Fall into my Heart (The Subzero Series, #1) (18 page)

“Anyway,
she told me how much you were hurting and I told her how this whole thing was
killing me. She got all high pitched and squeaky and she started yelling “Oh my
god! You love her! You so love her!” and I said you’re right I do.”

Jack
paused for a moment as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

“Then
she insisted I come and find you. I didn’t want to impose, but she wouldn’t
leave until I bought my ticket. So I called Tyler to tell him I was coming and
to work out a ride from the airport.”

I
looked over at Tyler, who quickly looked away, and then back at Jack. “So it
was you I heard him talking to the other day.”

Jack
nodded sheepishly. “I asked him not to tell you.”

“Wait,
when did you get in? I actually tried to call you earlier.”

“I
was probably on the plane. I just got in about three hours ago. Your dad picked
me up from the airport. It wasn’t quite as awkward as I thought it would be. He
did say he was glad to see I wasn’t a crayon.”

I
laughed and realized I hadn’t seen my dad in a while. I couldn’t believe that
everyone knew about this and no one said anything to me. Usually my family
can’t keep secrets at all so the fact that they kept this quiet was pretty
impressive.

I
glanced up at Jack and tried to look as nonchalant as I could. “So what’s all
this about you loving me?”

Jack
pressed his lips together in a small smile as he reached out to run his
fingertips from my cheeks down to my chin. “I do. I love you. I think that’s
why I acted like such an idiot. I know that’s not an excuse but it’s the only
thing that makes sense to me. I am head over heels crazy in love with you.”

I
looked up at him and smiled. I knew exactly what he meant. “I love you too
Jack.”

“So
will you be my girlfriend again?” He asked as though he thought I might say no.

“Of
course I will.”

Jack
pulled me close to him as he breathed a sigh of relief.  “I’ve missed you like
crazy,” He admitted. “I’m pretty sure the guys were getting sick of me. I
couldn’t stop thinking or talking about you. I even wrote a song for you called
“Fall into my Heart
.
It killed me to see you at that charity thing
looking so unbelievably stunning yet so sad at the same time. I never meant to
hurt you that night.”

“I
know you didn’t. You know, I felt the same exact way. I’m pretty sure my family
is seconds away from having my mental stability checked.”

Jack
gave me a knowing smile. “Yeah, what’s this I hear about tattoos and
skydiving?”

“Almost
skydiving and I’ll show you the tattoo later,” I said giving him a quick wink.
“For now though, if we don’t join them soon, they may die.” I nodded my head
towards the couches where everyone was sitting around pretending like they weren’t
trying to listen to what we were talking about.

Jack
pulled me in for one more kiss before we walked over to join everyone. Tyler
jumped up from the couch and gave Jack a hug. “It’s about time ol’ chap.”

Jack
smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. “I know. Like I said, I am
an idiot.”

I
couldn’t believe it but my year was ending even better than I thought it would.
I mean I know that I was all broken up when Jack dumped me, but he was here
now. If we hadn’t broken up, we would have spent New Year’s Eve in different
countries. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly do wish that Jack and I never lost
the past couple of weeks but at least we are spending tonight together.

“One
minute! One minute till midnight!” Someone yelled out over the crowd.

We
each took a champagne flute as they were passed out amongst the crowd. I looked
around the room, stopping when my gaze fell on my father. He smiled, pointed to
Jack and gave an approving nod.

“Thank
you.” I silently mouthed to him.

“You’re
welcome.” He mouthed back.

I
turned back around to my little group of family and friends just as someone
announced we had twenty seconds to go. We all raised our glasses.

“Cheers
to a new year, new friends, new loves and new experiences.” Tyler yelled out
over the noise.

“Cheers!”
We yelled back in unison.

“10.....9.....8.....7.....6.....5.....4.....3.....2.....1!
Happy new year!”

