Wreck of the Day (Love Me, I'm Famous Book 3)

by M. H. Soars

  “Planning to have one of those any time soon?” Bas says.

  “Are you fuc—are you mental?”

  “Sorry, mate. I couldn’t resist. You had this daydream look on your face. It was priceless.”

  “I’m too young to be a dad.” I start to take the bottles of liquor out. “Don’t tell me you’re trying already.”

  “Nah. Not that it wouldn’t be awesome, but Liv and I need to figure some stuff out first,” Bas says that under his breath, as if he doesn’t want anyone else to hear him.

  I watch him closely. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes, of course.” He doesn’t hold my gaze so I know he’s lying. I won’t pester him today, though. It’s not the place.

  Liv’s mom divides all the tasks and that keeps me occupied for the next hour. Then we head outside where Murphy has brought out a big flat TV screen and whoever is not helping in the kitchen is out watching football until it’s time for dinner.

  During one of the commercial breaks, I turn to Bas. “Is Saylor’s mom coming?”

  My friend clenches his jaw before answering. “No. She claimed she couldn’t switch her shift. That’s a bunch of baloney if you ask me.”

  Bas is pissed and I share the sentiment. Saylor’s mother sounds like a winner. Her boyfriend attacks her daughter and in turn she shuts her out. Couldn’t even bother to come to Saylor’s surprise birthday party. Saylor comes out in that moment to announce dinner will be ready soon and we should head back inside. Chairs shift as everyone begins to get up. I remain on my spot and she comes in my direction, stopping right in front of me.

  “Not hungry?”

  I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close, kissing her belly before leaning my cheek on it.

  “Yes.” I hug her tighter.

  She runs her fingers through my hair. “Ollie, what’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. I just wanted to squeeze you.” I look up and stare into her puzzled eyes. “I love you so damn much, Saylor.”

  Her breath catches and a myriad of emotions flashes in her eyes right before she leans down and kisses me. I taste her for as long as she lets me which is not nearly enough. She pulls back and smiles. “Come on. The food is getting cold.”

  I let her drag me back inside and everyone has already taken their seats by the long table in the living room. The food has been served and Liv’s dad is standing with a fork and knife in each hand, poised to start carving up the turkey.

  “Ha, we found the missing ones. Did you get lost on the thirty second walk from the backyard to here?” He looks in our direction with a smirk.

  “Something like that,” I say and Saylor pinches my butt.

  “Right. Let me warn you, the second floor is off-limits to you two. I don’t want any shenanigans.”

  Owen snorts and Murphy turns in his direction. “That includes you too, son. The only person getting lucky in this house tonight is me.” He winks at his wife.

  “Yew! Dad. Come on. Don’t make me puke on my plate,” Liv’s younger brother says.

  I lean closer to Saylor and whisper in her ear, “No wonder you loved to hang out here so much.”

  She turns her face in my direction, bringing her plump lips close to mine. “Yes, the Dawsons are the best.”

  I’m a half second from kissing her again when I’m hit on the forehead by a piece of bread. “Dude, no making out at the table either. This is a family celebration.” Owen is grinning at me from the other side of the table.

  I’m itching to give a smart ass reply, but Saylor squeezes my thigh as a sign for me to keep quiet. She already knows me too well. To tease her, I grab her hand and place it over my crotch so she can feel my already growing erection. She pulls her hand away and glares at me. I just smile from ear to ear.

  After everyone has their plates full, Liv’s mom says a prayer and we dive in. The food is out of this world and I eat until I can’t shove any more of it inside. When all of the plates are empty, comes the best part of dinner.

  Twenty-Nine

  SAYLOR

  I’m stuffed and if I don’t get any caffeine into my body pronto, I will fall into a food induced coma. I help clear the plates and then we bring the pies to the table. I made apple and cherry pie, but I’m really dying to eat Karen’s pecan pie. It’s what I live for the entire year and she usually makes an extra one for me to bring home. Liv’s mom is the best.

