Chasing Ever After Read online

  “Please.” I wasn’t above begging. “You can stay on the boat. You don’t have to get in the water with us.”

  “You know it would be a kick ass story to go home with though,” Spade added. “You could rub it in the rest of their faces that they were a bunch of chicken shits and you weren’t.” Her eyes snapped to him and I grinned behind her back because I knew the way to get her to do something was to lay down a challenge. She definitely didn’t like the implication that she would be chicken shit if she backed out.

  It worked too, because even though she was practically shaking when she put her snorkel mask on and crushing my hand in hers the whole time, she got in that cage with us. The top of the large, steel contraption bobbed just above the surface the entire time, and she finally started to relax once she realized that Jaws wasn’t going to attack. She even finally let go of my hand and swam up to the bars on the cage to get a closer look at them and take more pictures with her camera.

  An hour later, when we were back on the boat, she flung her arms around me and thanked me for convincing her to do it. I swear my heart beat faster in that moment, with her wrapped tightly around me, than it had the whole time we were submerged with the sharks. My day only got better when we returned to the resort and I got to spend the rest of the afternoon lying on the beach next to her in a bikini, and splashing in the waves when we needed to cool off. I definitely wasn’t ready for this vacation to end, but nothing could stop the minutes and hours from slipping by too quickly.

  I couldn’t shake the sinking feeling I had in my gut when we checked out of the resort the next day and made our way to the airport. Jax and Ky were flying on to Australia and then Greece to continue their honeymoon, so the band still had a two week break before our next show on October first, but things were going to be returning to normal. I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t ready to not see Sadie every day. These last two weeks, even when we were fighting or things were strained between us, were nothing short of perfect. I didn’t want to go back to seeing her only every few weeks, sometimes going months without seeing her. I didn’t know what to do about it though, except make these next two weeks count for something.

  Chapter 8

  Sadie

  I pressed call and then listened to Slaying Dragons, a song Ky wrote for Jaxyn, come through the phone while I waited for her to pick up. It was Ashes and Embers’ third single to hit number one on the charts.

  “Hey Sadie.”

  “Hey, how’s Australia?”

  She giggled, “I don’t yet, we landed in Sydney yesterday evening and so far all we’ve seen is our hotel room, mostly just the bed.” I heard Ky’s deep voice whisper something that I couldn’t make out and she giggled again.

  “Ack, I don’t need to hear that. Can you guys hold off for two minutes so I can ask you something?”

  She chuckled but then got serious. “Okay, okay. What do you need?”

  “I’ve got most of my stuff packed up so I can move in to my new place tomorrow, but I can’t find my box of dishes?” When I’d moved in with Jax, I hadn’t needed a lot of my stuff and just left it in boxes and totes that I’d thought were stacked in the closet in Jax’s old bedroom turned playroom for Izzy.

  “They weren’t in the closet?”

  “Nope, everything else was, but I can’t find that box.”

  “I guess that just means you’re meant to stay.”

  “Nice try. From the way you answered the phone, I can already tell I don’t want to live with the two of you now that you’re married. There’s only one wall separating our bedrooms. I couldn’t handle it.”

  She laughed, “Fine, but I’m gonna miss having you there.”

  “I’ll miss you too, but the place I found isn’t that far, and it’s not like you won’t be crying on my shoulder all the time about how much you miss Ky, when he goes back on tour,” I teased her.

  “Actually …” Oh man I knew something big was coming from the tone of her voice. “I’m quitting my job so that I can travel with him.”

  I couldn’t say that I was entirely surprised, but still as her friend I needed to make sure she was thinking this through. “Are you sure that’s really what you want? Life on the road? I thought you loved your job, and they’re always good about giving you time off or letting you work from out of town so that you can visit him when he’s away.”

  “I do love my job, but I want to be with Ky. This might seem sudden or impulsive, but we’ve actually talked a lot about it. I want to spend a year or two traveling with him before we start a family. I can always work later, but right now I want my marriage to be my priority. When we have kids I would want to quit working anyway. I think this is the best choice for us.”

