Wild Chase (17 page)

“Nah, I’m not mad at you, but don’t expect me to be there.”

She opens the door for me as we walk out of the bathroom and laughs, “Oh come on, Hun, you’ll be there. Go sleep that mess off and we’ll talk about it in the morning. And Chase?” she pauses outside of her door. I look over my shoulder at her.

“You’re not ruined. I know it feels like it now, but once you get some rest and let it all sink in, you’ll see that maybe things just have a funny way of working out,” she says softly, and I wonder if she’s not drunk, too. I just nod as I make my way into my room and fall into bed.

Roughly clearing his throat, “So, are you going to talk to me this morning, or do I have to try and figure out what exactly you’re pissed off at me about by the crunching of your cereal?” Avery asks with a highly sarcastic tone in his gruff morning voice as he stares across the hotel dining room table at his obviously still angry girlfriend.

Shooting him a warning glance from over the top of her bowl of granola, Olivia sighs, and rewraps her fluffy white bathrobe around her as she begins to tap her spoon against the beautiful cherry wood table.

Avery throws his head back and lets out an agitated groan. She’s been giving him the silent treatment since they left the bar last night. Not that he minds all that much.

He’d be lying not only to himself but also to the entire world if he said that the relationship had been anything but rocky for more than half of the time they had been together. Hell, he was never out to have a relationship in the first place. It just sort of happened. Before he knew it, the time had flown by and they were still together…

Barely.

Falling into a relationship with Olivia Birsch had been complicated from the start, but falling out of one, well, that was something far more problematic.

A couple years back, when a spur of the moment trip fell apart, Avery returned to L.A. just in time for the Blurr Record party celebrating the launch of their first album. After celebrating a little too hard with his band and Jack Daniels, he woke up next to a girl… and he couldn’t remember her name. Thinking he could make a quick getaway while she was still asleep, he grabbed his clothes from the floor, darted out of the bedroom and down the hall of the mansion, which he soon realized was the one the party had been held at. Not his finest moment, running from a one-night stand, but he could barely remember anything past the initial toast and shots with the guys. He darted into an empty bathroom, quickly dressed, and quietly made his way down the wide staircase. To avoid the group of people cleaning up in the main room, Avery dashed down a hall and ended up in the kitchen, face to face with Samuel Birsch sitting with a cup of coffee and his morning paper. It was a moment that would sit with him for the rest of his life. Blurr Record Label Executive himself, and father to the blonde stranger upstairs, the gray haired gentleman enjoying his breakfast was none too happy to find a disheveled Avery sneaking around his house. After a few moments of hung over stuttering during the father’s ruthless interrogation and slew of threats that included dropping his band from the label and ruining their name for good in the industry, Olivia pranced into the kitchen to his rescue and playfully shooed her father away from Avery. She quickly came up with some off the wall story about how they’d known each other for years and reconnected recently, but that she didn’t want her father to know about it because she knew they had been signed by the label. Batting her lashes and pouting her lips, the old man bought every single word. Avery should have realized then that saving his ass with a list of complicated lies was far too easy for her, but it never occurred to him that it was anything more than an attempt to calm her father down. Thankfully, Mr. Birsch seemed relieved. Of course, his relief came from knowing that his newest investment wasn’t
one night standing
his daughter like some common groupie.

Avery was never looking for a relationship, but after that, they just fell into the rolls. It had been that way ever since, but things between them had never felt natural. They didn’t know each other, and even after taking the time to try, they still didn’t have much in common. He knew there was something lacking, but for the sake of the band, he kept pushing through, hoping he would be able to find whatever the hell it was.

But now she was really trying his damned patience.

“You already know what I’m pissed about, Avery Nickolas McGuire!” she says coldly. “My boyfriend completely ignored all of my calls and all my texts. Then instead of being excited that I took a red-eye flight out of New York to be out here to surprise him, —no! He looks at me like I’ve grown three heads and asks what I’m doing here! Seriously? Then to ice the cake, I find out that he’s been hanging out with trashy looking models all day, and then takes them out for drinks afterwards!” Olivia shouts, slamming her fist down on the table, rattling not only her breakfast bowl, but the vase of flowers in the center, too.

“Calm down, Liv! Jeez, I already told you about yesterday. I overslept and then we went straight to the shoot, and then straight after that we went to the studio. I didn’t even have my phone on me until we went out to the bar. By then I knew you’d be asleep so I figured I’d just call you when you woke up. As for the models, you don’t need to insult anyone,” he replies, his voice growing momentarily soft.

“They are really nice girls, and besides, Jesse and Kennedy invited them out. I didn’t do anything wrong, so you just need to chill out,” he utters before running one hand up the back of his neck and through his messy bed head. He hadn’t slept well at all, but it had nothing to do with his girlfriend and her tantrum.

Chase.

It was her. Right there, in his lap, after all those years. Grown up, inked out, and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined—and he’d been imagining.

It hadn’t mattered that he had beautiful women lying in his lap all morning—until she turned out to be Chase Taylor—the one regret he carries with him every single day.

Olivia looks down at her hands for a moment, tapping her leg repeatedly until she sighs, “I guess you’re forgiven. You really can’t be held accountable for your band’s lack of taste.”

Avery throws his hands up in the air out of sheer annoyance.

“That’s completely uncalled for, Liv! Besides, if anyone sitting at this table has the right to be pissed about something it wouldn’t be you! My friends and my family are still angry about that article. I’ve never had Luke that upset with me before,” Avery spits out through clenched teeth.

