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“You don't think it was a valid concern for us that you might pull some sort of stunt?” he leers. “You did ruin her life, after all.”
I sigh and rub my head. I don’t want to do this here, of all places, for Josh’s sake, but if he keeps pushing me, I’m going to push back.
“I'm sorry for what happened between Casey and me—”
“Are you?” he barks, cutting in. “Because you seemed to have moved on. I’m so happy that you were able to move onto new things so quickly. Do you to have any idea how hard it was for Casey to get over you cheating on her?”
“Well, considering how quickly she jumped into my brother’s bed, I’d say she got over me pretty damn fast,” I retort.
I hear a gasp. I know it’s Alana before I even turn around. She stands there, her eyes wide, staring at me.
“Shit,” I mutter.
I knew there was a risk of her finding out like this, but I didn’t expect it to be from my own mouth. She mutters something incoherent and then turns around, rushing out of the room.
“You better go after her, so you can ruin her life too,” Casey’s father chortles.
I glare at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe the smirk of his face—preferably with my fist, but I need to speak to Alana. I race outside and look around, spotting her running through the gardens, back toward the hotel.
“Alana, wait,” I call out, but she doesn’t stop.
I finally catch up to her just before she reaches the doors. I grab hold of her arm, stopping her in her tracks. She turns around and glares at me, the anger in her eyes making me step back. I thought all I needed to do was explain, and she’d understand, but now I’m not so sure.
“What?” she snaps. She wipes her glassy eyes.
“Just listen to me,” I plead with her. “It's not as bad as it sounds—”
“Not as bad as it sounds?” she repeats with a laugh. “Jesus, Chase, am I stupid? Is that what you think when you look at me? It’s exactly what it sounds like.” She shakes her head. “You bringing me here in the first place is a joke. You’ve fed me one lie after another, and I’ve just sat there, guzzling them all up, like the fucking dickhead I am.”
“Alana—”
“Don’t. Just please, don’t. I feel like enough of a fool already without you making this worse. Just leave me the hell alone, okay?” she whispers. “Go back to your warped little love triangle in there and leave me the fuck out of it.”
“Not until you let me explain,” I say, standing my ground.
“No,” she shakes her head venomously. “You don’t get to do this to me again, Chase. Even though you blindsided me into this whole mess, I still did my part. I pretended to be your girlfriend. Now, you owe me, so just leave me alone.”
She yanks her hand out of my grasp and runs inside, disappearing into the elevator. I stare after her, torn between giving her time to her calm down and chasing after her. I should've just told her the whole truth in the first place. The most fucked up thing is that what she thinks is the truth isn't even the half of it. Only Casey and I know the full story, but maybe it’s time that changed.
I’ll give her an hour to calm down and then try and talk to her again.
Forcing her to confront me isn’t going to do either of us any good.
With one last look inside, I turn around and walk back over to the wedding. No matter how much I want to just crawl into a ball and drink myself to sleep, I need to plaster a smile on my face and pretend that I give a shit about any of this.
I can’t abandon my brother.An hour turns into two, and two turns into four, until I find myself creeping into my room at five in the morning. I’m very drunk, but that doesn't stop me from banging the hell out of the interconnecting door, demanding that she open up and listen to me. When she doesn't respond, I force my way through the door and into an empty room.
I stand there, my heart racing as I look around. All of her things are gone. I walk up to the bed and sink down on it. Maybe she’s just gone into another room. But even as I think it, I know it’s unlikely. I shouldn't have let her leave like that. I should've just come out and told her everything, right then and there. I owed her that much. With a groan, I lie back on the bed and close my eyes, the effects of the alcohol making my head spin like crazy.
