Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(35)

With Ari on my mind, I rounded a sharp blind turn, and I realized my mistake a minute too late. I slammed on my brakes to try to stay upright. The tires squealed against the black pavement. They found little purchase against the slick roads. I tried to bend my body against the oncoming crash, but I only managed to slow my descent marginally.

It made little difference.

My body collided with the ground so hard that my head whipped back at a painful angle. The snow-scattered earth soaked through my clothes as I skidded across the ground, mercifully away from my motorcycle. I bounced once more, hard, and a guttural cry escaped my mouth before I slipped over the edge of the road and down an embankment.

I rolled down the hill at lightning speed, hitting rocks, twigs, and branches. Mud coated my visor, and the world went dark. After what felt like forever, I landed with a dull thud at the bottom of the drop-off. I lay face-first in a pile of snow that had collected from the last storm.

I gasped out for breath as my brain attempted to process what had just happened. Sticky fingers removed the helmet that had saved my life, and I laid my head back in the cold. My heart was thrashing around in my chest. I could feel the blood rushing to my ears.

Shock.

I was in shock.

Oh f*ck.

Breathe.

Ari.

Breathe. I saw stars in my vision.

Ari, I love you.

It was the last thing I thought before I blacked out.

“Surprise!” Cheyenne cried, pushing her way through the crowd and to my side.

“Uh…what is all of this?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“A birthday party, of course!”

I stared around at the crowd of faces—all of my friends, the band, a large portion of the groupies that I had started to recognize, even Sydney. I hadn’t seen her since the ski lodge. My eyes searched through the crowd for the face I was sure to find among them.

But no.

No Grant.

For a moment, I’d been sure that Grant hadn’t answered my call because he was here for the celebration. But I didn’t see him.

“Oh. You put this all together?”

“Well, no,” Cheyenne admitted.

Gabi came up next to her. “Grant planned it all. Got everyone to keep it quiet and come tonight. He’s been planning it since that night he came to the library.”

“Oh,” I muttered again lamely. “Well, uh…where is he?”

“We don’t know,” Gabi admitted finally. “We got here with you. We could go ask the guys.”

“No,” I said quickly.

The last thing I wanted was to be the desperate girl asking about her boyfriend. I couldn’t believe he had put this whole thing together for me. It was unbelievably sweet. I didn’t know if he had been planning it this whole time, and that was why he had avoided me this week. Maybe the reason I hadn’t seen him had nothing to do with our argument.

But if that were the truth, then where was he?

Nowhere.

No, one decent action by Grant McDermott didn’t make up for last weekend and his silence the past couple of days. When I saw him again, I was seriously considering wringing his neck.

Asshole.

“It’s fine. Let’s get a drink,” I said.

The last thing I wanted to do was bring attention to myself about the situation. The girls knew things were weird with Grant right now, but that didn’t mean I needed to alert anyone else. There were too many vultures at the party. Groupies were here because Grant had invited them, and they would quickly rush to his side if they knew we were in trouble.

Ugh!

Trouble. I couldn’t even think about that word.

I realized how irrational that sounded even in my head. I was mad at Grant, mad at myself, but I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t want anyone else to get close to him. It was all so confusing.

We walked over to the bar, and I was handed a beer.

“Birthday shots!” Shelby cried.

“Later. I want to let this settle first,” I told them.

“Oh, come on,” Shelby pleaded. “I need to get f*cked up.”

“Well, get one now, and I’ll get the next round.”

“Shelby, you do not need to get f*cked up,” Cheyenne snapped.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have to compete with that,” Gabi whispered, leaning over forward.

“What am I missing?”

Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Aribel, do you not pay attention to anything?”

I glanced between them. “Not really.”

Gabi cracked a smile and then smothered it under Cheyenne’s glare. “Sydney is here.”

“I know. I saw her.”

“And hello? Shelby has been dating Miller since Sydney left.” Cheyenne gave me an exasperated look.

“I didn’t know it was serious,” I mumbled.

Actually, I’d spent more time around the guys in the last two months, and I knew firsthand that Miller did not think they were serious. He thought she was fun to hang out with and f*ck. He liked that she was here in Princeton and with his friends’ girls.

But he still had a thing for Sydney.

As did Vin.

That was the last topic to bring up around Cheyenne even though none of us had any f*cking clue why she liked the meathead douche bag.

“Well, it’s not been defined,” Shelby muttered.