We
clinked our glasses together and drank our champagne. Jack took my glass and
set it down with his on the table. He turned back to me, ran his fingertips
down my arms and around my back, pulling my body close to his. He covered my
lips with his, gently at first and then a little bit harder. My lips parted
slightly giving him just enough room for his tongue to dart inside my mouth,
circling gently around mine before he pulled back nipping my lower lip softly
with his teeth.

“I
love you.” He whispered.

“I
love you too.”

––––––––

O
ne year later.....

Is
it possible to feel annoyed and excited at the same time? It must be because
that is exactly how I was feeling. Jack and I had been dating for a little over
a year now and recently decided it was silly for us to continue living across
the hall from each other so today I am happily moving out of the apartment
Drayton McGuire had set up for me and into Jack’s apartment. It is amazing how
moving across the hall has been more of a pain in the ass than moving from one
country to another was. Granted I only boxed things up last time and shipped
them and everything was set up when I got here. This time, I didn’t box
anything. I’ve just been moving things across the hall a little at a time over
the past few weeks. You would think that makes things easier and less stressful
but it doesn’t. It just means that when I am looking for something I have twice
the area to search because I don’t know if it is in my place or his. That ends
today though and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Abby
moved in with Tyler a week ago. It was weird to not have her here at first but
honestly we didn’t really see each other any less. Tyler is growing on my dad
but I think dad is still secretly worried that Abby is going to call home one
of these days saying that she is having a bunch of little blue hair babies.

I
took one more final walk through in my condo to make sure I hadn’t forgotten
anything. I needed to turn the keys in within the next forty eight hours so I
had to double check that nothing was being left behind because once it was gone
it was gone for good. Okay, so maybe that is a little dramatic. I was only
moving across the hall so surely if I realized I had left anything I could just
ask the new tenant about it.

“So
is that everything then?” Jack asked.

I
walked into the living room where Jack was sitting going over the set list for
tonight’s Subzero show. I sat down next to him and he wrapped an arm around my
shoulders, pulling me close to him as he placed a quick kiss on the side of my
head.

“Yup,
as of right now, we officially live together.”

“Best
news so far today. Are you coming to the show tonight?”

“Yes,
of course! Abby and I are going together actually, so could you drop me off when
you pick up Tyler?”

“I
can. Could you do me a favor? Could you wear something pretty?”

I
turned to look at him. “Don’t I always look pretty?”

Jack’s
face turned bright red. “Of course you always look pretty. What I meant
was.....was.....well I was just thinking that.....that –“

“It’s
okay,” I laughed. “I have plenty of pretty things. I am sure I can find
something extra pretty to wear tonight.”

Jack
flashed a grateful smile. “Thanks love. I should start getting my stuff
together. We need to be on our way in a bit.”

~*~

Everyone
seemed to be in full party mode by the time we arrived at Stoaked. Subzero was
setting up on the stage while the DJ was busy spinning tunes. I felt a little
out of place in my black knee grazing, strappy chiffon dress, but Jack wanted
pretty and I definitely felt pretty.

Abby
and I pushed our way through crowd until we reached the bar. I waved my hand
when Dex looked our way and he immediately came over to us, which caused some
people who were already waiting for drinks to start complaining.

“Hey,
knock it off or I’ll cut you off before you get started.” Dex threatened them.
The complaints stopped so they must have known he was serious.

“Jack
asked me to give this to you.” Dex winked as he slid a Pina Colada across the
bar. 

“Thanks.”
I laughed.

Jack
and I took a trip to the Dominican Republic a few months ago. The resort we
stayed at was all inclusive and made the best Pina Coladas ever. I don’t think
there was a single moment that week where we didn’t have a Pina Colada in hand.
Not even when we were trying other drinks.

“Look,
there’s Skye and Wes.” Abby pointed to a group that was congregated close to
the stage.

We
started pushing back through the crowd to where they were. We passed Jocalyn
along the way, already dancing around. We were almost to Wes and Skylar when I
stopped dead in my tracks. Standing with them, laughing at something Wes was
saying, were Nick and Noelle. Nick turned to me and smiled. I ran over, careful
to not spill my drink or fall flat on my rear end.