  Before anyone can dive into the sugary treats, Liv speaks up. “I think each of us should say one thing they are grateful for this year. I’ll start.” She smiles at Sebastian before glancing at me. “I’m grateful I could have my best friend with me when I married the love of my life.”

  What? I so did not see Liv saying that. “Thank you, Blue, for being part of that wonderful day, for helping me when I needed it the most.”

  My face is on fire and I don’t want know what to say. Next to me, Oliver shifts on his seat before grabbing my hand under the table to squeeze it lightly. I glance at him and there’s a twinkle of mischief in his gaze matching the upturn of his lips. Sebastian goes next.

  “I’m thankful I have someone in my corner who is not afraid to tell me like it is.” Sebastian’s gaze turns to Oliver. “No mate, I’m not talking about you, but you couldn’t have picked a better match.” Bas glances at me. “Thanks, Blue, for knowing exactly what to say when I was too stupid to see the truth.”

  My throat begins to burn and my vision gets progressively blurrier. If this continues, I won’t be able to keep the wave of swirling emotion from crashing through the protective wall around my heart. I can feel the crack there getting bigger and bigger.

  “Okay, okay. My turn,” Jeremy says and sits up straighter on his chair. “I’m going to say something here that I probably shouldn’t, but since we’re doing this, I might as well go for it. Thank you, Saylor, for never saying anything or treating me like an idiot when you found out I had a crush on you.”

  My jaw drops and I feel heat spreading through my cheeks.

  “Wait? You had a crush on Saylor?” Liv turns to her brother. “When?”

  Oliver shifts his body and angles it forward, suddenly very interested in Jeremy’s answer. Liv’s brother senses the change in him and is quick to answer.

  “Chill out, dude, had a crush, as in past tense.”

  Oliver only narrows his eyes at Jeremy, but mercifully, doesn’t say a thing.

  “When I was younger and didn’t know better Blue was totally out of my league.” Jeremy turns to Oliver and smirks. “She’s out of your league too, buddy, so you’d better not fuck it up.”

  “Jeremy! Language.” Karen frowns at her son.

  Shit, what are the Dawsons doing to me? The trend continues and everyone at the table says something that I did for them, or shares a story about me. I can barely breathe properly when Oliver’s turn comes.

  “So, I guess we saved the best for last.” He gives me a cheeky smile. “I’m thankful that you gave me such a hard time when we met, that your loyalty for your best friend brought you into my path again, but mostly, I’m thankful you allow me to love you, sugar.”

  My heart is hammering like mad inside my ribcage and the lump in my throat feels like it’s going to crash my windpipe at any minute. It’s a miracle no tears have rolled down my cheeks yet. Oliver looks over my shoulder and I turn in time to see Liv’s mom come out of the kitchen holding a cake with candles on it. On cue, everyone starts to sing happy birthday to me. I’m in such shock, I just sit there, frozen on the spot. The cake is placed in front of me, and Karen urges me to make a wish and blow out the candles. There’s only one thing I want and it’s what I ask for even though it’s childish to even entertain the idea.

  Time. I want more time.

  Oliver pulls me into a hug and whispers in my ear, “Happy birthday, sugar.”

  Everyone is talking all at once but I can’t hear a thing over the loud buzz in my ears. I begin to feel dizzy. Suddenly, Oliver is pulling me with him toward the front doo
r and out the house. Parked by the curb right in front of the Dawson’s, there’s a white Range Rover SUV with a big red bow on top.

  “What’s this?” I ask.

  “What do you think? Your birthday gift of course.”

  “You got me a car?”

  “Not any car. A Range Rover, you know, because it’s British and I wouldn’t have you drive anything else.”

  I’m shaking my head as I walk toward the beauty. “Ollie, this is too much. I can’t accept it.”

  He stops me in my tracks and spins me around so I’m facing him. “Sugar, this is nothing compared to what I want you to have. You give me so much every day and you have no bloody idea. You deserve the world.”

  “You shouldn’t have,” my voice comes out choked and finally the tears I have been holding back begin to fall.