His girlfriend rolls her eyes and tosses her cream-colored napkin onto the table as she stands up and walks over to his side, stopping to sit on the edge of the table next to him.

“Oh, come on, Avey. You know how they blow everything I say out of proportion. It’s not my fault! Besides, you should be used to the tabloid crap by now,” she speaks casually, picking at the bagel on Avery’s plate.

This time it’s his turn to roll his eyes.

“It was Esquire, not the Inquirer. Stop brushing it off as if it’s not a big deal. I’m not ready to get married, and you know that. Giving an interview like that only starts shit, and you started a ton of it. You can’t just say things like that when you have no idea who… when you don’t know who could read it and who could get hurt,” Avery finishes in a huff, burying his head in his hands briefly before glaring up at her through his dark gray eyes.

Poking out her lip, she reaches out and cups his slightly scruffy chin, “Aww, did it really upset you?” Then with a laugh, she drops her hand to her lap and rolls her eyes again.

“God, Avery!
Me
talking about
my
dream wedding to
my boyfriend
doesn’t hurt anyone! I should be allowed to talk about those things, you know. I’m fully aware that you’re not ready to propose, but you will be, and when you do, I’ll already have half the work done. Besides, your
so called
friends and family should know better than to buy into any cover story. They should know that when the time comes for something as big as our engagement that we will let them know before we tell some magazine,” she finishes by folding her arms across her chest and staring him down as though he’s a dog that just pissed on the floor.

After a long sigh, Avery just nods. It’s pointless to argue any further with her because it’s more than obvious she isn’t getting the point. Olivia Birsch does exactly what she wants, no matter what anyone else thinks. He had admired that fiery confidence when they first met, but since then it had blossomed into something ferocious.

“So, what are our plans for this weekend?” she asks, her tone shifting instantly as if the last conversation had never happened at all.

He closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head, “Ugh, we will probably be in the studio nonstop for the next couple days reworking one of our songs.”

“Ugh, seriously? I thought Daddy told me that he recommended that you guys just let them hire a writer to come in and help write a whole new record,” she replies while admiring and picking at her nails.

Avery furrows his brow at the woman sitting on the edge of his breakfast table.

“Why is your father talking to you about our album?” he says slowly.

“Why are you worried about it? I already knew that they rejected the second attempt because you told me about it before you flew back out to LA. Why do you think I showed up here? You looked like someone ran over your dog. I could tell how upset you were and I wanted to be here for you.”

After staring at her for a long moment, “I know, Sweetie, and I appreciate you coming out, but it’s weird that your dad talks band business with you. Besides, you know that we would never put out an album that we didn’t create ourselves. We wrote that entire first album on our own and they loved it. I don’t know what the problem is this time around.”

Wiping her hands of the bagel crumbs, she slowly slides into his lap. Resting her hands on his shoulders, he leans back to look into her dark eyes,

“No, if I recall, you wrote most of that album, not the band. And I don’t understand why it matters that he talks to me about you guys. He’s a label executive of the record label you’re signed to, Avey, which is how we met, if you’ve forgotten. You didn’t exactly give me a lot of details when you left, so I called him up to find out what was going on. I don’t know why you have to be so prideful. The fans will love anything you guys put out, and it’s not like Daddy would set you up with a crappy lyricist.”

Avery adamantly shakes his head.

“No, Olivia, it just doesn’t feel right. We can’t put out an album knowing that it’s not our original music. I can’t really explain it to you, it’s just a feeling in the pit of my stomach that would eat away at me, and the guys all feel the same way. Besides, we got some amazing advice last night on how to fix up one of the songs, so that’s the plan for today. I can’t wait to hear how it comes out,” he replies with a sparkle in his eye.

Olivia sits back slightly with a raised eyebrow, “Amazing advice? From who?”

Avery pauses a moment too long and swallows uneasily, “Uh, one of the girls you met last night. She’s a musician. Jesse played the song for her and she gave us some great pointers. I think the son—”

Shifting back in his lap and sliding her hands and arms off his shoulders, she waves them in front of his face.

“Are you kidding me? Which one? You know what, I already know which one it is because she was staring at you with this look in her eyes that just irked me from the moment I saw her ridiculous purple hair. A girl like that is only using you guys to make her way into the business, Avery! Or into your pants!” she screeches.

“Olivia, you have no idea what you’re talking about. She’s nothing like that!” he catches himself as he begins to yell back, his blood starting to boil.

Crossing her arms again in the classic Liv fashion, she looks at Avery with an expectant face.

He sighs heavily, “Just trust me on this. She isn’t out to use us, besides,” he hesitates, “Jesse really seems to like her, so I’m guessing that we’ll be seeing more of her and I expect you to be nice.”

Her face flushes red as she turns her eyes from his and exhales another annoyed sigh.

“You can be so naïve sometimes. You’re going to need to keep an eye on that one, you know, to make sure Jesse isn’t getting yanked around.”

Avery raises an eyebrow this time, “Since when do you care about Jesse? You guys can barely stand each other.”

“Since this directly affects you, Avery! If he keeps seeing her, she could get her purple, grubby hands into the band and screw things up for you guys. Plus, I’d hate to see this ‘amazing’ advice she gave you turn out to be a bust. You really should let Daddy hire a professional for that, Baby. If you insist on this ridiculousness, then we need to keep an eye on her.”

That wasn’t something that would be difficult for him; he’d barely been able to take his eyes off Chase since the moment he saw that tattoo.

He shifts Olivia off his lap to stand up so she couldn’t see the obvious change in his thoughts. He starts cleaning up their breakfast mess.