He walked up next to me and bumped his shoulder into mine. He stood there next to me and quietly watched Ash setting up his amp and chair as well. When he was finally situated, he sat down and looked out into the crowd. When his eyes found mine, he flashed me his charm-the-birds-out-of-the-tree smile and winked. And the butterflies went wild.

He grabbed the microphone and began speaking, “Aristotle once said ‘Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.’ Tonight I would like to congratulate Noah and Mina for finding the other half of their soul, and I would like to wish all of you the same fate. Because you will never know true happiness, you will never understand immortal love, and you will never experience absolute perfection until you do. Tonight I play for my other half, hopefully one day my better half.”

He chuckled at himself before beginning his version of Secondhand Serenade’s Your Call. I was frozen to the floor, with my mouth open, gaping at the words that had just come out his mouth. Max leaned into me and whispered, “See, I told you you’re perfect.” Then without asking, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor.

The lyrics to not only the first song Ash sang, but every song thereafter, dug deeper and deeper into my heart. I danced a couple of times with Max and once with Noah, but mainly just sat, watched, and listened. His voice was so serene, so tranquil… almost as if everything was a love lullaby.

I knew beforehand that he had expected me to sing one song with him, but it still caught me off guard when he called me name over the speakers asking me to join him for the last song. I wasn’t sure if it really was such a good idea, seeing how emotional I was with Mason’s disappearance and the reemergence of the feelings I had for Ash that I thought I had so carefully locked away. It seemed his voice was the key that opened it right up. However, everyone was staring at me expectantly so I made my way towards him.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a second guitar, so I only had to sing with him. As soon as he began with the opening chords, a huge lump formed in the back of my throat. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to physically do this, but when it was my turn to join him in the duet of Heart Shaped Wreckage, I found my voice and lost myself in the music. During my section of the second verse, he put down the guitar and stood up next to me. We faced each other, completely absorbed in each other’s eyes, and sang the remainder of the song acapella to one another.

“Look at this heart shaped wreckage

What have we done?

We have got scars from battles nobody won

We can start over, better, both of us know

If we just let the broken pieces go.”

At the end of the song, he closed the small gap between us, cupping both sides of my face in his hands and kissed me like our lives depended on it. As his lips seared mine and our tongues danced in harmony, he poured his soul into me, and I drank the ambrosia that led to all three things for me ~ happiness, immortal love, and perfection.

MASON

Despite everyone telling me to stay away from the wedding over and over again, I just couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if she was going to be there or not, but I had to at least try. Bentley had taken my keys so I couldn’t take my bike, even though I hadn’t had anything to drink or taken any pills since the night before. I felt like complete shit, and I almost didn’t recognize the image that stared back at me in the mirror. I hadn’t bothered shaving that entire week, and the circles under my eyes from staying fucked up for seven straight days and nights were so dark that it almost looked like I had been in a fight. Maybe I had been in a fight? I couldn’t fucking remember.

I called Boone and begged and pleaded with him to borrow his car. I told him that I needed to get some things from my apartment in Houston before we left the next week to go on tour, and that I obviously couldn’t bring it all back on my bike. Luckily he agreed, and I raced to get out of town before he had a chance to talk to Bentley and tell her what I had done. She was a stupid fucking bitch anyway. Every night during the week I had brought a different girl home with me, couldn’t tell you what any of the looked like much less their names, but every morning she was back at my apartment, trying to take care of me. I hoped she would eventually get the picture that I didn’t leave Angel for her; I really wanted no piece of that craziness ever again.

I knew that I was gonna be late, but I was hoping that I could at least apologize to Noah and Mina about the last minute cancellation, congratulate them, and of course, see Scarlett. My mother had always told me that I had impeccable timing when I would walk in her room watching her snort a line of coke, and it seemed my virtue of being at the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time depending on how you looked at it, had stayed with me. As I walked up to the outside tent, I saw my worst fears being acted out right in front of my face ~ Ash and Scarlett singing to each other about mending their broken love and then ending it with a kiss for the history books. Fuck. Me.

The way I saw it, I had two choices: walk away and never look back or fight for the person loved, the only person that gave me a reason to live to be a better person. It took me about a half a second to decide on option two. I wanted to just walk up to the fucker and punch him in his pretty boy face, but I knew that wouldn’t help my chances any, not to mention I didn’t want to cause any more problems with the wedding. It should have been me up there singing with her anyways.

After everyone clapped for them and all that bull shit, they got off the stage and I took advantage of the lull. I jumped up on the stage and grabbed the mic, hoping it was still live. I tapped it once, heard the feedback, and pulled it close to my mouth.