  “Why are you crying?” He wipes the wetness from my cheeks.

  How can I tell Oliver I’m crying because most likely this is the last birthday I get to celebrate with him? How can I tell him I’m a lying bitch? I step away from his embrace, feeling cold and forlorn in an instant.

  “Saylor?” He frowns in my direction, probably wondering why I’m acting this way.

  I don’t answer him and bolt back to the house, shoving aside whoever was in my way. I run up the stairs and close myself in Liv’s old room. I’m making a spectacle out of myself, but it’s better than let them see me lose my shit. The sobs come strong and ugly as vicious tears seem to rip at my soul. A few minutes later, I hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and then Liv’s mom opens the door.

  “Sweetheart, is everything okay?”

  Her concerned voice makes me cry harder, so I grab one of the pillows and hide my face in it. She comes into the room and closes the door behind her. A second later, she’s sitting next to me on the bed.

  “You didn’t like the surprise?”

  “No. I love it. That’s the problem.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  I look up and I don’t know what makes me do it, but I find myself telling Karen the ugly truth that’s been crushing my chest. I tell her I’m dying and I’ve been lying to all of them. I confess something I should be saying to my mother, but in a sense Liv’s mom is like a mother to me. She listens to my outpour without interrupting once. When I’m done and feel utterly and completely spent, she pulls my head into her lap and runs her fingers through my hair as if I were a little girl.

  “Oh, honey. You shouldn’t have carried this burden all alone.”

  “You’re not mad at me?”

  “Of course not. I’m sad, so very sad. I love you as much as I love my own kids. I don’t like to see you like this, defeated, broken.”

  I close my eyes. “I’m so scared.”

  “It’s okay to be scared. It’s better than being fearless.”

  “But I’m a coward. I’m not facing my fears.”

  “If you feel this way, only you can fix it. I have confidence in you, Saylor. You have strength in your heart. You can conquer anything.”

  I sit up and look at her kind face. “Will you help me?”

  “Of course, honey. I’m here for you. I will always be here for you.”

  I throw myself into her open arms and cry some more. “Please don’t tell Liv, yet. I want to do it when I have things figured out.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Confessing everything to Liv’s mom lifted a weight off my chest in a way that telling the truth to Tabatha and Derek didn’t. Maybe it’s because I’m finally ready to do something about my problems. I’m finally ready to face my demons.

  Thirty

  SAYLOR

  On the evening of my actual birthday, Wreck of the Day will perform live on a televised show. It’s our first big public appearance and the girls and I are a bundle of nerves. Everyone is at Renegades HQ bright and early. Well, I spent the night there, something that’s now a regular occurrence. Mercifully, Oliver never questioned me about my freak out during Thanksgiving dinner and things sort of resumed to normal. He’s giving me space and he’ll never know how much that means to me.

  Allan is going over the agenda and what we should expect once we get to the venue where the show will take place. Monni will be there to personally assist with our final look for the evening, but he has arranged a courier to deliver our outfits to the house. When the door bell rings, I volunteer to get the package at the door, only to have something to do.

  I open the door and find a young UPS guy there with a medium sized box in his hand. I doubt there are any dresses in it. The package is addressed to me, so I sign for it. Shit. What if this is a birthday present from Oliver? I don’t want to open it in front of everyone, especially if it is another over the top, ridiculously expensive gift. Better open it now, away from the girls’ prying eyes.

  I rip the tape and part the lid of the box. My blood freezes when I see what’s inside. I let out a bloodcurdling scream and let it drop to the floor, jumping backward as the headless rat pops out in all it’s gory glory.

  I hear hurried footsteps approaching, but I don’t turn to see who is coming. My gaze is glued to the dead rodent.

  “Saylor, what happened?” Oliver asks right before he spots the box and the rat. “Bloody hell. Who gave this to you?”

  “The UPS guy.”

  Oliver jumps over the box and goes after the man, but the truck has already left. Now, everyone has joined me in front of the house and they are all talking at once.

