by A. M. Myers
Me:
911. I need you.
I barely set the phone down on the bed next to me when it starts ringing and I suck in a breath as I answer it.
“Hello?”
“What’s going on?” she asks, her voice panicked and my bottom lip wobbles as I try to keep it together.
“I need you to come get me.”
“Why? What happened?”
I press my fingers into my forehead. “Please, Mer. I promise to tell you everything, just not right this second.”
“You at Sawyer’s house?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on my way.”
After hanging up, I toss the phone on the bed next to me and brace my hands on either side of my body as I wonder if this is truly the end for Sawyer and me. He said he needed time to think but I can’t help but think what he really needed was to get me out of his house so it would be easier to end things with me. Closing my eyes, I remember our first kiss on the front porch and my chest burns, pain rushing over me like a tidal wave.
Sawyer is the one.
I think I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on him but now, because of my mistakes, I’m going to lose him.
“You ready?” he asks, knocking on the door and I jerk up and quickly wipe the tears from my cheeks as the door opens.
“Mercedes is coming to get me. I didn’t want to put you out more than I already have.”
He nods, staring at the floor. “Right.”
“Sawyer,” I whisper, more tears dripping down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was only…”
He turns away from me. “Make sure you leave your key on the counter.”
Before I can say anything else, he disappears and I wince as his bedroom door slams shut, echoing down the hallway and I can’t help but think it sounds like the book closing on our relationship. This is it. After a whirlwind of ten days, this is all I’m left with.
My phone pings with a message.
Mercedes:
I’m outside.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I stand up and grab my bags before leaving the key to the house on the dresser. I step out into the living room and the closer I get to the door, the more it hurts. There’s a part of me, albeit a very little part, that is hoping he will realize this is a mistake and we belong together before he rushes out of his room and begs me to stay but the closer I get to the door, the more that fantasy dies. As I grab my bag from our trip to the cabin, I turn and look back at the house before sucking in a breath and opening the door. There’s no use in prolonging the pain and the more I put this off, the harder it will be to force myself outside.
Mercedes jumps out of her car and pops the trunk before helping me with my bags, her worried gaze inspecting my face. I can only imagine what I look like right now with tear tracks dragging mascara down my face but I don’t care. Once my bags are in the trunk, she shuts it and wraps me up in a hug.
“What happened, sweetie?”
I shake my head. “Later, Mer. I have to get out of here.”
She nods as she lets me go as I glance up at the house, meeting Sawyer’s gaze in his bedroom window. My heart cracks wide open, pleading and crying for him, but he turns away from me and pulls the curtain over the window. Slipping into the car, I let out a sob and Mercedes reaches across the console to grab my hand as she pulls away from the curb.
“You’re coming over to my house.”
I shake my head. “No. Just take me to a hotel.”
“Okay,” she answers brightly. “We’ll have a sleepover. Maybe we can even go to the spa and relax a little.”
“Mercedes,” I whisper, a dull ache beginning to form in my forehead. She shakes her head and flashes me a stern look.
“You are in obvious pain and you have zero chance of getting rid of me tonight so we can go to my place or we can sleep over at a hotel. Your choice.”
“Hotel. I need somewhere that doesn’t have memories tied to it.”
She nods. “Okay. You ready to tell me what happened?”
I suck in a breath and nod. I’m not really ready to tell her but I’d rather just get it over with so I spit everything out - the P.I. crashing our date, disappearing to the cabin, someone shooting at me, and telling Sawyer the truth.
“Oh, honey,” she whispers, squeezing my hand. “I’m sure he’ll come around once he gets a chance to think it all through. That’s a hell of a lot for any person to deal with, let alone over a three day period.”
I nod. “I know but you didn’t see the look on his face. He used to look at me like I was the only one he could see, like I shined and stood out among the rest of the world.”
“And how did he look at you just now?”
“Like I was just like the rest of them,” I answer as a sob rips through me and I close my eyes. The look in his eyes as he stood in the window… it will haunt me for the rest of my life. “Do you think I should have told him the truth from the start?”
She sighs. “Yes and no. I understand why he’s hurt but I also know you were just trying to protect yourself and figure out who you are. Plus, I’m not convinced that he would have been open to the feelings you two have for each other and your connection if he had been looking at you like someone else he needed to protect.”
“Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
“Exactly.”
My phone starts ringing and my heart jumps into my throat as I fumble for it. I finally manage to grab it and my face falls as I stare at the screen.
“Who is it?” Mercedes asks and I turn it to show her Gavin’s name on the screen. She sighs. “Just get it over with, girl.”
Nodding, I answer it. “Hello?”
“Jules,” he breathes, relief coursing through his voice. “I’m so glad I finally got ahold of you. Where are you, baby?”
“Stop playing games, Gavin. I know you have a P.I. following me.”
