Wild Chase (18 page)

“That’ll be a little difficult when I don’t plan on babysitting him or her anytime soon,” he adds quickly and dryly.

“Well, I heard the blonde one inviting Kennedy over to their place for a party this weekend. You and I will most definitely be there,” she states as she tosses her robe onto a nearby couch, smoothing out her pink silk camisole.

Avery turns around to plead with her, but stops himself from even starting. He most definitely didn’t want to bombard Chase again, but he also didn’t want to fight with Olivia anymore.

Besides, seeing Chase again…

“So, do you have time for a shower?” Olivia asks coyly as she toys with the drawstring on her silk shorts.

Lost in thoughts of a rooftop night years ago, Avery never even hears her as he makes his way into his room to get dressed and head to the studio, leaving behind one very annoyed girlfriend once again.

“You have to stay!” Victoria whines while putting out a bunch of red plastic cups next to the insane amount of alcohol and juices that line the counter.

Still carrying around a massive headache from the other night, I gaze out of our 15th story living room window at the city lights and sigh, “Sorry, Vic, but I cannot handle another meeting with him just yet. You enjoy your party and I’ll be back later on tonight after I pick up this early shift at the station. I’m lucky that I haven’t been fired for calling out sick those two nights,” I sigh as I grab my keys and head toward the door. She waves her hand, annoyed with me, but I blow her a kiss anyway and head out. Hopefully an evening of submerging myself in music will help me clear my head a little bit more, because nothing else seems to be helping this moving on thing.

I stand outside of our apartment door listening to laughter and voices and I want to run away screaming. On the other hand, I’m a glutton for punishment it seems, and so my feet are still firmly planted right outside the door. It’s almost eleven at night and they are all still here? They’ve been here for over five hours now… how much longer do they need to hang out? Maybe Avery didn’t even come. In fact, he better not have! After the night before last, he would be an even bigger idiot than I am if he came tonight.

Plus, it’s my apartment! I have every right to be here. I’m tired, I worked, I want to get into my jammies and crawl into bed!

I purse my lips, square my shoulders, and head on inside.

Immediately, my eyes fall on the group sitting in my living room and I almost get a case of Tourette’s right there. Not only is Mr. Idiot himself sitting on my damn couch, but also he brought his troll of a girlfriend into my home!

Motherfu—

“Melanie!” Jesse shouts from the couch, setting his beer down and rushing over to me. This whole going by my middle name thing is just weird…

His grin is slightly contagious and as I flop my bag on the stool at our counter, I give him a slight sideways grin back. He all but tackles me into a bear hug.

“I was beginning to think you’d never show up! You’re just in time for the next game! Come on!” he takes my hand and pulls me toward the couches.

Everyone chimes in with hellos, as I hesitantly say hello back and, I can’t help it, my eyes wander to his six plus foot frame. Of course, his beautiful eyes are looking right back at me. He gives me a small smile and mouths, “Hi,” and I immediately turn my attention back to the rest of the group.

“There she is! My beautiful, awesome, sweet, bestest friend! I missed you! These guys are kicking my butt and I know if anyone can beat them, it’s your b-e-a-utiful self!” Vic says bubbly, but it is obvious she’s had a few drinks. I laugh softly as I take a spot on the couch beside Jesse and Vic, and beside Victoria is Kennedy, who is quietly smiling and nursing a beer. On the other couch are Avery, Olivia, and Adam.

“Good luck with that! I don’t think anyone can beat my Avey!” Olivia says, turning to look at him with a smirk. Avery looks down at her with a smile and kisses the top of her head.

UGH…
Avey?

I grab Jesse’s beer and pull it, slamming the empty bottle back down on the coffee table, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Everyone laughs except for she who shall not be named, and I hear Adam pipe up, “Now that’s my kind of girl!”

Jesse gets up and heads to the kitchen, quickly returning with a beer for me, and another for him. I smile sheepishly and lean in to him, taking mine as he sits back down.

“Sorry about that,” I whisper softly close to his ear. He chuckles and leans in to me as I take a sip of my drink.

Blech, I don’t even like beer!

“Don’t be. I have to have a few of these to deal with her myself,” he whispers and I choke on my drink as I start to laugh. He and I set our bottles down as we continue to laugh even harder while everyone eyes us suspiciously.

“All right, let’s get to playing, guys! I’m ready to kick some ass!” Adam says, smacking the table.

“It’s my turn, and I believe Victoria’s. So put them in the middle!” Avery says, taking out an iPod from his pocket and setting it in the middle of our coffee table. There are already two sets of mini portable speakers laying there and he plugs one in while Vic hoots for a minute before running into her room to snag hers.

I wrinkle my forehead, “What are we playing?”

“Music roulette!” Jesse says excitedly. I raise an eyebrow as Vic runs back in with her iPod and sets it up on the table, too.

“Never heard of it,” I say, wondering what in the heck I’m still doing sitting here. I wanted to go to bed.

“We take turns on different iPods, putting them on shuffle and everyone gets a turn. The song plays and you have to sing a lyric or you’re out. Last one standing wins. Just a warning, no one ever beats Avery or Jesse,” Kennedy says as he puts his hand on Vic’s knee. She blushes and smiles, but keeps her attention on everyone else.

“Me first!” Olivia yells, pressing the play button on Avery’s iPod and waiting for her song choice to come on…

After the first round, we are all still standing. A little Heart, Boys 2 Men, Dixie Chicks, Hinder, and Motley Crue are just a few of the artists to pop up. It comes back around to Olivia, who presses play on Vic’s iPod, and a Ke$ha song starts to play. Instinctively my eyes find Avery’s and he and I both look at one another and share a small smirk. He remembers…

“OH MY GOD! I LOVE THIS SONG!” Olivia shouts and then starts howling out the next line of the song.