  Oliver returns and pulls me tight against his chest. “Everything is going to be okay, sugar.”

  “Who sent you this?” Tabatha asks.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Is there a note?” Remi takes a step forward.

  Allan crouches in front of the open box and pulls an envelope from it. Without asking for my permission, he opens it and reads the note that was inside. His jaw clenches at the same time his grip on the paper seems to tighten.

  “What the fuck does it say?” Oliver asks.

  Allan looks up with a somber expression on his face, but he doesn’t make eye contact with me. “That’s your future, bitch.”

  I swallow hard, the only reaction from me. I feel numb.

  “Does it say anything else?” Tabatha pries the note from Allan’s hand.

  “No. That’s it.”

  “That’s awful. We need to call the police,” Remi says.

  I step out of Oliver’s embrace and turn to her, finally snapping out of my stupor. “No! We’re not calling the police.”

  My statement seems to shock the hell out of everyone if I’m to judge by their facial expressions and the sudden silence that follows.

  “You’re joking, right? We have to report it,” Oliver says, earning a glare from me.

  “I’m not calling the police. It’s just a stupid prank,” I say through clenched teeth and Oliver narrows his eyes at me. I brace myself for an argument of epic proportions.

  “I wouldn’t categorize that as a simple prank,” Sticks puts her two cents in.

  I know I’m not going to win anything here, so I march toward the box, kick the rat back inside, before yanking the note from Tabatha’s hand and ripping it to shreds.

  “I don’t want to involve the police, so just drop it, okay?”

  Sticks seems to be the only one who gets I have reasons to be acting like a lunatic and she doesn’t say another word.

  “Destroying evidence doesn’t make the threat go away.” Oliver stops in front of me, fury sparking in his eyes. He won’t let this go.

  I walk past him, back into the house. He follows me. I don’t stop until I find myself in his bedroom. He comes in and shuts the door with enough force it rattles the picture frames on the wall.

  “Stop running away from me. Why don’t you want to call the cops? Just tell me the reason, Saylor.”

  “I can’t tell you, so let it drop.”

  “I thought we had agreed to not keep any secrets from each other anymore.”

&nbs
p; I did make that promise in a moment where my mind wasn’t thinking straight. I knew then it was shallow and meaningless.

  “I’m sorry.” My reply is so feeble, it might as well have been vapor.

  That’s clearly not the answer Oliver was hoping for. He clenches his jaw and doesn’t hide the tempest brewing in his gaze. He storms out the room without uttering another word. My stomach bottoms out and my legs can’t hold me up right any longer. I sit on the edge of his bed, hide my face between my hands, and crumble like a fucking sand castle.

  Thirty-One

  OLIVER

  I want to break something as I stride out my bedroom and veer to the common area. When I enter the open space, all eyes turn to me.

  “Is everything okay?” Allan asks.

  “I can’t be here.” I grab my keys and head to the door.

  “We have to be at the L.A. Forum in a couple of hours,” he reminds me.

  “I’ll be there,” I grunt not knowing how I’ll manage to hop on a stage and sing a love song with Saylor when I want to throttle her.

  I have no direction in mind when I rev up the engine of my car and peel out the garage. For the first time since I got trashed on Harry’s birthday, I feel the need to dull the anger with drugs. But I don’t want to get high out of my mind and ruin the performance tonight. Despite what everyone believes about me, I’m not as reckless as I appear to be. I want Renegades Productions to prosper. It’s a matter of pride. I need to prove to myself more than anyone else I can be successful thanks to my brains and hard work and not because of my pretty face.

  My phone rings and I almost shut the thing off. I glance at it and see Sebastian’s name flashing on the screen. With a click of a button on the steering wheel, his voice comes through the car speakers.

  “Speak,” I say.

  “Hello to you too, mate. What crawled up your ass?”

  “Saylor.”

  Some wanker cuts me off and I press the heel of my hand on the horn.

  “She can be difficult. Are you headed to the L.A. Forum already? Liv wants to know what time we should be there, but Saylor is not answering her phone.”