Chapter 3
Deals and Decisions
Cali
Walking out of the bar, Maverick and I said goodbye to his bandmates. As I watched them walk away, the gravity of my situation was starting to pull me back down to earth. I still didn’t know what the fuck I was actually doing.
“I guess this is goodnight.” I tucked myself into Maverick’s side, holding on for dear life.
“It doesn’t have to be. You can stay with me if you want, but no pressure.” His chin rested on the top of my head as I silently begged my legs to stop shaking.
“All my stuff is back at the hotel I stayed in last night. I should probably head back there.” I didn’t want to, but I knew if I went home with Mav, all bets would be off. I didn’t want to be that girl who jumped from one man’s bed into another. I couldn’t do that to Mitch. It just didn’t seem fair.
“I get it. Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked as his chest deflated.
“I have a flight first thing in the morning,” I admitted.
“You’re going back to him, aren’t you?” As the words stained the air, my heart sank. I hated that he doubted me so quickly.
“I lit that bridge on fire the moment I told Mitch I was coming here to see you. There’s no going back, not that I even want to. I was being completely honest with you earlier: I want to be with you. I wouldn’t have come all the way up here like this if I didn’t.”
Standing on the dimly lit sidewalk, wrapped in Maverick’s arms felt more real than any moment I had spent with Mitch. There was no way in hell I could ever risk losing that.
“How about this: we are getting on the bus at four in the afternoon, and if you’re there with your bags, I’ll be happier than a pig in shit. If you’re not, then I will just follow your lead. I was honest earlier with you, too, though—I do think we need to be together, like actually together to make this work, at least for right now. I don’t know if long distance is a good way to start things off.”
I let his words sink in. I’d come this far, and I wanted to keep going. I had already gone so far out of my comfort zone, why not just keep pushing my limits?
“You got yourself a deal.”
As Maverick’s lips grazed mine, guilt crept in. I knew it was going to take a while to get over that, but I hated how much it plagued me.
* * *
Back in my hotel room,I paced around the small space, gripping my phone. I wanted to call Maverick, beg him to come and just hold me all night, but that would be the wrong choice. So, I called Mags instead.
“I have been dying for an update,” my best friend shouted into the phone without even saying hello.
“He wants me to go on tour with them, tomorrow.”
“What? Are you going to do it?” she shrilled.
I could hear Walker’s tired voice in the background: “If you’re going to shriek, please get the fuck out of bed. I have to be up at the ass crack of dawn.”
“Fine, grumpy. Get your damn beauty rest,” Mags responded to her boyfriend.
I waited until I heard her shut their bedroom door before continuing our conversation. “I think I’m going to do it.”
“I think you just became my hero.” She giggled.
“I mean, I did come up here to be with Maverick, and if I have to do it on a tour bus with a crying baby, Fallon, Serena, and the rest of the band, fuck it.”
“Time to spread those wings, little birdy.”
“Have you talked to him?” I asked, sinking down onto the bed.
Mags sighed. “Walker did. From what he told me, Mitch is pretty angry and very broken up. He’s a big boy, though, and we’ll take care of him. Go live the rock star life I know you want to, and don’t look back. You can’t at this point. You’re already too far in.” Mags was right; there was no going back. There wasn’t anything left for me in Florida, and it would be better for everyone if I was gone for a while.
“It just sucks. I want to be excited, want to just live out this fantasy, but I feel like I’m stealing it.”