  It really did sound like she’d thought it through and if it was what she wanted and what would make her happy, then she had my support, even though I would miss her like crazy when she was gone. “I’m so happy for you Jax.”

  “I’m really happy for me too.” I could actually hear the excitement in her voice. She was moving on to the next stages of her life – marriage, and pretty soon kids. That could have been me if only … no, there was no point in going there. It would only hurt too much.

  “You deserve it,” I told her. She deserved it a thousand times over for everything she’d been through.

  “So do you,” she said back to me.

  I knew where this was going. I knew Ace confided in her more than anyone and that she was aware of what was going on between us, but I hadn’t talked to him in the two days since we’d been back, and I didn’t want to talk to her about him right now. “Yeah, yeah. Are you going to tell me where my dishes are?”

  “Only if you promise to call the guys to help you move, and you know who I mean.”

  “Fine. Dishes?”

  “In the attic, on the left behind the dollhouse, under the Christmas decorations. I think there’s a box of pictures or paperwork up there too.” She was right, I almost forgot about that box. I don’t know how I could, except that I hadn’t looked inside it in years. It held too many painful memories.

  “Oh yeah. Thanks. I gotta finish packing, so I’ll let you get back to your husband. Have fun, take lots of pictures and I’ll see you when you get back.”

  “I will and I’ll check in when we make it to Greece if I don’t talk to you before then. You better call Ace though. The couch and coffee table are in their garage anyway so you can’t avoid him forever.”

  I wanted to say, watch me, but I didn’t. I also didn’t tell her that I planned to text Danny and wait for a time when I knew Ace wasn’t home to go pick up the furniture. Instead I gave her a non committal response and got off the phone before she could pressure me anymore. I didn’t know why I was trying so hard to avoid Ace, other than I needed some space after Hawaii to reevaluate and figure out what the hell I wanted, because I didn’t even know anymore.

  I retrieved my boxes from the attic and added them to the ones stacked outside my bedroom. I’d spent most of the day packing and hauling boxes around the house, and I was ready to call it a day and make some dinner, then curl up on the couch and enjoy a quiet night – my last night in this house. It was a little bittersweet.

  In the morning, just about everything I owned was stuffed into boxes and Rubbermaid totes. Only a few things remained to be packed. I was sitting in the middle of my room, on my floor, stacking my dvd collection in boxes, when I heard the chime of the doorbell. I wasn’t expecting to see Ace when I opened the door, but there he was.

  “What are you doing here?” My tone came out snippier than intended, but I hadn’t been prepared to deal with him. My guard was down and he looked way too damn good standing there in a black t-shirt that hugged his chest and tight abs and showed off the swirling ink peeking out the sleeve on his bicep. Paired with a pair of snug, ripped blue jeans and his black, shit kicker boots, it just wasn’t fair. How could I be expected to keep my wits about me when sex appeal dripped from every inch of him like droplets of swe
at on a hundred degree summer day? Oh great, now I was thinking about him sweaty and shirtless.

  “I came to help you move,” he grinned, “and I brought back up.” The fact that I hadn’t even noticed Spade standing off to the side was a testament to just how distracting he was.

  “Wait, what? How did you – never mind, Jaxyn?”

  “Yep, she called yesterday and said you needed some help but were too stubborn to ask.”

  “So put us to work, show us where the heavy shit that needs lifting or carrying is,” Spade said as he pushed his way inside and went straight for the kitchen, leaving me standing there with Ace.

  “Come on sweetheart, we’re here, you might as well use us.”

  I sighed and stepped out of the way to open the door wider for him. “Fine. Come in. I only have a few things left to pack, but there are boxes that can be hauled out to my car.”

  “What about furniture?”

