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I take a sip of my beer, trying to ignore the way my heart races as she talks about the past. Those days feel like a lifetime ago. We were different people back then.
“I hate thinking about you,” Cassie says, her voice wavering slightly. “I wish that it was easier to shove you out of my life forever, but every time I think that I’ve fully moved on, there you are.”
“I didn’t ask for you to come back to the band.”
She gives a bitter laugh. “Believe me, I know that. You were all for kicking me out.”
My heart plummets to my feet. I take a sip of the beer, not knowing what else I can do. Did I want her out of the band back then? No. I needed to play nice with the White Hot executives, though. I needed to look like a team player so they wouldn’t think about replacing me next.
I should have fought for her back then, but I couldn’t take a chance with my career. I needed the money the band was bringing in.
I sigh and look down at the water below. “It wasn’t as easy as you make it seem, Cassie.”
“You sat in that boardroom and watched my career come to an end while yours got to continue. You didn’t fight for me. I used to be so angry about that. About you. I thought that out of everyoneelse would have been the one to fight for me. We built that band together, Tyler, and then you were willing to take it from me.”
“There was a lot more going on back then. It wasn’t as black and white as deciding to kick you out.”
I finish the can of beer and tuck it back in the box before reaching for another. There was more going on than I was willing to tell anyone back then. Even Cassie. If there was one person that I would have told everything to, it would have been her.
Back then I couldn’t stand the thought of our relationship changing if she knew the truth. She would try to nurture me and heal the broken parts. Cassie is that girl who would take home a box of kittens from the side of the road and try to nurse them back to health.
I’m not someone or something she can fix, though. The person I am now is the one that’s always been there, just waiting to be unleashed.
Losing Cassie broke the chains I kept wound tightly around the darker parts of my life. Without her, I was just another lost soul trying to get through life without it consuming me whole.
Sitting here with her now, I wish that we could go back to simpler times. I wish that the connection between us could be easy.
Instead, it feels like I’m carrying the weight of the world on my back.
We may infuriate each other, but Cassie is the only person I’ve ever felt truly close to. Even now, after eight years of avoiding each other, I still feel that way.
This is just for the sake of the show. As soon as the hometown show is over, she’s going to be gone and I’m going to be on my own again.
CHAPTER 11
CASSIE
“So,” Tyler says as we head back to Paige’s car. “What have you been doing in the last eight years?”
I shrug and tuck my hands into my pockets. “Not a whole lot of anything. I teach guitar to kids. Write songs when I have time.”
It feels weird to be on the beach and talking to him so casually. My heart threatens to beat out of my chest each time I look at him. There is a new Tyler standing in front of me, but the man I used to know is there too. He’s just hidden behind a broken little boy who’s still trying to protect himself from the world.
“Paige is going to take us back home and then she’s on her way to the airport. She’s heading out of town for the next few days.”
Blood rushes in my ears as we get closer to the car. The corner of Tyler’s mouth tips upward as he looks at me. Butterflies erupt in my stomach at that simple look. It’s the same look he gave me on the first day we met. I had been running late to class and managed to dump my coffee all over myself.
Tyler had stripped off his shirt in the middle of campus and tossed it to me with that smile. It was that day that I knew he was going to be in my life forever.
A few short years later, he proved me wrong.
“Is that a subtle offer to take me back to your place?” he asks, his tone low as he looks at me.
My cheeks flame as I shrug. “We have to work on our chemistry still. If you want to spend more time catching up, I have nothing I need to do in the morning.”
And, truth be told, I wasn’t quite done spending time with Tyler yet.
Tyler tosses the case of empty beer cans in the garbage as we pass it. His smile falls and his shoulders stiffen. After a moment, he grins and heads for the car. “Well, I would like to get a look at this life you’ve been living for the past eight years.”
