Make Me Believe: Jilted: The Bride

by Tarina Deaton

  “What?” He looked up sharply, sending shoot pain into this head. “Ow.”

  She stared down at him with a sardonic smile. “Serves you right. Your clothes are hanging in the bathroom. With a possible concussion already, I didn’t want to add pneumonia to the list of things I had to worry about so I took your clothes off and wrapped you in a couple of blankets.”

  He pushed up with a groan. “If I’d known you wanted me out of my clothes, I’d have shown up sooner.” His head throbbed and he felt around the worst of the pain.

  “I don’t want you in your clothes. Quit poking at it or you’re going to rip it open again.” She walked back toward the small kitchen as he stood.

  “Did you stitch it?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about her coming at him with a sharp object. The cold hit him when the blanket slipped and he wrapped it tighter around his shoulders.

  “No, I found surgical glue in the first aid kit so I glued it shut and put a bandage over it.” She turned sharply and leaned against the sink, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Uh oh. He recognized that look. Rowan was gearing up for an argument.

  “How did you know where to find me?”

  “Uh…a little birdie told me?”

  “Really? You had hours to come up with a plausible reason and the best you have is a birdie told you? Let me guess—that little birdie’s name is Maria?”

  “Don’t be mad. She said she had—”

  “One of her feelings.” She pressed her lips together. “I wish she’d just get antacids. Why are you here, Luke?”

  “I realized I may not have handled things all that well earlier today.”

  “You think? You interrupted my wedding. I was getting married!”

  “To a guy that couldn’t be bothered to fight for you. He walked away. What kind of man does that?”

  Her eyes closed to slits and she glared at him. “I don’t know, Luke. I remember you doing something similar, so you tell me.”

  “It’s not the same, Row.”

  “Isn’t it? You walked away. Seems like the same thing to me.”

  “You ran, Rowan. You never gave me a chance—just upped and moved to Colorado.” He wanted to throw his hands up, but being naked under the blanket put him at an extreme disadvantage.

  “When was I supposed to give you a chance? When some random chick had her tongue down your throat or when your manager told me your career would take off faster without me around to drag you down and that you were just too nice of a guy to break up with me?”

  “That wasn’t what he said. All they wanted us to do was keep our relationship on the down low until the first record was released.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, that’s what he said when you were around. When you weren’t, he made sure I knew he didn’t want us together at all. Even took the time to point out how much you enjoyed the attention of all the cute little groupies that hung around after your shows.”

  He didn’t know what she was talking about. “You were the one who told me to choose between you or my music. You issued the ultimatum, Rowan. Not me.”

  Shaking her head, she scoffed. “My only ultimatum was that I was your girlfriend or I wasn’t. I never asked you to choose between me and your music. You did that on your own. I’m not making the same mistake twice.”

  She pushed away from the counter. “I’ll drive you to your car in the morning to see if you can get it out of the ditch. If not, I’ll drive you into town.”

  Stalking out of the little kitchen, she said, “Second bedroom is there. Bathroom is there. I’m turning the generator off in ten minutes so do what you need to do.” She went into the bedroom she hadn’t pointed at and slammed the door behind her.

  Luke gripped the blanket in one hand and prodded at his forehead. That didn’t go anything like he’d rehearsed in his head on the way up there. What was she talking about with Brett? When had he ever talked to her alone? And when had she ever seen a groupie try to kiss him?

  Granted at the beginning, he’d been too surprised by the first couple of girls who tried to kiss him to put up much of a fight. After he’d learned to recognize the signs of a sneak attack, he’d been sure to put a safe, but still friendly, distance between him and those fans. It hadn’t stopped them from copping a feel of his ass, but he eventually got used to that.

  He glanced around the cozy cabin for any sign of his phone, looking by the door and on the counter with no luck. In the bathroom, he checked the pocket of his jeans which hung on the shower rod. Nothing. He hoped it was in the truck and not lying in a mud puddle along the way.

  Rowan’s door opened, then another door opened and closed. Figuring she was turning off the generator, he rushed to take care of business before he was forced to aim in the dark. Two seconds after he flushed, the light went out.

  He waited until he heard her door close to leave the bathroom to avoid an awkward encounter. He could at least give her that right now. In the morning, she might be more receptive to listening to his reasons for stopping her wedding.

  Waiting had the added benefit of giving his eyes time to adjust to the dark and he made his way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom with little problem. Once in the bedroom, his little toe found the leg of one of the twin beds. He sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Damn it. Ow. Ow. Ow.” Twin freaking beds. He hadn’t slept in a twin bed since his first tour bus. Even the bus he had now had a full-size bed in the back and the side of the bus extended so he actually had some space in the room. He sat on the bed closest to the door and it creaked under his weight.

  He crawled between the sheets and draped the blanket he’d been using over the one already on the bed.

  Tomorrow was a new day and Rowan might have calmed down by then. He got it—today had been a shock and she was emotional. Hell, she’d run away from the wedding and holed up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t going to give up, though. He was more determined than ever to prove he was there for a second chance…and for her.

