AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Everyone cheers.
“So much for your sabotage,” I say sweetly, elbowing Josh. But I spoke too soon, because the next person to amble up to the microphone is Cash Hendricks. He’s still dressed in leather and that tiny ripped denim vest, clutching a bottle of whiskey like he just stumbled out of the Viper Room.
“Oi, pipe down,” he calls, waving for silence. “You’re lucky enough to have a master talent, here!”
The crowd hushes, but Avery ignores him, still snuggling with Robert, giggling over something and whispering in his ear.
“Oi!” Cash yells, even louder.
Avery finally turns.
“That’s better…” Cash clears his throat. “We’re all here to celebrate the happy couple. So Avery, darlin’, this one’s for you.”
The music starts to play, and to my surprise, it’s not a swaggering rock song, but something slow and familiar. “Is that…?” Josh asks.
“’I Will Always Love You,’” I reply grimly. And dammit, Cash really can sing. His voice is low and throaty, full of emotion, and he’s directing all the mega-watt beam of his charisma at one person.
Avery.
He doesn’t look away for a moment, strolling closer until he’s right in front of her, singing like there’s nobody else in the room.
It’s not a karaoke number, it’s a damn serenade.
I shoot an anxious look at our happy couple… and they’re not so happy anymore. Robert’s smile is fading, looking back and forth between them, while Avery sits there, not moving, her face blank and impossible to read.
“We should stop this,” I murmur, uneasy.
“Why?” Josh replies smugly. “He’s putting on a great show.”
It’s a spectacle alright. Like a car crash, nobody can look away, even as Robert grows more furious, and Avery just sits there silently, like she’s trying to disappear. Finally, Cash falls to his knees, belting out the final lines to her.
There’s silence, then the crowd breaks into wild applause. “Woohoo!” DeeDee cheers, her phone held aloft. Because of course, she was filming ever second. “Way to go, Cash!”
Avery just gets to her feet, turns, and walks out without a word.
Fuck.
I go after her, ducking out of the room, but she’s already broken into a run. “Wait!” I call after her, hurrying down the empty hallway. “Avery, wait!”
I catch up with her in the doorway to the courtyard. She’s frozen there on the threshold, looking out at the rain that’s still drumming on the tiled ground outside. “I’m so sorry,” I say, coming to a stop a few paces away. “I had no idea he was going to show up here. I can make him leave! I’ll put him on a flight tonight.”
“He won’t go. He loves the drama.”
Avery turns. She’s crying, and I can see the heartbreak in her eyes. “It’s been ten years!” she exclaims, wiping furiously at her cheeks. “He’s a liar and a bastard, and it’s been ten years, so why does it still hurt like this?”
“Oh, Avery…” I pull her into a hug, and after resisting for a moment, she sinks against me, sobbing.
“He was the first guy I ever loved,” she says, muffled and miserable. “He said we’d be together forever, and I believed him.”
I sigh with sympathy. “Of course you did.”
“That was our song.” She lifts her head, tearful. “He sung it to me when the stick turned blue. And then I miscarried alone in an airport bathroom while he was fucking some groupie backstage in Vegas.”
Sympathy sweeps through me, followed by pure, blinding rage.
I’m going to kill Josh.
“It’s OK.” Avery wipes her cheeks. “I know I’m better off without him, and it would never have worked, but… hearing that song again, it just brought it all back?—”
