I shouldn’t even be surprised to see Em straddling Jax, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it in a hospital bed. It looked like only her shirt was off at this point but I hightail it out, just in case. After some giggling and shuffling around, Jax calls for me to come back in. I step inside and smirk at the two guilty parties sitting casually on the white hospital bed with coy looks on their faces.
“You were just in coma, you remember that, right?” I ask.
“Hey, they told me to try and get back to normal. I’ve got a lot of muscle to build back up.”
“I guess so,” I laugh.
“Where’s Audrey?” Em asks, while flipping her hair upside down and scooping the length of it up into one of those colorful hair bands.
I groan and shrug, making my way toward the chair nearest to his bed. I empty out my pockets and say, “I was hoping you would know. I took cold coffee to all of her classes today. Well, it was warm for the first forty-five minutes I carried it around. She’s not answering her phone, she’s not at home, and I can’t find Lane either.”
“Sorry, the last time I talked to her was when she brought the muffins up here for you,” she apologizes.
“What?” I gasp. “For me? She made those? You never told me that.”
“Would you have really cared at the time? She just wanted to help you in some way.”
“This really couldn’t get any worse. You and Jax are getting married, which I couldn’t be happier for you guys. You know that, right?” She nods her head and I continue, “Cole and Quinn are already starting their family. I’m just afraid I’ll be moving back to Texas without Audrey and she’ll disappear again, permanently.” I run my fingers through my hair in frustration. “I just had this whole fantasy about marrying her and building a house with her. Am I completely off my rocker?”
Em shakes her head back and forth and Jax questions, “Do you really think you would let her get away? After all these wasted years, would you really let that happen again?”
“I would chase her to the ends of the earth,” I reply emphatically.
“Alright then, case closed. You’ll find your girl, but you better give her a second to forgive your sorry ass,” he chuckles drowsily.
Em’s phone begins to vibrate on the table next to her and I stare, willing it to be Audrey. She notices my intense gaze and shakes her head when she reads the screen, indicating it’s not who I want it to be. With a defeated sigh, I take the seat nearest the window.
“Hello?” Em’s voice questions into the phone. Whoever is on the other line is somewhere loud, because I can hear the roar of a party from her phone’s speaker. I can’t make out what’s being said though.
“Uh, no, sorry I don’t have that, why...
Well, check her phone. Obviously she would have it...
Have you asked her...
Shit.”
Em’s eyes dart to me then quickly away. The hair on the back of my neck rises as I hear the one-sided conversation.
“Well, don’t let her do that,” she barks into the phone.
She looks at me again and asks, “You wouldn’t happen to have Lane’s number, would you?” Her smile is too wide, too fake.
“Who are you talking to?” I question.
“Do you have his number or not?” she demands. I shake my head with a negative.
“Where are you?” she asks her mystery caller. “Okay, I’ll be there in like fifteen minutes.” She hits the end-call button before I can yank it out of her hand.
“Where is she?” I growl.
“I think I should take care of it, Jace. She wouldn’t want you to see her like this,” Em says. I look to Jax for help because there’s no way in hell he would let that fly.
“Sorry, babe, I have to side with Jace on this one. If someone had said that about you, I’d being going ape-shit. Just let him go get his girl.”
“Okay...fine...” she groans in irritation. “You better be nice to her!”
“I swear,” I immediately respond, while shoving my wallet and phone back into my pockets.
“So that was Max, and he said that he showed up at the Sig Alpha party...” I groan, already not liking where this is going.
“Apparently, Garrett and Mason found out Audrey has never had alcohol before, so they convinced her to try some...” she trails off uncomfortably. Doesn’t matter I’m already halfway down the hallway, heading toward the elevator. Oh, I’ll be nice to Audrey, but I never promised anything about Garrett and Mason. Or Max. That asshole should have called me!
Frat row is lined with cars and all the driveways are filled. Last year, we were on this street three or four times a week. I’m glad we all kind of backed off this year. Most of the parties are at the beach now, which somewhat keeps them under control. I pull up in front of the packed Sig Alpha house and park right on the grass of the front lawn. The music is pumping so loud, I can feel my heart beating in sync with the tune already.
As I hop out, a little guy who looks a lot like a freshman comes barreling down the drive. “Hey, you can’t park here, this is Sig property,” he squeaks.
“I’ll be out in ten minutes. I’ve got fifty bucks with your name on it if no one touches this car,” I call out to him as I climb the porch steps.
“Deal,” he cries with his hands up in surrender.
Max is perched at the top with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “I was hoping you would show up instead of Em.”
The second I reach him, my hands shove his chest, forcing him to shuffle backward. “Next time, asshole, you call me,” I demand.
He raises his hands and says, “She begged me not to.”
“If it concerns her, it concerns me.”
“Message received. Now go get her. Hopefully you’ll have more luck than I did.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Hey, if it means anything, I was hoping by calling Em I’d get you,” he confides to my retreating back. I nod my head because that’s all I can give him right now.
It takes some effort to push the front door open with the thick crowd on the opposite side. I shoulder my way in, searching for her. It’s not hard to spot Audrey in this mass of bodies, and it’s not because I practically have a homing device on this girl. It’s because she’s standing on the kitchen bar top with Mason, Garrett, and a few other girls I don’t recognize, the five of them dancing wildly to the blaring music.
I may be pissed at the circumstance but seeing her again is like a breath of fresh air. When Jaxon and I were kids, we used to go out to the lake near our house and swim all the way out to the very middle. Once we got out there, we would race down to the very bottom, touch it, and swim back to the top.
The only problem is that it was extremely deep. Our ears would begin to pop from the pressure by the time we were touching the cold sand. The worst part was swimming back up. I can’t even remember the number of times I began to panic, thinking that this was going to be the time I wasn’t swimming fast enough and needed air about three seconds ago. Each time the surface seemed a little bit further away, but the second my arms would cut through the water into the open air, I would feel this moment of extreme euphoria.
Seeing Audrey again is like breaking through the water and taking that first gulp of air. Except this time, I didn’t even realize how oxygen-deprived I was. I can’t let her get away from me again. If she doesn’t go to Texas, I’ll have to figure something else out because I go where she goes. But first, time to get her away from these guys and get my girl back in my arms.
Garrett takes a swig from his beer bottle and tilts it toward her lips for her to take a drink. Audrey leans his way and takes in a mouthful. She covers her mouth to swallow and laughs out loud. Mason moves up behind her and latches onto her hips. I begin to have déjà vu at this familiar scene. I yell for him to remove his hands, but the crowd is too loud and my voice is lost in the music. I’m charging forward when someone grabs a tight hold of my arm, halting my advance.