He sighs. “Look, can we meet up? Maybe grab some dinner and talk?”
“No, I have plans.”
“What about tomorrow? Lunch, maybe?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Juliette, please,” he pleads and a sliver of guilt slips through my armor.
“I’m really sorry, Gavin. None of this is your fault and I realize that you got put in a shitty situation but the accident changed everything for me and I’m not the same person I was.”
“I understand that. I was just hoping that maybe we could start over again. You fell in love with me once, you know, it could happen again.”
My teeth sink into my lip as I shake my head. “No, it couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m already in love with someone else.”
He scoffs. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“It’s not possible. You just left. Two weeks ago, you were my fiancée.”
I shake my head and sigh. Maybe any other day I would be gentler and explain to him that what Sawyer and I have is just too big, too powerful to ignore but I don’t have the energy for it right now.
“Maybe I was before the accident but I don’t know you anymore.”
“You haven’t even given me a chance!” he bellows and I pull the phone away from my ear for a second before sucking in a breath. “If you did, we would fall in love all over again.”
I shake my head. “No, we wouldn’t. My future is here, in Baton Rouge. I’m sorry and I really wish you the best but this is over.”
He protests on the other end of the line but I pull my phone away from my ear and hang up. For the first time in weeks, my mind is completely clear and even without my memories, I know what I want.
“Oh, I know that look,” Mercedes says, her gaze flicking between me and the road. “What’s the plan, Jett?”
“Tonight, we’re going to eat ice cream, watch terrible movies and cry, and then tomorrow, I’m going to get my man back.”
Chapter Twenty-O
ne
Sawyer
Sighing, I walk into the hotel and ignore the woman behind the front desk as she smiles at me, scanning the lobby for the bar Mercedes told me to meet her in. It’s tucked in the corner near the elevators and I shove my hands in my pockets as I walk over and slide onto a stool at the end of the bar.
“What can I get for you, man?” the bartender asks and I order a beer. He grabs a bottle from the fridge and pops the cap off before setting it in front of me. “You want to start a tab?”
I throw a ten dollar bill down and shake my head. “No. I’m not staying long.”
He nods and leaves me in peace as I take a sip of my beer and settle into my seat. I pick at the label on my bottle of beer and sigh as I close my eyes, unable to get the look on Juliette’s face as she climbed into Mercedes’ car out of my mind.
Fuck.
It broke my heart and it took all the strength I had to not go out there and tell her to stay and now that I’m alone, I can’t decide if I made the right decision. I needed time to think and figure out how to feel after everything she revealed to me this afternoon but I just keep going in circles and kicking myself for making her leave when I’m pretty damn sure someone is after her.
Shit.
What was I thinking?
“Thanks for coming,” someone says and I turn as Mercedes sidles up to the bar next to me. I nod. “You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”
“No. I just got here.” I look behind her. “Where’s Juliette?”
She sighs. “Asleep upstairs.”
“How is she?” I ask, focusing on my beer and refusing to meet her gaze. She sighs again.
“She’s heartbroken… but oddly determined to earn your forgiveness.”
I turn and we lock eyes. “Is that why I’m here? So you can butter me up for her?”
“No. You’re here because… two weeks ago, my best friend was in more pain than I’ve ever seen her go through… until tonight. And you’re also here because I’ve never seen her smile the way she does when she talks about you…”
“So you are here to butter me up,” I scoff, interrupting her and her eyes narrow into slits as she almost shoves me off my stool.
“Stop being a bitch and listen to what I’m really saying to you. You don’t have to forgive her. You don’t have to be with her again but don’t you think you should hear all sides of the story before you make your decision?”
Sighing, I nod. “Fine.”
“When she called me and told me that she couldn’t remember anything for the last five years, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, it’s crazy but then I thought about what it would feel like to not know anything from your life. She moved to Miami five years ago to be closer to her dad and her last memory before she woke up in the hospital was the last night we went out to celebrate her move here in Baton Rouge. She literally didn’t know a single thing about her life in Miami. Can you imagine that? Waking up and not recognizing a single part of your life and being told that the only person you remember is dead?”
I stare at the bottle in front of me as I try to imagine exactly what she’s describing. What if I woke up and my mom and dad were gone and I was in a city I didn’t know with people I didn’t recognize? It sounds terrifying.
“Exactly,” she says, studying my face. “But she still put on a brave face and tried to go back to her apartment with a man who said he was her fiancé but she didn’t know that, not for sure, at least. She tried to get back to her daily life but she might as well have been on a different planet so she finally broke down and called me for help.”
“I understand…”
She shakes her head. “No, I don’t know that you truly do. When she called me, she didn’t even know if we were still friends but she was so desperate for anything familiar that she took the chance.”
“I understand all that, Mercedes, but why didn’t she tell me about it at any point before now?”
