the good things.”

  “As do you.” Evie carefully held her wineglass in her hand and then wrapped her arms around Holly. It wasn’t until then that Evie realized Holly needed this hug, maybe more than Evie did. She felt her tension in the tight way Holly hugged her back.

  It was funny how life worked out sometimes. As Holly leaned away, and Evie stared at her best friend in the world, so much history between them, it was like she stared into a mirror. The life Holly had now might have been Evie’s if she hadn’t chased after her dreams. Now, she had her life, and she happened to like it. A lot.

  “Okay, no more tears,” Holly said with a smile, wiping away the remainder of her tears from her face quickly. “We have tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll be a married woman, and you’ll be headed back to Seattle.” She raised her wine glass. “To happiness. To friendship. To love.”

  Evie clanged her glass against Holly’s, feeling all the broken pieces inside her sealing back together again. “To happiness. To friendship. To love.”

  Chapter 11

  The morning of the wedding, sweat poured off Grey’s body as he pushed himself harder on his run along the beach, the sun beating down on his bare upper body, his sport shorts clinging to his thighs. Water splashed up, his shoes were soaking wet, but none of that mattered on his run. The hot air, the bright, sunny day—he decided he needed to vacation more often. Christ, maybe it was time to purchase a vacation home in the tropics. He’d been missing out, and it was Evie that reminded him how he hadn’t been living, not t
ruly, not like he did in his twenties. He’d been working, pushing hard to make his company successful. Perhaps it was time for a new chapter in his life.

  When he reached the bar at the resort, he slowed to a stop, bent over, and breathed deeply, recovering from the run. The world was quiet around him. Being eight in the morning, most vacationers were either having breakfast or likely still fast asleep. Grey lifted his arms, stretching his shoulders, his legs tight and sore as he strode back to his room in the first block of buildings on the left. The wedding wasn’t until this afternoon, but Grey wanted to be there for Evie when she returned to the room before leaving to do all the girly things she needed to do today.

  Once he reached his door, he heard voices coming from inside. Loud voices. Using his keycard, he opened the door and entered the room. It took him a good few seconds to take in the view in front of him.

  Holly sat on the couch nearest him, tears raining down her cheeks, her black makeup streaking her face. Seth stood by the balcony door, hands stuffed into his pockets, his head hanging, his shoulders hunched. Grey glanced left then, finding Evie, and his focus narrowed entirely on her. She stood near the bed, wearing only a house coat, her wet hair still dripping, telling Grey she’d just stepped out of the shower. Though it was her pale skin and wide eyes that concerned him the most.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, moving to her immediately.

  “I don’t know what I am,” she said slowly, obviously in a state of shock.

  Grey looked from Seth to Holly then back to Evie. Immediately, he understood what was happening here. But he wouldn’t voice that thought in case he was wrong. Instead, he asked no one in particular, “What’s going on here?”

  “What’s going on here…” Holly said, sobbing, “…is that Seth is still in love with Evie.”

  “Oh, God,” Evie whispered, dropping her head into her hands. “Please stop saying that.” She drew in a long, deep breath then lifted her head, eyes on Seth. “You don’t love me. You love the old me, and that’s okay. But I’m not that young girl anymore. You love Holly. You two are meant to be together. This is simply cold feet. That’s all.” Her worried gaze came to Grey’s, obviously seeking help.

  Grey sighed and looked at Seth. “You do realize you are getting married this afternoon.”

  Hands still in his pockets, he half shrugged. “I had to be honest.”

  “Honest!” Holly yelled, jumping to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides. “Now you need to be honest, on our wedding day? Why weren’t you honest before? You could have told me all this. Why are you doing this to me?”

  Seth glanced at his feet again. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Holly.”

  “Sorry?” she screamed, her face bright red. “You are not fucking sorry. If you were, you never would have done this.”

  Grey glanced at Evie again, and he took her hand, feeling her tremble. She looked at him then, telling him all he needed to know. She’d been completely blindsided by Seth’s admission and had no idea how to handle it. Luckily for her, Grey did. “I’m not sure why you need to discuss this in here,” he said sternly, glancing at Holly. “This is between you and Seth. I suggest you take this conversation somewhere more private.”

  Holly appeared to not even hear Grey and glared daggers at Seth. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. Evie doesn’t love you anymore. She doesn’t want you. She loves Grey. Can’t you see it? It’s written all over her face.”

  Evie dropped her gaze, cheeks flushed.

  Grey stroked her hand, letting her know he was there. With her.

  “Oh, my God,” Holly cried, covering her face with her hands. “My parents, my family…everyone is here, Seth. What will we tell them?”

  Seth all but whispered, “We’ll get it figured out.”

  “We’ll get it figured out,” Holly repeated, slowly lowering her hands, scowling. “I want nothing to do with you.” She turned to Evie. “You have to help me, Evie.”

  Evie suddenly stiffened, and Grey noticed the way her eyes and mouth tightened. Holly had hit a nerve. A big nerve.