  Rowan heard Luke swear, followed by the squeaking of the bed in the other room. She pounded on the pillow with a fist and smashed her head into the divot, trying to get comfortable. Not satisfied, she grabbed the other pillow and put it over her head.

  It didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear him—she could feel him. She swore the air shifted with each breath he took. It was all in her head, but she’d always been able to feel him, especially when he was close. When they’d been together, she’d known when he walked in a room or when he walked out of it.

  When he hadn’t been around anymore, she’d felt that loss physically as much as she’d felt it emotionally. It was one of the reasons she’d transferred to Denver between her junior and senior year. Even just the slim possibility of running into him around Nashville had been too much to bear.

  He had to go back to Nashville. She didn’t know what kind of game he was playing—whether it was a publicity stunt or he needed to cover up something by having a girlfriend—but she wasn’t interested. She’d take him to his car and, if it was stuck in a ditch, to the closest town on the main road. Then she’d figure out what she was supposed to do with the rest of her life.

  I wonder if they need dentists in Alaska.

  Chapter 14

  Rowan slowly blinked her eyes open and inhaled deeply. Leaning up on an elbow, she lifted the corner of the curtain and closed her eyes as pale sunlight filled the room. Squinting through one eye, she saw the clear blue sky. Bird song registered as she let the curtain go, fell back on the bed, and closed her eyes again.

  “Sorry, bird, I’m not ready to face the day yet.”

  She must have drifted back to sleep because the next time she opened her eyes, the room felt brighter. Fully awake this time, she stretched and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned waking up today. She was supposed to wake up next to her husband so they could have a leisurely breakfast then go to the airport for their honeymoon in the Keys—no
t alone in a cabin in the woods with her ex-boyfriend slash wedding crasher in the next room.

  Sitting up with a groan, she scratched her head. Fudge—was there coffee? She hadn’t thought to get any yesterday in her mad dash through Walmart. Her focus had been on clothes to change into, clean underwear, and stuff for dinner and breakfast. Now that she wasn’t in a panic to be gone from the church and her disaster of a wedding, she needed to make a list of what she needed if she was going to stay there for more than a couple of days. If her apartment wasn’t so far away, she’d go home and pack more clothes.

  Different clothes. Her suitcase for the beach was already packed and waiting by the door. Sundresses and bathing suits wouldn’t do her much good up in the mountains. It wasn’t like she had anywhere else to be today—she might as well go home after she got rid of the Destructor of Nuptials and pack enough clothes for three or four days. She could get enough gas for the generator, too. And switch cars with Maria.

  She picked up her phone from the nightstand and turned it on. She’d shut it down last night because she hadn’t wanted to deal with the texts and messages. It powered on and she unlocked it.

  The display showed it was a little after nine and she had no bars. Hmm…she could have sworn she had one or two last night. Had the storm taken out a tower?

  Eh. No biggie. It wasn’t like she wanted to call anyone anyway. The more pressing concern was finding her charger because she had less than twenty percent battery left.

  She pulled on the sweat pants and thick socks from last night and took a deep breath, trying to psych herself up to face the Matrimony Murderer and the possibility of no coffee.

  Sticking a hair tie between her teeth, she pulled her hair into a bun and secured it with the elastic. The cabin was blessedly empty, so Luke was either outside or still asleep. She stared at the closed door of the other room and chewed at the corner of her nail.

  The cut on his head hadn’t been too bad, right? What if he had a concussion? She’d been too angry to think about that last night. Should she check on him? She let out a disgruntled sigh and dropped her arm to her side.

  She needed to check on him.

  Before she could step toward the room, the bathroom door opened and Luke exited in nothing but a towel around his waist.

  “Hey. Water’s really cold. I couldn’t figure out how to work the unit thingy in the shower.”

  His tight, puckered nipples proved his statement that the water was cold.

  It hadn’t registered the night before how much he’d filled out since the last time she’d seen him. Playing baseball through high school and college meant he’d always been lean but in the years since she’d last seen him, he’d packed on some muscle. He didn’t have a six-pack, but his abs were still defined with a dark line of hair that started just below his belly button and traveled down under the towel.

  She’d always appreciated his physique and her body definitely remembered his. Her core clenched as if it was happy to see an old friend and wanted to give him a hug.

  Traitor.

  “Rowan?”

  She blinked herself out of her stupor. “What?”

  He smirked, not oblivious to her staring. “I asked if you’d found my phone last night?”

  Scowling at herself, she said, “No. Your pockets were empty.”

  “Shit. Hopefully it’s in the rental and not somewhere in the woods.”

  “Yeah.” So what if he was still good looking? It obviously didn’t hurt where his fan club was concerned. “It’s a tankless water heater. The water’s cold because the generator isn’t on.”

  With no further explanation, she turned and headed to the back door. Slipping into the shoes she’d left beside the door, she went outside and started the generator. Back inside, she kicked off her shoes and rummaged through the three cabinets for any sign of coffee. In the back of one of them, she found a jar of instant coffee and generic non-dairy creamer. With a grimace, she filled the kettle and put it on the stove. She needed caffeine too much to be picky about the form it came in.