“Good evening everyone. I know y’all are about to call it a night, but I was hoping that I could sing one song to the newly married couple.” Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards me. “I was supposed to perform at the wedding here tonight, but I let someone else tell me that I shouldn’t. So once I realized what I needed to do, I got here as quickly as I could.” I searched the room for Noah and Mina, and once I found them I waited for them to give me some kind approval. Noah nodded at me and I grabbed Ash’s guitar leaning up against the amp. I fucking dared him to come try to take it from me.

I could sing the song I really wanted to sing to Scarlett, not that it was bad or anything, but I was supposed to be singing to the married couple, so a song about never being the same after having my heart ripped from my chest probably wasn’t appropriate. I hadn’t really thought much about what I was gonna do before I got up there, but as my eyes roamed the faces in the crowd it locked on hers and I knew immediately what I would do.

One of the things I loved about Scarlett was the way she was always singing and dancing around the apartment, no matter if she was cooking or doing laundry or getting dressed. One of her favorite songs to sing was this I Love You song. She would bounce around the place like a little ray of sunshine singing “La la la la la la… La la la la la…” Even though the song was actually about a couple that didn’t make it, I doubted most people would pick up on that, but I knew Angel would understand exactly what I was trying to say.

I stared directly at her throughout the entire song; it was so different from I was used to singing, but I was desperate to touch her somehow, someway… to make her remember what it was like, just the two of us, how good we were together, how much I loved her. When I finished I set the guitar down and walked off the stage, directly out of the tent, into the fresh night’s air. I stood there looking up into the starless sky, wondering what had happened, clueless on how we had made such a disaster of things in such a short amount of time. I heard the footsteps approaching behind me and prayed that it was her.

“Mase, we need to talk.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

LIES & TRUTH

Take a Bow ~ Rihanna

Sad Beautiful Tragic ~ Taylor Swift

Falling Down ~ Rev Theory

SCARLETT

Watching Mason sit on that stage and sing I Love You to me, was one of the most painful things I had ever experienced. He looked terrible. I wasn’t sure he had showered in days, and he definitely hadn’t bothered shaving. His eyes were dull and lifeless, and his voice was so scratchy, he was nearly hoarse. But there he was, having come all the way from Austin, to sing one song… to me.

Ash stood on one side of me and Max on the other, but he continued, unfazed by their existence, and reminded me of our times together and why I had fallen in love with him to begin with. He had been assertive and outspoken from day one about wanting me for me, and had never shied away from expressing his love for me. He always knew how to make me feel cherished and appreciated.

When he finished the song, he thanked the audience, congratulated the happy couple, and set the guitar down as he walked off the stage and straight outside.

“Let him go,” Ash said at the same time that Max said, “Go talk to him.”

I looked back and forth between them, feeling my chest tighten with dread. I knew what I had to do. Looking up into Ash’s eyes, I hated that I had to deal with this so soon after the moment we had just shared, but I couldn’t run away from this situation. I had done way too much running.

“Please understand,” I pleaded. “I have to address this here and now. I’m not sure if or when I’ll see him again, and we have a lot of things that need to be said.”

His eyes begged me not to go, but he said, “Be strong, Butterfly,” and he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine.

I turned to look at Max and he gave me a half-hearted smile. “I’m gonna tell him. You know it changes everything, right?”

He nodded and hugged me, “We’re right here if you need us.”

I walked outside after Mason, telling myself to put one foot in front of the other to keep myself from turning back. He finally stopped and stareed up at the sky, as if he was looking for an answer.

“Mase we need to talk,” I said as I approached him.

He turned around quickly and a huge smile was plastered on his face. “I knew you’d come Angel.”

He began to close the gap between us, reaching out towards me, but I put my hand up to stop him. “Don’t. Please don’t.” He looked at me confused.

“We have a lot to talk about, Mason.”

He hung his head and his shoulders slumped. “I know we do.”

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for days, but your phone has been turned off and your message box is full. I’ve been worried sick, and from the looks of you, justifiably so.”

He looked up at me with his overcast eyes. “I’ve had a rough week. How did you think I’d react to hearing you ran off with him? I haven’t exactly been in the best place mentally or emotionally.”

“Or physically,” I chimed in. “Look at you Mase. You look like shit.”

“Well I feel like shit, Scarlett! I’m a fucking mess! The person I love most in this world, the person I live for, just up and fucking left me for the asshole that I always said she would. Am I supposed to be happy?”

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