  Evie drew in a long, deep breath, and when she spoke, her voice was firm but also hinted at sadness. “I never wanted any of this. Don’t you both know that?” All eyes came to her, and she glanced from Seth to Holly. “I didn’t want you to fall in love and yet, you did, so I made myself accept it.”

  Grey wrapped his other hand around hers, holding one of hers in both of his, feeling her shaking now as she continued. “I didn’t want you to get married, but then you got engaged, and yes, it hurt me at first…” She paused. Then added. “No, hurt isn’t strong enough. You broke me.”

  “Evie,” Holly whispered, all the anger in her voice gone, tears in her eyes for another reason altogether.

  Evie held up her hands. “Please. Let me finish.” She shut her eyes, breathed deeply, and then faced them again. “I accepted your relationship because I care for you. Both of you. And I built a life of my own that I’m proud of. I truly wanted you to be happy.”

  The pain in Evie’s expression tightened Grey’s chest, strangling the air right out of him. She hid nothing of what they made her feel, and he saw the ripple of that across Seth’s and Holly’s faces. Both were crying now, lost in their blame, in their shame.

  Evie never wavered, baring her soul in a way that made Grey only able to see her.

  “I accepted you two being together because I thought you found true love in each other’s arms.” Her voice blistered. Something changed in Grey then, he felt it course through him, a subtle change that he couldn’t stop, making him soften to Evie, when she added, “Real love. Love that can’t be stopped because it’s that powerful. Love that would make you hurt your best friend and your ex-girlfriend, not because you wanted to, but because it was something that you couldn’t deny.”

  Grey stepped closer, unable to stop himself, as her expression became so haunted. He slid his hand across her back, and he didn’t like that he got no response. He thought maybe she’d cringe, tell him that it was too much, or maybe she’d lean into him for support. But the coldness concerned him.

  There was nothing but her pain when she continued. “I believed you two being together was fate. That you were meant to be with each other all this time, and how could I stand in the way of that? I wanted, after all this, for something good to come out of so much pain. I came here to support you.” A tear spilled from her eye, and she brushed it away quickly when she added, “Last night, I truly let it all go and felt genuinely happy that you two had found each other. I got closure. I moved on.” She drew in a long, deep breath, narrowing accusing eyes on Seth. “But now you tell me it wasn’t real. That your feelings for Holly aren’t real? Look at her. She’s standing here with her heart broken and for what? Because one woman isn’t enough. You have to have all the toys for yourself?”

  She stepped away from Grey, approached them both and said, “There’s so much I could say right now.” To Seth, she stated, “Like, do you honestly think you can have whatever you want, hurt whomever you want, that somehow you’re entitled to keep changing your mind about the woman you want to be with? Well, let me be the first to finally tell you…you can’t.” To Holly, her voice softened, “I’m sorry you’re hurting. I’m sorry that this is happening to you. It’s not what I would have wanted.” Her eyes shut, and she drew in another deep breath before facing them again. “In the end, all I want to say is, don’t bring me into this mess. There’s a lot I can take, but that is the one thing I can’t. Because I, out of anyone in this entire fucked-up situation, don’t deserve it. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  Heads hanging, both Seth and Holly nodded.

  Evie spun on her heels, moved to the door, and yanked it open. “Now, go and talk this out.” She pointed to the doorway. “If you’re getting married, let me know, and I’ll be there. If you’re not, then I wish you two nothing but the best going forward.” She paused. Then, with exasperation, she stated, “Get out. Be grown-ups and
deal with your shit.”

  Holly rose first and, after hugging Evie, swiftly left the room, a blubbering mess with a pathetic Seth dragging his feet after her.

  When Seth passed Grey, he asked, “Did you warn her?”

  “No,” was Grey’s only reply.

  The door slammed shut, and Grey regarded Evie as she moved closer, cautiously, but the distance was slowly killing him. He strode forward, reaching her in two big strides, taking her in his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Evie.”

  She tensed.

  Alarmed, he leaned away, discovering her eyes now narrowed on him.

  “Did you know that Seth felt this way?”

  It was his turn to heave a long sigh. “Yes, Evie, I knew.”

  * * *

  Grey’s words burned across Evie, smacking into her like a fist, and she took a step back, trying to understand why exactly this stung so bad. Regardless, for the first time since he entered the room, she actually got a good look at him. Dressed in black sport shorts that stopped at the knee, socks, and runners, he wore nothing else. His hair and skin glistened with the lingering sweat from his obvious workout, the sleeve of tattoos on his arm brighter than usual, his muscles seemingly more defined. Whether that was from the run he’d done before he entered the room, or the tension now between them, she didn’t know. But his chest seemed thicker, abs cut to perfection, even that sexy V there a treat for the eyes. Though none of that could distract her from a harsh truth she didn’t want to believe. “When did Seth tell you he had doubts about the wedding?” she asked, trying to make sense out of all this.

  “When we went golfing.”

  Evie blinked, absorbing that. “You knew since yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, the walls slowly beginning to close in, the ground rocky beneath her bare feet.

  “Because it wasn’t my truth to tell.” His gaze hardened with each word, voice turning back into his business voice. “We had this weekend together. I wanted to enjoy you, not upset you.”