  Waiting for the water to boil, she leaned against the counter and stared unseeing at the floor in front of her feet. Maybe staying at the cabin wasn’t such a good idea. She needed to call her mom and dad since she’d selfishly left them holding the proverbial bag. Not that she didn’t think she deserved to be selfish yesterday in the heat and embarrassment of the moment, but she couldn’t make the same claim today. Today it was the day to be an adult and face the music—music Luke had made, but it was her problem. Not the wedding planner’s, not her parents’…hers.

  First order of business was coffee, shower, and getting rid of the Wedding Wrecker. How many monikers could she come up with?

  The kettle whistled as Luke came out of the bedroom wearing the clothes he’d had on the previous day. She poured water into the two cups she’d set on the counter and handed him one when he stopped next to her.

  “Thanks,” he said. “You remember how I like it.”

  Damn it. She’d fixed his cup without even thinking about it. “It’s not hard to remember you take your coffee black.”

  He stepped closer. “But you still remembered.”

  She did her best to ignore the way her skin reacted to him being so close and sipped her coffee. Not bad for instant, but she wasn’t going to give up her French press.

  “Rowan, about what happened—”

  She moved around him. “I’m going to shower and get dressed, then take you to your car.”

  Rowan carried her clothes and the few belongings she’d brought with her to the car and put them on the floor in the back. Going back inside, she passed Luke standing in the middle of the cabin.

  “Is there something I can help with?” he asked.

  “No. I need to turn off the generator and then we can go.”

  “What about the food in the fridge?”

  She glared at the fridge, blew out a breath, and thought seriously about leaving what little food there was just to cut down the minutes she had to spend with Luke, but she didn’t know when Claudia’s parents planned on visiting the cabin. They probably wouldn’t appreciate being greeted by spoiled food.

  “I need to get that, too.”

  “I’ll grab it,” he said.

  “Sure. There’s a couple of grocery bags under the sink.” She grabbed the keys for the padlock and left through the back door without waiting to see if he found them.

  She shut off the generator and made sure the lock was closed tight. Back inside, she hung the keys back on the hook and threw the bolt on the back door. Luke pushed opened the front door as she reached for the handle and she took a quick step back to avoid getting hit with it.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “It’s fine. Did you get everything out of the fridge?”

  “Yes. I also grabbed the trash bag and put it in the trunk of your car—I hope that’s okay.”

  “It’s fine.” She wasn’t annoyed he’d put the bag in her car. She was annoyed she hadn’t thought to grab it and he had. Which made absolutely no sense at all—it was trash. Who cared?

  She did, because even for something so insignificant, she’d had to rely on him for it. The sooner they got down the mountain, the better. “Do you have anything else you need to get?”

  He rubbed the palms of his hands down his t-shirt, over the front pockets of his jeans, then around to his butt. “Nope. This is all I have.”

  She barely stopped herself from her initial, knee-jerk reaction of asking if he wanted to check again. They didn’t have that kind of relationship anymore. They didn’t have any kind of relationship.

  Instead, she gestured toward the door and her means of escape. “Let’s go then.”

  She pulled the door closed behind them and stowed the front door key back in the lockbox. Settled into the driver’s seat, she started the car and plugged her phone into the charger. Trying to ignore his warm, looming presence in the passenger seat, she turned the car toward the road.
/>   “Now that I’ve got you here,” he said.

  She turned her head enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

  “We need to talk about this.”

  “We don’t need to talk about anything, Luke.”

  “I missed you, Rowan.”

  She pressed the brakes hard, forcing him to brace his hand on the dash to avoid hitting it, and the car slid on the road. “I missed you too, Luke. I missed you for a long, miserable year. I missed you every time you didn’t return my calls or texts. I missed you every time you didn’t answer an email. I missed you right up until the time you showed up to the Academy of Country Music awards with some up-and-coming country star on your arm and I realized I had to stop missing you. So I did.

  “You don’t get to barge back into my life after all this time and decide you miss me. You should have missed me when you had the chance.”

  Her hands clenched the steering wheel so hard her knuckles hurt and she vibrated with anger. Taking a shaky breath, she looked through the windshield and took her foot off the brake, easing down on the gas.

  The tension in the car was beginning to suffocate her. She’d seen the surprise in his eyes when she’d mentioned him not answering her calls or texts. Between being homesick after transferring to UC Denver and missing Luke, she’d broken down and tried calling, texting, and sending emails in an effort to figure out how they could make it work. All she’d gotten back was silence. Now she wondered if he’d ever gotten any of her messages.

  She turned a corner and slowed to a stop. A huge freaking pine tree blocked the entire road. The trunk looked like it had been struck by lightning. Not that it mattered how it fell, it only mattered that there was no going around it.

  Her eyes stung. She put the car in park and dropped her head on the steering wheel, closing her eyes as tears spilled over through her lashes.

  “Rowan—”

  “Get out.”

  “Row—”

  “Please. Get out.” She couldn’t go anywhere and she didn’t want to feel him anymore. The door opened and closed softly and she took a shuddering breath. More than anything, she wanted to be numb. To not feel the hurt, the rejection, the disappointment, or the overwhelming sense of failure.