Oliver saw me coming and silenced the manager with a jerk of his hand. Their attention was on me when I stopped in front of them.
“Can we talk?” I asked Oliver, my eyes pleading.
Oliver studied me with an impassive expression before giving a subtle nod. “I’ll find you later,” he said to the tour manager and motioned for me to follow him.
“How’s Jamie?” I asked as soon as we made it a few steps outside of the restaurant. “Tell me,” I urged him when he remained silent. “What happened?”
“You didn’t listen to me.”
His words were like a slap in the face. I could feel my pulse in my throat as his eyes narrowed. “I told you to stay away from him, and you didn’t listen.”
I swallowed. “I wanted to fix things. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
“Oh, Ivy…” He shook his head. “Things between us could have worked out so differently. I really liked you, you know?” There was an edge to his voice, and it terrified me.
“Liked me? What do you mean?”
He brought his hand up to stroke my cheek. “I was looking forward to today.”
A cold sensation was spreading through my veins. “It’s my birthday…”
“I know, beautiful. It was supposed to be our special day.”
“It still can be,” I insisted. “Please—”
“No, it can’t.” His smile was bitter.
“I don’t understand.” My throat was dry even as I blinked tears away. “Why?”
“Because you didn’t listen to me. You listened to him,” Oliver whispered harshly. His hand snaked around the back of my neck, his fingers digging into my skin. “And now you’ve ruined everything.”
I gasped. In that moment, as he sneered down at me, I knew that I had failed him. I had failedus.
“Let go of her.” Cole’s voice rang out from behind me.
Oliver kept his emerald eyes on me, and all I could see inside of them was dark, simmering fury. Then his fingers were gone, and someone was pulling me away from him.
“What the hell is this?” Cole demanded, holding me in place against his chest. “Why was your hand on my sister?”
Oliver’s sneer stayed on his face. “Fuck off. And lay off the big-brother act. You bring your seventeen-year-old sister on tour and expect no one to touch her while she prances around backstage every night?”
“Excuse me?” Cole bit out. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself,” Oliver bit out. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Goodbye, Ivy.”
I was mute as Cole held me, asking me questions that I couldn’t understand, let alone begin to answer. It felt as if the sky were collapsing onto me, and all I could do was scream inside my head for it to stop.
* * *
“Please, Ran,”I begged the tour manager as we waited for my taxi to arrive outside the hotel early the next morning. Minutes prior, Cole had left us standing on the curb at my request for a Starbucks from across the street. It was the first time I had spoken to him since the previous morning, and he’d seemed relieved I was starting to acknowledge his existence.
He’d given up on asking me what was going on with Oliver after I’d refused to answer any of his questions yesterday. I had no desire to discuss what had happened with anyone, but I forced myself to confess certain parts to Ran.It was the only way to make him understand the importance of what I was asking him to do.
“No, Ivy. You’ve already put me in a very awkward position. What am I supposed to tell Cole if he asks me if I knew what was going on with you and Oliver?”
Easy. I fell in love. Then I messed everything up.
I could see the sequence of events that had led me here, but no matter how many times I went over them, I couldn’t make sense of how they’d added up tothisconclusion. It all had to be a misunderstanding. Sure, I’d broken my promise to Oliver, but I’d done it out of good intentions. And he couldn’t have possibly blamed me for what happened with Jamie. I’d done the only thing that had made sense at the time. I’d had to think quickly to help a guy who’d literally passed out on top of me. I hadn’t thought rationally, and in the aftermath, neither had Oliver. I was sure of that. I had to be.