  “I’ve got a dresser and bookshelf and tv stand here, and then the couch and table in your garage. I still need to buy a bed and a few other things. I’m borrowing a friend’s truck tomorrow so I can do all that.”

  “No need, I’ve got a truck.” I looked past him to see a big, shiny, new looking, black truck parked in the driveway. In fact, it looked a little too new, like still had dealer plates new. I looked back at him and narrowed my eyes.

  “When did you get a truck?” I’d only ever seen him drive the Impala, or occasionally Spade’s STI.

  His smile turned sheepish. “Recently.”

  “How recently?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Tell me that you did not go buy a new truck just to help me move.”

  He flashed a brilliant smile. “Of course not.” He winked and then walked past me to join Spade in the kitchen. I shut the door behind him and then let my forehead fall against it and I groaned. I didn’t know which of the two of us was crazier, Ace for being … well, Ace, or me for wanting him anyway.

  “You coming?”

  I looked behind me to see Ace poking his head out of the kitchen with half a pop tart in his hand. “You’re crazy. You realize that, right?”

  He just grinned and took a couple steps toward me. “Relax, I’ve wanted to get a truck for a while now, this was just a good reason to go ahead and do it.” That made me feel slightly better and I pushed myself off the door and followed him back in to the kitchen.

  “Help yourselves,” I said sarcastically when I watched Spade pour himself a glass of orange juice and a huge bowl of Golden Grahams. I didn’t actually mind. We all had an open fridge policy at each other’s houses and I was used to them taking Jax and I up on it, but it never stopped me from giving them a bad time. Spade didn’t pay me any mind though as he went right on fixing his bowl of cereal and grabbing himself a spoon.

  After they’d finally finished raiding our cupboards, they actually did get to work, and in no time they had just about everything loaded up in my car and the truck. We made plans to go drop everything off at my new place, then take the truck back to theirs to get the couch and table, and then Ace insisted that I had to let him take me furniture shopping. After fifteen minutes of trying to argue with him, I gave in.

  None of that mattered though, once we pulled up outside the little one bedroom house I’d rented. I stepped out of my car, but before I could get the back door open to grab boxes, I heard the truck door slam and watched Ace stomp toward me angrily.

  “Oh hell no, sweetheart.”

  “What?” I asked confused.

  “You said I’m crazy, but you have to be fucking insane if you think I’m letting you stay here.”

  I looked back at the house, but I didn’t see whatever it was that set him off. Sure it was really small and could use a fresh coat of paint and a few other small renovations, but I didn’t think there was anything really wrong with it, and the interior was even a little nicer. I was actually offended that he had a problem with it. Not all of us were rockstars, well on our way to becoming millionaires, and aside from Jaxyn’s house, it was nicer than a lot of the places I’d lived since I moved out of my parents’ the day I turned eighteen. Jaxyn had refused to let me pay her any rent so I had a pretty good chunk saved up. It allowed me to rent a house instead of going back to an apartment, and until two minutes ago I was really excited about this place. Damn Ace for trying to ruin it for me.

  “I’m sorry if this place isn’t up to your standards,” I remarked snidely. “You can leave my stuff and go back to your celebrity lifestyle and you don’t ever have to set foot in my tiny, crappy house.” I was fighting back angry tears. I did not want him to see me cry. I refused to allow him to make me feel embarrassed or ashamed because this was all I could afford.

  His hands met my cheeks and he held my face and lowered his until we were eye level. “I’m sorry, that’s not how I meant it,” he sighed, the deep breath he expelled was warm against my skin. “Did you tell Jaxyn where you were moving to?”

  I wasn’t sure why that mattered. I knew she would never judge my house. “I sort of told her the general vicinity of it, but she didn’t really know where I was talking about. What’s that have to do with why you hate my house?”

  “I don’t hate your house sweetheart. I didn’t mean to come off as such an asshole, but this isn’t a good neighborhood and after seeing a drug deal go down on the corner, I got a little worked up. This is the last place I want you living by yourself.”

