Heartbreaker(66)

Perhaps she never will.

I head back inside to get the drinks. Eddie’s at the bar already, turning on the charm for a group of coeds poured into cutoffs and belly-skimming shirts. “Here’s the man himself,” he says, greeting me with a wink. “I went and found you some fans.”

My heart sinks. Fawning girls are the last thing I need right now, but I don’t want to be a jackass, so I force a polite smile. “Hey.”

“Oh my God, I love your music so much!” One of them slides in close to me, wrapping her hands around my arm. “Can we get a selfie?”

Before I can object, she lifts her camera and snaps a shot, kissing my cheek as the flash bursts.

“I went to, like, five of your shows last year,” she continues breathlessly. “My friends say I’m a total groupie.” She giggles, and Eddie smirks over her head.

Eddie winks. “Thank me later,” he murmurs, before disappearing back to our group with her friends in tow.

“So what are you working on now?” she asks eagerly, still pressed up against me. She’s blond and cute, and definitely willing. Any red-blooded man in here would kill to be in my shoes, but I barely notice her. Everything I want in the world is bound up in Eva, and nobody else could even come close.

I detach her hands and step back. “I better get back to it,” I tell her blandly. “Thanks for the support.”

Her face falls. “Do you want my number? We could get a drink sometime—”

“No thanks,” I interrupt, then quickly turn and leave, pushing through the crowd until I hit the street and can breathe again.

Damn it, what the hell am I doing here?

I pace the dark sidewalk, heading back to my hotel. The city is bright and vibrant, busy with weekend party crowds, but every burst of laughter or smiling couple I pass makes me feel more alone. Half my heart is right back there in Oak Harbor, and for whatever reason, she can’t bring herself to leave.

Which means I have to.

By the time I reach my hotel, I know, there’s no other way. No matter how much that town spells nothing but pain for me, if it’s the only way to be with Eva, then f*ck. I’ll take it. I’ll take the bitter memories and ghosts of the past, and all the things I’ve been running from these past five years.

I’ll take it all in a heartbeat for her.

I swipe my keycard in the door and go straight to the closet, pulling my case down and throwing shit in without even looking. I can fly back tonight, camp out at the airport until I get a seat, or hell, rent a car and drive straight through. I’ll be back in her arms by morning either way, and I’ll never leave her again.

Kyle will freak out, Jennings will blacklist me for good. Fuck, the whole album might be scrapped now, but I don’t care. I’ll give it all up to be with her again. It’s no choice at all. Five years ago, I left that girl behind. It may have been for all the right reasons, but that doesn’t undo the damage and hurt I caused.

I won’t be the reason for her heartbreak again.

I zip the bag shut and head for the door, but just as I’m grabbing my jacket, I hear something. A rattle on the window, like gravel.

I pause, then go to look. I haul the glass open just as another rock comes flying up and I have to duck out of the way to stop it hitting me in the face.

“Hey!” I yell down, angry. “What the f*ck?”

“Sorry!”

Her voice drifts up to me, and I can’t believe my eyes. It’s Eva, down in the alleyway behind the hotel. Lit up by a streetlight with a handful of rocks, and a case at her feet. More beautiful than ever. Older and wiser, brave and broken, and still all I want in the world.

My heart stops.

She came.





Twenty-Three.


Eva



Standing in the alleyway, surrounded by garbage and dirt, I wonder for a moment if I’ve made a terrible mistake. It was meant to be a symbol, like the New Year’s Eve he showed up at my window and this all began. But now I’m struck with a terrible fear that I’m too late. I let him go, I couldn’t find the strength to start over. Now, what if he’s reconsidered our future after all?

Then Finn smiles down at me, that heart-stopping smile, and I know, everything’s going to be okay.

“What the hell are you doing?” he calls down, laughing. “Are you trying to get yourself arrested?”

“It’s an option, yes.” I grin back. There may be seven stories and a wall between us, but still, just being this close to him again makes my heart beat faster. “I had a whole plan. It’s supposed to be a romantic gesture, like—”

“New Year’s,” he finishes for me.

It feels like a lifetime ago, and yesterday, all at once. I was brand new back then, my heart open and untouched, filled with a desire for him that set the world ablaze.

Now, staring up at him, I feel it all over again, stronger than ever. Our love isn’t untested. It’s seen loss and struggle and redemption, but even after all the pain, there’s still a fire burning. And I know now, it won’t ever go out. Like a phoenix from the ashes of the past, we can start over again. Take every good thing, the love that binds us together, and leave the rest behind.

“Don’t move!” Finn orders me, and disappears from the window. But I can’t wait another second to be with him, so I race inside through the back exit and into the stairwell. My footsteps echo on the concrete as I hurry up, desperate to close the distance between us once and for all.