“What
are you doing here?” I exclaimed as I threw my arms around my brother’s neck.

“We
wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?”

“Am
I surprised? You came from New York to London without telling me! Of course I
am surprised. Where are you guys staying?”

“We
have a hotel room.”

Noelle
pushed Nick aside and pulled me in for a tight hug. “I’ve missed you!”

I
was about to respond when Subzero took the stage. Jack looked over at me,
smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Pretty.”
He mouthed to me.

“Hello
everybody, we are called Subzero,” Noah yelled in to the microphone. “Is
everybody ready to party?”

The
crowd started screaming and jumping up and down. Nick grabbed Noelle’s hand and
spun her around. We all laughed as she squealed from surprise. I finished my
drink and sat it down on the table behind me. I grabbed Abby’s hand and we
started bopping up and down with everyone else. The band was about four songs
in when Dean started strumming a slower tune on his guitar. I recognized it
right away. It was
“
Fall into my Heart”, the song Jack wrote for me
during our break up. Noah grabbed the microphone out of the stand, walked over
to Jack and threw his arm around Jack’s shoulders.

“Hey
does everyone know our bass player, Jack?” He yelled out.

“YES!!”
Everyone yelled back. Someone even yelled out, “I love you Jack!”

“Jack
looks like he has something he wants to say. Do you have something you want to
say ol’ boy?”

“As
a matter of fact I do have something I want to say.” Jack took off his guitar
and leaned it against the wall behind where Tyler was set up with his drums.

“Does
everyone know my beautiful girlfriend? She’s called Chloe. Chloe, my love,
where are you?”

Abby
pushed me towards the stage. For a moment I thought I was going to trip, but
thankfully I managed to stay on my feet. Noah reached out his hand and pulled
me up on to the stage.

“Ah,
here she is.”

Jack
grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the front of the stage. He kissed my hand
and dropped down to one knee. My heart stopped beating as I realized what was
happening and suddenly everyone else blurred in to the background until it was
only me and Jack alone on the stage.

“Chloe,
you are the most amazing person I have ever met and every day that we spend
together I find myself falling more and more in love with you. You make my life
fun and I can’t imagine what I would be like – what my life would be like – if
I didn’t have you by my side. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?
Will you marry me?”

Jack
pulled a small black velvet box out from his pocket and opened it up. Inside
was the most beautiful engagement ring I had ever seen. The center stone was
cushion cut diamond framed with smaller round diamonds and the white gold band
was studded with princess cut stones. Jack stared up at me, his beautiful blue
eyes looked nervous as though there was a chance I would turn him down.

“Yes!”
I exclaimed. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you.”

The
crowd went wild, cheering and whistling. Jack took the ring out of the box and
slid it onto my finger. Then, he stood up, wrapped his arms around my waist and
pulled me in for a slow, sensual kiss which only made the crowd cheer even
louder.

“I
love you Jack.”

“I
love you to Chloe.....forever.”

––––––––

F
irst off, I would like to thank my
husband, who was so incredibly supportive when I decided I wanted to pursue my
dream of becoming a writer. Thank you for being so patient all of those nights
I just wanted to write!

I would like to thank my mom, who
had a slew of people patiently waiting for this book when it was just a thought
in my mind! I also want to say a big “Thanks!” for every time I called you and
started the conversation with “Tell me what you think about this” instead of
“Hello!”

To Lisa Hetrick and Rebecca
Wilczewski, you two are the best friends anyone could ever ask for and I love
you both! Thank you for being supportive and for giving me such great feedback
when I needed your help!

To Amanda Saitis and Caren Cahill,
thank you so much for all of your support and you’re encouraging words anytime
I mentioned how nervous I was! I love you both!

To Jeanne Raimondo, you have been
one of my biggest cheerleaders! Thank you so much for believing in me!

I would also like to thank any
readers who took a chance on an unknown author by downloading this book! I hope
you enjoyed it!