In fact, just stop breathing.
Right now.
She smiles, and I don’t feel like it means anything nice like a smile normally should. No, Cassia’s smile feels like she’s calculating something in her mind while talking to me. “Oh, that’s good, that you had a girls’ night. It’s always our friends who keep us going in times like this, isn’t it?”
I frown. “In times like what?”
Her smile disappears and she looks at me with sympathy. Pity almost. “Well, it would be unkind of me to bring it up, but now that we’re talking about it, I want you to know I had no idea this was going to happen between me and Ashton again. We didn’t plan for it or—”
Gregory Scott cuts in to our conversation. “I for one am glad to see my son came to his senses.” He greets Cassia with a kiss to her cheek. “Kendall is over the moon. She’ll be over to see you soon.”
I want to vomit. In fact, I’m fairly sure I may vomit.
What is happening right now?
Why are these people so unkind? Talking about Ashton and Cassia’s relationship in front of me like I’m not even here.
I want to tell them what I think of them, but my mind is a mess. I don’t trust any thoughts in there at the moment, so instead, I say nothing and try to catch Ryan’s attention to let him know I’m leaving.
As I do this, Cassia’s phone rings and after glancing at it, she looks between Gregory and me. “Sorry to be rude, but it’s Ashton. I need to take this.” She then answers the phone with, “Hello, darling,” and leaves the group.
The room spins and I lose my manners. I’ve been clinging to them for Ryan, but I can’t even bring myself to do that anymore. There’s no way I can stand to be around these people a second longer.
Without so much as a goodbye, I turn and practically run to the exit. By the time I’m outside, tears are streaming down my face, and I’m close to being a sobbing mess. I hail a taxi, and once I’m settled in the back, I pull out my new phone. The one I got today to replace my old one. Pulling up Ashton’s number, I wait for him to answer. He’s about to get a piece of my mind. And it’s not going to be pretty. Not if he can’t be bothered to at least let me know we’re over.
He doesn’t answer, and I stare at my phone in disbelief. He can call Cassia, but he can’t answer my call? Is this how he has treated all the women in his life? I can’t imagine the man I know acting like this, and yet, I can’t ignore everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Oh God.
This really is the end of us, isn’t it?
57
Ashton
The flight to LA feels longer than usual, and I’m exhausted by the time I arrive at LAX. However, that doesn’t slow down my efforts to get through customs and out of the airport as fast as I can. The thing that does slow me down, though, is Lorelei. Or precisely, the five angry voicemails from her I retrieve after clearing customs.
The first two messages came in one after the other.
Lorelei: Seriously? I was standing right in front of Cassia just now when you called her, so I know you’re not busy at the moment. And yet you don’t even have the decency to answer my call? It wasn’t enough that you kissed her at that party and didn’t call or come
see me to end things with me? You are so freaking lucky you aren’t standing in front of me right now, Ashton, because if you were, I’d kick you in the goddam balls and make you hurt as much as I am.
Lorelei: I mean, I know we weren’t in a great place, but you freaking made me feel like I was the only woman for you and that you wanted to work on our problems. I don’t get men who can move from one woman to another like you have, but I’m glad this happened before I fell in love with you more than I already am. And your father! God, he’s an asshole. Standing there telling Cassia how happy he and your mother are that you’re back with her. Right freaking in front of me! You Scott men really know how to make a girl feel unworthy.
The last three messages came in about an hour later, and Lorelei sounds increasingly upset with each message.
Lorelei: I can’t believe I dedicated the entire night last night to figuring out my feelings about you. The. Entire. Night. Not to mention the hours I spent thinking about you all week. God, I’m an idiot to have thought we had something special. I was ready to compromise for you, Ashton. Something I’ve never been good at in relationships, but for you, I was going to try, because I decided you were the man I’d go to the ends of the earth for. And you chose her! I have no idea how men are so freaking blind to women like Cassia. She’s only interested in your status. I would have given you so much more than she ever will. You have no idea what you’re missing out on with me.
Lorelei: Let me tell you something else. I know I can be Little Miss Independent, and that you probably aren’t used to dealing with women like me. Women who don’t bend to your every freaking demand. But I was willing to put in the work on our relationship and be the one who did more of the bending because I realised you aren’t the kind of man who has ever had to bend before. I’ve never been with a man who takes over like you do, who always tries to fix things for me. And I may not be good at allowing a man to do that, but for you I was going to try! I was going to fight for you. All I can say now is thank God I found out what kind of man you are before I did all that fighting.
Lorelei: I am so freaking mad at you right now! And I know I’m going to regret telling you all this in the morning, but I need to get it off my chest. I knew right from the first day I met you that I should stay away. You were so bloody arrogant that day, but I thought I saw something more when you took me out to lunch. And every step of the way, you’ve shown me a man so unlike the one I’m seeing now. That was the man I love. That was the man I saw myself spending the rest of my life with, compromising, bending, and fighting for. And the worst part isn’t that I was ready to do all that for you. No, the worst part in all of this is that I now have to figure out how to stop loving you. And that yet again, I’ve lost someone I love. I hope Cassia can give you whatever it is you want since I sure as hell couldn’t.
Jesus Christ, what the hell happened during my flight?
My immediate instinct is to call Lorelei. However, I want to go into this conversation prepared for it. I need to know what caused her, and my parents, to assume Cassia and I are back together. So instead of calling her, I call Jessica.
She picks up straight away. “How’s Jack?” Her worry is clear in her voice. And the fact she’s still awake way past midnight tells me how concerned she is.