I bite my bottom lip and look down, trying to hide my laughter. When I feel an elbow in my side, I peer over at the owner and I catch Jesse trying not to laugh, too.

Adam takes his turn and gets a song by Avenged Sevenfold, and of course, he knows every single word—and drum beat.

Jesse reaches out and presses play on Vic’s, and Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” starts to play. Everyone around us groans; I’m sure he will get this one.

Sure enough, he doesn’t even wait for the song to play, he just sings from the start, and when he hits the chorus, I swear my jaw nearly comes unhinged. He’s hot, but he’s sexy when he’s singing.

“Yeah, yeah, we get it, dude. All right, your turn, Melanie,” Avery says, reaching over and hitting the skip button.

“Every Time We Touch” starts up and just like Jesse, I don’t wait for the first verse to play, I just start singing.

The lyrics hit me like a hard, but I can’t stop myself from singing. My eyes flutter shut, searching for the willpower not to look across from me or let the words affect me any more than I’ve already let them, and I just keep singing.

I stop and open my eyes, and as if gravity pulls my eyes there against my will, I’m looking right at him. He’s chewing on his bottom lip and staring right back at me. His eyes are blazing. I find myself wanting to be closer to him. On cue, Olivia shifts in her seat and lays her head on his shoulder, rattling on about something that I don’t even bother hearing. I grab my beer and take a long drink. I’ll be ok if I don’t get any more songs like that. Bed is starting to sound better and better with every passing minute.

“MY TURN!” Vic shouts, pressing stop on her iPod and play on Avery’s. “Rock You Like A Hurricane” starts to play. She frowns.

“UGH! Yeahmmmm hmmmm laaaalaaaaa yeahhh ummmmhummm blahhh blahhhh something something yeah ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!” she sings with a laugh. We all join her as Adam throws his thumb over his shoulder.

“Sorry, babe, you’re out!”

Vic pouts, but sits back as Kennedy steals her turn and sings a lyric perfectly with his soft tenor voice. I swear I see stars in my friend’s eyes. I smile and shake my head.

Avery takes his turn and it doesn’t matter what song he gets, it’s like I’m hypnotized as soon as his lips start to move. I don’t even care if his girlfriend sees me staring—he’s everything I remember.

Of course, he nails every single lyric.

“My turn!” Olivia interrupts with a cheesy grin as she presses play on his iPod. “Free Fallin’” begins to play and instinctively, my eyes fly to his arm, remembering his tattoo. He catches me looking and flashes me a grin. I raise my eyebrows and turn my face away, taking another long pull of my beer.

“No fair! I don’t know this song, baby!” she whines, causing a little bit of beer to come shooting out of my mouth. I quickly wipe my chin and sit back on the couch, still in utter disbelief. How can she
not
know this song? It’s permanently inked on her man’s skin!

“Really?” I blurt out, sounding like a complete bitch.

Olivia shoots daggers at me from her seat on my couch, “Well, I know that it’s a popular song, but I don’t know all of the words,” she says haughtily, settling in even closer to Avery. I just mutter an ‘oh’ and nod, finishing off the last of my beer on that note.

WOW.

“Sorry, Liv, you’re out!” Jesse says so cheerfully that obviously it annoys her. Adam clears his throat.

“That’s too easy for me. I want a new song,” he declares confidently as he presses play on Vic’s iPod. The look on his face when a One Direction song starts to play is priceless.

“Ah, what the fuck is this?” he shouts with a grimace and we all burst out laughing. He rolls his eyes and snatches up his empty beer bottles as he stands up.

“I’m out!” Adam scowls and with that, he walks over to the kitchen.

While we’re all still laughing, Jesse grabs my hand and starts singing along with the boy band song.

“How you ever get laid is a fucking wonder, Bro,” Adam says, shaking his head in disbelief as he sits back down across from us with a few shots of what looks and smells like tequila.

Jesse finishes his verse and smiles at me—one of those sexy, half-upturned, boyish smiles and let’s go of my hand.

Holy hell fire.

Adam has no idea what he’s talking about because that just jump started my libido like nobody’s business. I tear myself away from his smile and snatch up one of Adam’s shots. I hardly ever drink, but being around these boys lately has me drinking like a fish… or whatever the heck that saying is.

I pass my turn with perfection, getting “Barracuda”, and Kennedy ends up getting a country song by Gloriana from Vic’s selection and ends up out of the game. Now, it’s down to just Avery, Jesse, and me.

Avery goes, getting “Have Faith In Me” by A Day To Remember and I swear my head feels like it’s about to explode. I’m hanging onto every lyric as though he’s singing it directly to me, but my head is still ‘tsking at me that I should steer far—far away from this taken man and move on with my heart. Maybe even with the guy that just made a One Direction song get me all hot and bothered…

Jesse takes his turn and sings his heart out to an old school John Denver song. When it’s finally my turn, I press play on Avery’s iPod and the notes that start-up suck all of the air out of the room and my heart becomes so still that I’m not sure it’s sticking around for the rest of the night. I can’t. Not only is my body paralyzed, so is the blood in my veins. I – I can’t. There’s no way in hell I am singing this song. Not now, not ever again. My eyes begin to sting and my lungs start to burn as I try to unravel myself from the massive grip this song has on my heart. Before the first word rings out, Avery stuns me by belting out the familiar rooftop song that I sang to him years ago.