She rolls her eyes. “God, men are so clueless… She wanted to tell you, so badly, but she was afraid that it would change the way you looked at her. She didn’t want to be another project for you to fix.”
The jab hits its mark and I suck in a breath as I lean forward and set my elbows on the bar. “Why are you telling me all this and not her?”
“Because I don’t have any skin in the game and I can lay everything out for you without getting scared or too emotional.”
I nod as I think over everything Juliette told me earlier. “This fiancé of hers… Do I need to be worried?”
“Ugh,” she groans as she rolls her eyes. “No. She fucking loves you and that’s exactly what she told him when he called her earlier and begged her to meet up with him.”
I glance up. “He’s in town?”
“Jesus Christ, not the point, dude. Did you hear what I said? She loves you.”
“She does?”
She shakes her head. “Finally, he listens to me.”
“What room number did you say she was in?” I ask, my heart pounding in my chest. She loves me? I mean, I knew there was something there but hearing the words out loud makes everything fall into focus and I have no clue why the fuck I’m still down in this bar. Mercedes laughs.
“Three-oh-nine.”
Nodding, I jump off the stool before turning back to her. “One more question… she mentioned her net worth earlier… how much money are we talking?”
“Does it matter?” she asks, arching a brow. I nod.
“Is it enough that someone might want to hurt her?”
Her eyes widen. “Yes.”
Shit.
I turn, determined to get to my girl.
“Wait,” Mercedes calls after me. “You really think she’s in trouble?”
“Yes. I’ll fill you in later,” I call over my shoulder as I march out of the bar to the elevators. As I smash my thumb into the up button, I sigh and turn to look up at which floor it’s currently on before shaking my head. “Come on…”
Time seems to slow and the numbers barely move as I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head back, sighing. Another second passes by, feeling like a whole damn minute, and I turn away from the elevator. The door for the stairs catches my attention and I consider just running up three flights of stairs when the elevator dings. The door slides open as I whirl back toward them and I rush into the car, ignoring the annoyed looks of the two men getting off, and smash the button to make the doors close. As it starts rising, I pray that no one else stops it as I stare up at the numbers ticking off each floor we pass. When we finally get to the third floor, I breathe a sigh of relief and march down the hallway toward the room number Mercedes gave me.
Three-oh-six.
Three-oh-seven
Three-oh-eight.
“Finally,” I breathe as I stop in front of her door and lift my hand to knock. My heart races and I suck in a breath as I tap my knuckles against the wood. Silence greets me on the other side of the door and I knock again, harder this time.
Open the door, baby…
I’m just about to knock again when the door swings open and she squints up at me with a confused look.
“Sawyer?”
“Can we talk?” I ask and she nods as she yawns and takes a step back. “Sorry for interrupting your nap.”
She shakes her head as she closes the door behind me. “It’s okay. Where is Mercedes?”
“Down in the bar.” I scrub my hand over the back of my head. “She kind of ripped me a new one.”
“Of course she did,” she whispers, shaking her head as she sits on the couch and hugs her legs to her chest. “Are you here to break up with me?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Then why are you here?” she asks. I can see her fighting back the hope that maybe I’m here for her and it breaks my heart that she thinks so little of my feelings for her. From the moment I met this girl, she threw me off balance and challenged me but I don’t know how I would go on without her. Even though we haven’t
even known each other for two weeks, she fucking owns me. I open my mouth to tell her just that but it doesn’t feel like enough. My words pale in comparison to the things she makes me feel. Dropping my gaze to her lips, I do the only thing I can - pull her into my lap and kiss her senseless.
She gasps as she settles on my lap and grips my t-shirt in her fists like she never wants to let me go again. That’s good because someone will have to kill me and pry my cold dead hands off her before I’ll ever let her walk out of my life. She gasps as she tears her lips from mine and shakes her head, staring at me with tears in her eyes.
“What does this mean?”
I smile and reach up, cupping her cheek in my hand. “It means I’m an idiot and I love you.”
“You love me?” she whispers, her voice barely audible as her eyes widen and I nod.
“I do.”
A side smile stretches across her face and a tear streaks down her cheek. “I love you, too.”
“I know.” I laugh. “Mercedes told me down in that bar.”
Her jaw drops and she playfully glares at the door. “That bitch.”
“Don’t be too mad at her, angel. It’s what I needed to hear to stop being such a baby about everything you told me earlier today.”
“Oh, God,” she says as she turns back to me. “I hope you know I never meant to hurt you. I was just so lost and trying to protect myself…”
I lean in and steal a kiss. “I know, sweetheart. Honestly, after Mercedes explained what you’ve gone through, I’m in awe of you. You’re so strong and if it had happened to me, I would have just fallen apart but you didn’t. You took control of your life and I can’t even tell you how happy I am that you did because it brought you to me.”
