I WAS DETERMINED. PERSISTENT. RELENTLESS.
I wasn’t going to let Blake go and I didn’t give two fucks what she had to say about it. I knew she loved me. I knew she wanted to be with me, too. I could fucking taste it on her.
So, I was going to persist until she was fucking mine.
I’d been knocked down and knocked out in football plenty of times. I knew that mind-numbing sense of shock and confusion and head-splitting pain. This was nothing like that. After that night in the treehouse when she left me, I felt like I was being plowed into by a linebacker with every goddamn beat of my heart—knocked down again and again.
But if she thought I’d been stubborn and determined to not want her all those years ago, she had a whole other thing coming now—now that I knew what could be.
My head jerked towards the door to my studio apartment in Nashville as someone banged loudly on the door. Probably Ron or Alex.
I’d hardly talked to the band after we’d dropped everything and disappeared from Minnesota. I think they knew that some shit had gone down. They didn’t ask. And truthfully, they had every right to know that ZPP had hit a slight dip in popularity from my cruel break-up with the world’s pop princess.
I should have looked before I yanked open the door, seeing familiar blond hair and blue eyes staring back. Too bad it wasn’t the sibling that I cared about getting forgiveness from.
“What do you want?” I asked Ash tightly, preparing myself for a fight.
“Can I come in?” he asked casually, leaning against the doorframe.
“Depends.” My eyes narrowed on my former friend. “I think you can punch me just as well from out here. Not in the mood to have to clean blood up off the carpet.”
His mouth tipped up just a fraction in a smirk. “I’m not here to punch you. I’m over that phase.”
I stepped back. “I’m surprised I made it through unscathed…”
“Someone had to tie me down,” he quipped.
“Oh yeah? And who was that?” I asked as Ash walked into my place like this was any other day before I fucked his sister and he’d forced me to break her heart.
“Doesn’t matter.” He strolled over to my Ikea dining table, sprawling into one of the chairs. “I’m here to talk about Blay, not me.”
My body immediately tensed. “Then you’ve come for nothing because I don’t give a shit anymore what you think. I did what you said and I have never regretted anything more in my entire life. Your sister means the world to me—and instead of showing her that, instead of giving her what she deserves—I told her that what the world thought was more important than how I felt. And it was my fucking choice to listen to you, but if you think I’m going to do it again, you are a fucking moron.”
He gave me a blank, bored stare and I almost wished he was here to punch me so I could swing one back at him.
“You done?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, intrigued. “Yeah.”
“Good. Because I’m not here to do any of that shit. I’m here because I wanted to tell you that I was wrong.”
“Seriously? Ashton Tyler admitting fault?”
“Yeah,” he sneered at me. “Go call your fucking paparazzi and let them take a photo so it will last longer.”
I laughed as I walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge. “Want one?”
“I think I need something a little stronger.” He eyed my Glenfiddich on the counter.
I filled a glass with ice and poured him two fingers, setting it on the table next to him, and waited for him to explain himself.
He took his time taking a sip and savoring it before he spoke again. “I’m here to help you fix our mistakes.” I continued to stare, unsure and unwilling to believe him. “I’m here to help you fucking fix shit with Blake.”
“Seriously?”
“No, I’m really just here for the whiskey,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes like they were trying to shake off my idiocy for asking. “Yeah, I’m fucking serious.”
There was only one question I needed the answer to. “Why?”
His eyes deepened to black and blue as his jaw ticked in annoyance. Yeah, well, if you want to help me fucking fix it, you are going to have to fucking convince me that you are really here to do that. Ash downed the rest of the whiskey before he responded.
“Because, as much as it’s still fucking disgusting to me, you two are meant for each other. I saw it. The whole world fucking saw it. I just couldn’t see the forest through the trees.”
“She doesn’t think so.” I crossed my arms. “How do you know?”
Part of me really wanted to know. Part of me just really wanted to torture him for the shit he had pulled.
“Because you both love each other. Do you really want me to spell it out? No one would have believed this whole charade if there hadn’t been some truth in it. And they certainly wouldn’t have gone ape-shit over it if the charade hadn’t actually been the truth. You both love each other. In the way that my sister can’t seem to stop herself from writing or singing about… In the way that still really makes me want to haul off and punch you every so often.”
I laughed, giving him a slight nod and giving up on my questions.
“I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t plan on falling in love with her.” I let out a sigh. “I didn’t plan on breaking my promise to you.”
He waved me off. “Don’t. I was a dick for making you promise that in the first place. And if anyone was going to punch somebody out there,” he nodded towards the door, “it should have been you punching me for how I backed you into a corner. I was a fucking insane, protective asshole.”
“Agreed.”
Bending forward, he rested his elbows on his knees, propping his chin on top of his clasped hands. “Alright, you done with the third degree? Pretty sure there are better fucking ways to spend our time—like trying to show my sister that she’s being an idiot.”
“Not sure that’s quite the vibe I’m going for.”
“You’re right. You’re both idiots.”
I cut him off, “I actually have a plan. And now that you’re here… well, let’s just say I could use you.”
“Of course, you could,” he replied confidently. “When have you ever come up with a good plan that didn’t involve me?”
“Dick.”
He stood, extending a hand. “We good?”
I pretended to eye him up for a second. “If I get her back,” I taunted even as I clasped his hand and pulled him in for a hug.
“You’ll get her back,” he replied. “I give her props for standing up to you, but let’s face it, you’re the one thing she’s never been able to resist.”
“And she’s the one thing that I never want to let go,” I said with an even tone, making sure I held his stare. This was one promise I didn’t want him to mistake; this was one promise I was never going to break.
“Alright, let’s get this show started then. What’s the plan?”
I grinned and went to grab another glass. Even though my chest was still sore, knowing I had my best friend on my side gave me hope.
I was going to show Blake Tyler that she was my world—the rest of the world be damned.