  Oh.

  “I didn’t know.”

  “I know,” he dropped his hands back down to his sides, “which I wish Jax would have taken the time to check out where it was, because then she could have told you that.”

  I looked back at my house again and then around the rest of neighborhood. It was a little run down, and I had seen some sketchy guys on the corner a couple blocks away. I wondered if that was the drug deal Ace was talking about. I didn’t pay close enough attention. I wasn’t a stranger to poverty. I’d been through some hard times in the last few years, and maybe he was just overreacting because he wasn’t used to it. He and the guys lived in a small mansion now, and I’d seen the house they shared before that and it wouldn’t have fit in this neighborhood either.

  “It doesn’t look too bad. Are you sure you’re not exaggerating it a little?” I asked hopefully.

  “You can’t live here Sade. I know this neighborhood. Not everyone here is bad news, but it’s just not a good place for a young, single woman to live.”

  “What am I supposed to do? I signed a lease already and paid the deposit. I can’t afford to back out and find another place.”

  “I’ll pay whatever it takes to break it, but I won’t leave you here.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” I argued.

  “You’re not letting me do anything babe, I’m just doing it. You can pay me back later or whatever, but you staying here is not an option.”

  I bit my lip, and looked around once more, trying to figure out what to do. I guess I could just go back to Jax’s. I still had almost two weeks before she would be back and hopefully I could find something else before then, but with losing my deposit and the rent I’d already put down, which I was sure I would, my options were going to be very limited.

  “Okay. I’ll call the landlord.”

  Just then the passenger door on the truck opened and Spade stood on the running board, his head appearing over the roof. “So, what’s the deal, you convince her to get the hell out of here yet?”

  “Yeah,” I answered him. “You guys can take my stuff back to Jax’s.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Ace chimed in. I looked at him questioningly. “You can move in with us.”

  I heard Spade’s deep laugh, “I’ll be in the truck while you two sort this shit out. Good luck man.”

  “There’s no way I’m moving in with you guys. The reason I’m moving out of Jax’s is that I don’t want to listen to people having sex.”

  “Funny. You won’t have to listen to anyone hav
ing sex. We’re not complete animals. We do know how to behave ourselves.”

  “You guys shouldn’t have to watch your behavior in your own house. You should be able to bring home girls and drink and swear and leave the toilet seat up and have orgies or whatever the hell you guys want.”

  “Wow, I think our sexual escapades have been greatly exaggerated. Orgies? Really? Come on, threesomes maybe, but no orgies.”

  I huffed, not finding him amusing.

  “I’m kidding, relax. Look, I can’t make any promises about the swearing, and leaving the toilet seat up, but we’re not slobs. We don’t get drunk every night, or even as often as you probably think, and as for me, there’s only one girl I want to bring home and I’m trying to get her to move in right now. The others will be respectful, and I promise you won’t have to deal with a tramp parade. Nobody brings girls back to our place anymore. None of us need any crazy groupies or stalkers knowing where we live now.”

  “This is crazy. You’re crazy.”

  “I’m pretty sure we already did this whole ‘I’m crazy’ thing today. It’s been established, so let’s move on.”

  “I can’t live with you guys?”

  “Why not?”

  “Are you serious? For a hundred reasons. You haven’t even discussed this with the rest of them. I doubt they’ll be happy about you moving some chick in without even consulting them.”

  “First of all, you’re not some chick. You’re Sadie. Second of all, I don’t need to consult anyone. Spade’s already on board with it, in fact he’s the one that suggested it before I even got out of the truck.”

  “This was his idea?” I raised a skeptical brow.

  “Yes and I happen to think it’s a good idea, one of his best yet, which is rare for him.”

  “I can still hear you asshole,” Spade shouted from inside the truck. “But seriously Sadie, you should listen to him.”

  Ace gave me a look that said see, told you so.

  “That still leaves Chris and Danny. It’s their place too.”