Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(23)
Author: K.A. Linde

“Don’t make this about me. You didn’t even know I was here. Were you here for someone else?”

Her mouth dropped open in shock, and then her hurricane-blue eyes stormed over. “How dare you! You’re the one hiding your location and the reason you’re here, yet you’re accusing me of coming here to see someone else. Have you lost your mind?”

“Technically, you are here with someone else,” a guy said from behind her.

I hadn’t even fucking noticed him. I definitely hadn’t thought he was with Ari. He was in a suit and looked like a trussed-up preppy douche bag. Then again, Ari was in a pretty hot black dress. It made me want to simultaneously rip it off of her and demand to know why she would wear it for some other asshole.

“Stay out of this,” Ari snapped at the guy.

“Who the hell is this guy?” I demanded.

She deflated under the question, which set my blood from simmer to high.

“This is Henry,” she murmured softly and then kept speaking in a rush, “I had no idea he was going to be here tonight. My father invited him. I didn’t even know he was in the city. This isn’t what it looks like.”

I saw red. “You’re here with the douche you kissed when we were split up.”

“You didn’t say you were split up,” Henry accused.

“Henry!” she snapped.

“And you never even told him?” I asked.

“Stop. Just stop!” She ran a shaky hand back through her hair, which was when I saw the glittering diamond on her finger.

“What the fuck is that?” I pointed at her hand in shock.

“What?” she cried, exasperated.

“Is that a fucking engagement ring?”

Ari looked down at the ring on her finger and then groaned. “No! Oh my God! I can’t believe you would even think that.”

“What am I supposed to think when you show up here with him and are now wearing a diamond?” I was about to combust.

“I don’t know. Maybe trust me! This is from my father! It’s a birthday present! It was my mother’s original engagement ring. He wanted me to have it. Jesus!”

I shook my head. I was a little thrown off. Ari had fucking parents who gave her family heirlooms. Not to mention, it was a bigger rock than anything I’d ever be able to afford for her. How was I supposed to compete with that shit?

“And you don’t find it suspicious that your dad would give you something like this around the fucking dude he’s weirdly trying to hook you up with?”

“It was a birthday present! This is not about Henry. This is about you being here. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to the concert? Did you sign? Is that what this is about?”

“I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d freak. I had to figure out what we’re doing, what’s right for the band. I can’t do that with you in my goddamn head.”

“I don’t even know what that means!”

“It means, if I want to sign, I don’t want to deal with your judgment.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t judge your music! I’ve been completely encouraging.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Princess.”

Her lips drew into a thin line, and she looked as if she might rear back and punch me. Maybe I deserved it, but if she thought she wasn’t judgmental, then she was delusional. She hated the lifestyle—the groupies, drugs, booze, sex. She hated the other bands. She hated the thought that we would be on tour with our vices. She hated it all.

Until that moment, I didn’t realize how true that really was…and how much it pissed me the fuck off.

“Fine. Fine!” she spat. “I’m not going to stand around and argue with you. If you want to believe the worst about me, then fine, Grant. It’s much easier to assume I wouldn’t want you to be here, signing, then to simply ask me.”

“I don’t have to ask you. I see it on your face.”

“I thought we already talked about all of this! You know what? Forget it. You’ve made it clear the business side of the music industry isn’t something you want to talk to me about. Obviously, you’ll be the only one affected by the changes, so it’s not important to discuss them with me.” She held up her hand. “I’m going to go. When you figure it out, come talk to me.”

She turned on her heel and walked toward the door. I stared after her retreating back with a mixed bag of emotions eating away at me. On one hand, I wanted to rush after her and tell her she wasn’t allowed to fucking walk away from me. On the other hand, I just wanted her to be gone. As she walked away from me, her judgment weighed heavily in the air.

“Thanks, man,” Henry said with a nod of his head in my direction.

“What?”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better performance.”

I glared at him. “Get the fuck out of here.”

Henry laughed at me before following Ari out the stage door.

My stomach sank as soon as they were gone. I’d let her walk out. He’d gone with her. It was as if I’d been pitched headfirst into an ice bath. I’d pushed her away…right into the arms of someone else. What the fuck was wrong with me? Why did she drive me up the wall?

Everything was either fiery passion or icy-cold arguments. Either way, I couldn’t get my head on straight around her.

“Bro, what just happened?” Miller asked, appearing at my side.

“Honestly, I’ve no fucking clue.”

“Why did she leave? You fuck up?”

I nodded. “I…”

I tried to process.

“She was here with the guy who she kissed over break, and I fucking lost it. It’s as if she’s got this goddamn vise grip on my brain, so it stops functioning when she’s around.”

“Because you love her, dipshit,” Miller said as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

“Fuck. Fuck!” I cried. “She can’t be with him.”

“Then, what are you still doing here?” Miller shoved me forward. “Go after her.”

I was running through the backstage area as soon as Miller finished his sentence. My feet pounded on the carpeted floor, out the lobby, and onto the sidewalk. I thrust my hand out into traffic to catch a passing cab with only one thought on my mind.

I have to fix this.

I have to fix this.

I have to fix this.

That motherfucker.

I couldn’t believe he had come all the way out here without saying one word to me beforehand. I couldn’t believe he had hidden the fact that Pacific was trying to sign them. I couldn’t believe he had called me judgmental. He hadn’t even asked my opinion on it. He was too chickenshit to even find out.