“It’s not the same, Row.”
“Isn’t it? You walked away. Seems like the same thing to me.”
“You ran, Rowan. You never gave me a chance—just upped and moved to Colorado.” He wanted to throw his hands up, but being naked under the blanket put him at an extreme disadvantage.
“When was I supposed to give you a chance? When some random chick had her tongue down your throat or when your manager told me your career would take off faster without me around to drag you down and that you were just too nice of a guy to break up with me?”
“That wasn’t what he said. All they wanted us to do was keep our relationship on the down low until the first record was released.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, that’s what he said when you were around. When you weren’t, he made sure I knew he didn’t want us together at all. Even took the time to point out how much you enjoyed the attention of all the cute little groupies that hung around after your shows.”
He didn’t know what she was talking about. “You were the one who told me to choose between you or my music. You issued the ultimatum, Rowan. Not me.”
Shaking her head, she scoffed. “My only ultimatum was that I was your girlfriend or I wasn’t. I never asked you to choose between me and your music. You did that on your own. I’m not making the same mistake twice.”
She pushed away from the counter. “I’ll drive you to your car in the morning to see if you can get it out of the ditch. If not, I’ll drive you into town.”
Stalking out of the little kitchen, she said, “Second bedroom is there. Bathroom is there. I’m turning the generator off in ten minutes so do what you need to do.” She went into the bedroom she hadn’t pointed at and slammed the door behind her.
Luke gripped the blanket in one hand and prodded at his forehead. That didn’t go anything like he’d rehearsed in his head on the way up there. What was she talking about with Brett? When had he ever talked to her alone? And when had she ever seen a groupie try to kiss him?
Granted at the beginning, he’d been too surprised by the first couple of girls who tried to kiss him to put up much of a fight. After he’d learned to recognize the signs of a sneak attack, he’d been sure to put a safe, but still friendly, distance between him and those fans. It hadn’t stopped them from copping a feel of his ass, but he eventually got used to that.
He glanced around the cozy cabin for any sign of his phone, looking by the door and on the counter with no luck. In the bathroom, he checked the pocket of his jeans which hung on the shower rod. Nothing. He hoped it was in the truck and not lying in a mud puddle along the way.
Rowan’s door opened, then another door opened and closed. Figuring she was turning off the generator, he rushed to take care of business before he was forced to aim in the dark. Two seconds after he flushed, the light went out.
He waited until he heard her door close to leave the bathroom to avoid an awkward encounter. He could at least give her that right now. In the morning, she might be more receptive to listening to his reasons for stopping her wedding.
Waiting had the added benefit of giving his eyes time to adjust to the dark and he made his way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom with little problem. Once in the bedroom, his little toe found the leg of one of the twin beds. He sucked in a sharp breath.
“Damn it. Ow. Ow. Ow.” Twin freaking beds. He hadn’t slept in a twin bed since his first tour bus. Even the bus he had now had a full-size bed in the back and the side of the bus extended so he actually had some space in the room. He sat on the bed closest to the door and it creaked under his weight.
He crawled between the sheets and draped the blanket he’d been using over the one already on the bed.
Tomorrow was a new day and Rowan might have calmed down by then. He got it—today had been a shock and she was emotional. Hell, she’d run away from the wedding and holed up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t going to give up, though. He was more determined than ever to prove he was there for a second chance…and for her.
* * *
Rowan heard Luke swear,followed by the squeaking of the bed in the other room. She pounded on the pillow with a fist and smashed her head into the divot, trying to get comfortable. Not satisfied, she grabbed the other pillow and put it over her head.
It didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear him—she could feel him. She swore the air shifted with each breath he took. It was all in her head, but she’d always been able to feel him, especially when he was close. When they’d been together, she’d known when he walked in a room or when he walked out of it.
When he hadn’t been around anymore, she’d felt that loss physically as much as she’d felt it emotionally. It was one of the reasons she’d transferred to Denver between her junior and senior year. Even just the slim possibility of running into him around Nashville had been too much to bear.
He had to go back to Nashville. She didn’t know what kind of game he was playing—whether it was a publicity stunt or he needed to cover up something by having a girlfriend—but she wasn’t interested. She’d take him to his car and, if it was stuck in a ditch, to the closest town on the main road. Then she’d figure out what she was supposed to do with the rest of her life.
I wonder if they need dentists in Alaska.
