Chase Me (Broke and Beautiful #1)(67)

This is what happened when you lied. People got hurt. People you cared about so damn much that it hurt to be away from them. But he didn’t have a choice. Why would she ever want to see him again? He’d been responsible for every shitty thing that had happened to her in the last few weeks. Why had she been dressed as a giant pink rabbit? His one-night stand. Why had she been booked as a stripper? His one-night stand’s wrath. Why had she been propositioned in exchange for a role? Him and his ill-advised attempt to help. He’d done nothing but screw up since she’d knocked on his door that first day.

His knee-jerk reaction had been to repair the damage. Apologize to Roxy like mankind depended on her forgiving him and win her back. It had almost been a compulsion. Go to her. Hold her. He’d never thrown in the towel before, especially when something this important was on the line. Forcing himself to leave her alone might go down in history as his greatest accomplishment. If he wanted her to be happy, though, did he have a choice?

A knock on his door.

Louis didn’t move. If he just stayed perfectly still, they would go away. He didn’t want to see anyone or hear them say words like You’ll get over her, give it time, porn cleanse . . . blah blah blah. For the moment, he didn’t want to get over her. If he did that, he wouldn’t be able to think about her, and he wanted to hold on to every minute they’d spent together as long as possible. So whoever was at the door could f*ck off.

“Louis?”

He groaned into the throw pillow. Great. Now he was hearing her voice? He’d been right about going around the bend. Goddammit, he missed her so much. How did he f*ck this up so bad?

“McNally, I really need you to open the door.”

“Go away, voice. I already ate the Elvis Cheeto.”

A long stretch of silence passed. Louis jerked into a sitting position. Maybe he didn’t want the voice to leave. Maybe he wanted it to stay. Oh yeah. Definitely, stay. “Are you still there?” he called.

“Yes. Although now I’m nervous about what I’m going to find in there.”

Louis looked around the apartment, feeling as though he was seeing it for the first time. Food containers, beer bottles, clothes that apparently hadn’t made it to the hamper were strewn about his living room. Perfect. On top of ruining people’s lives, he was also a slob.

“You should be nervous. It’s not pretty in here.”

“That’s okay. I’m not a judgmental rabbit.”

Louis’s head snapped up. Was it possible . . . ?

His feet had carried him to the door before the hopeful thought had finished processing. He looked through the peephole and felt as though hands were squeezing his throat, cutting off his oxygen.

A giant pink bunny stood on the other side.

“Rox?”

“You know anyone else who dresses like this?” He turned the lock quickly and opened the door. Please don’t let this be a freaky hallucination. His hands itched to tug the mask off her face, but she beat him to it. The hand holding it dropped to her side. He watched the mask hit the floor out of the corner of his eyes, because he couldn’t stop looking at her face. Every detail had been catalogued in a matter of seconds, from her exhausted eyes to the lips he missed kissing so bad it caused him physical pain. “Oh no, Louis,” the lips said.

She sounded so sad that he took a step forward. “What?”

“You look like shit.”

His face broke into a smile for the first time in a week. It felt so good to be standing near her, listening to her talk, inhaling the smell of cherry blossoms. “I’ve been avoiding mirrors.” He swallowed hard, barely resisting the urge to reach for her. “Why did you come?”

Roxy sucked in a slow breath. “I’m sorry I blamed you for what happened. That was horrible of me.” He was mesmerized by her green eyes, glassy with tears. Tried to focus on them so her words wouldn’t open a dam inside his chest. “One of the things I love about you is this responsibility you feel to help people. I can’t love that part of you and be mad when you turn it on me. It makes me a hypocrite.”

“No. I’m the one who’s sorry, Rox—”

“Wait. Let me finish.” She appeared to steel herself. “This acting thing . . . I am going to do it on my own. It’s important to me. But I don’t want to be on my own. Not now. I know what it’s like to be with you, and it’s a really amazing place to be.” A tear leaked out, tracking down her cheek. “I miss you so much,” she ended on a whisper. “Be with me again? Please?”

So light. He felt so light, as if he might float to the ceiling if she wasn’t there to anchor him. Not willing to be without her in his arms another second, he lunged across the threshold and dragged her up against his body. The sob she released into his neck sounded relieved, leaving him utterly baffled. Had she actually thought he would say no to this? To her?

“Roxy, I was never without you, believe me. Not for a single second.” He wrapped her hair in his fist and brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply. “The real thing is a lot better, though. Please don’t go away again. I start seeing dead rock stars in my snack foods.”

“I won’t. That’s crazy, but I won’t.” She pulled back slightly and kissed his mouth. It sent a final bolt of relief, bliss, straight through him. “I’m f*cked up over you, Louis.”