Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(9)

No, she couldn’t cry.

“Ari,” I groaned.

I pulled her into my arms. She rested her head against my chest and gripped my shirt in her hands.

“That song, Grant? My song?”

“I know. It was impulsive.”

She pushed away from me again. “You’re always impulsive.”

“Killian called out ContraBand, and she said her favorite song was ‘Life Raft.’ Everyone went crazy, Ari. You should have heard them.”

Her lips pressed together in a thin line.

“Everyone pushed me toward the stage and chanted for us to sing. What the f*ck was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

When she didn’t say anything else, I kept talking, “Are you going to tell me why you ran out on me this morning?”

She shook her head.

“Fuck, Ari. Just tell me.”

“No. I’m not ready to talk about it,” she said. Her voice wavered, but she stared me straight in the eyes.

“Fine. Fucking fine. Take your time.” I was itching for a cigarette right now like nothing else. “Maybe you should go.”

Her eyes hardened but not before I saw a spark of hurt in her eyes. “Maybe I should.”

“Find me when you’re ready to talk about it.” I turned and walked back toward the entrance to the League.

“Grant, wait.”

“What?” I snapped. “What do you want me to say? Something is bothering you, and the most straightforward, outspoken, and mouthy person I know in the entire world won’t tell me what it is. So, it feels a bit more like my princess is walking out on me now.”

“No. I’m not…I’m not walking out. I just…I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

Scared? Aribel Graham was scared? Now, I’d heard everything.

She closed her mouth. Her hands were shaking at her sides. Tremors traveled up her arms and through her whole body.

“Jesus, Ari, what is it?”

“I kissed someone else,” she blurted out.

“You did what?” In shock, I stumbled backward a step. “You f*cking cheated on me? What the f*ck? Of all the people I’ve ever known…I never.”

“No. No, Grant. It was while we were broken up. It was an accident. A total mistake.”

“You’re goddamn right it was a mistake. Biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your life, Princess,” I snapped. “This was someone other than Donovan? Or was Donovan actually a real thing, and you were covering it up when we got back together?”

Ari closed her eyes. “This is why I was scared. I knew you’d react this way.”

“How else am I supposed to react?” I yelled at her.

“It meant nothing. My parents were trying to set me up with Henry after New Year’s when I thought—”

“When you thought I’d done what you did.”

“No! I thought you’d slept with a groupie. I would never have…” She ground her teeth and sagged. “I’m sorry. I went out with my brother, and the guy showed up. We shared a bottle of champagne, and he kissed me. He tried to convince me to go back to his place, but I told him no, and I left.”

“I don’t know what the f*ck you expect me to do with this, Ari. Your parents were setting you up with other guys over break. Do they even know we’re dating?”

She bit her lip and cast her eyes away from me.

“Fuck, they don’t know,” I said, momentarily stunned. “What? Are you f*cking ashamed of me?”

“Grant, no. God, I’m not. I just…with my parents. It’s hard.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me right now? It’s hard with your parents?”

“I didn’t mean that as it being more or less difficult than anyone else’s parents,” she said. Her hurricane-blue eyes pleaded with me to understand. “All I’m saying is that it’s hard when they expect so much from me. You’re amazing, Grant, but I know my parents won’t appreciate that,” she said, the last part so soft that I had to lean in to hear her.

“Why? Because I’m in a band? Because I’m not on track to be a CEO? Because I don’t have a f*cking trust fund?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “All those things and more. I don’t care about that though.”

“Maybe you will one day.”

“I care about you.”

“Enough to f*cking kiss someone else and not tell your parents that we’re together.”

Ari straightened and crossed her arms. “I apologized for what happened, okay? Neither of us is faultless in this situation.”

“What do you want me to do, darlin’?”

She frowned. “Darlin’? Really? We’re back there?”

I shrugged and leaned my back against the brick building. “Tell me what you would do if I’d kissed someone else and no one in my life knew who you were.”

“We’ve been through that before, Grant. I screamed at you and told you to sober up. More or less what I want to do now.”

“You left.”

She sighed heavily. The weight of carrying around her secret must have been killing her. I could already see that she didn’t look as stressed as she had before. She looked uncomfortable as hell, which was fine by me, but not upset like I’d thought she’d be since I was yelling at her.