Ross 03 Leave Me Breathless (36 page)

“I’m sure he didn’t check with Ghost about that.”

“All the same, she’s here. And in there. With him.”

Macy’s entire universe had focused on that door. The two guys went on talking, but she wasn’t aware of anything but
that freaking door
. And what might be going on behind it. Her head rushed with blood; she trembled all over.

“…the fuck did you give him, Gus? Are you out of your mind?”

“Hey, he
asked
me— Dude, I’d grab her if I were you!”

The last was said as her mind finally snapped and she stalked toward that door, every step seeming to make it farther away rather than closer. She hoped she never reached it, even as she knew she had to.

“Macy, wait!” Brian caught her arm, and she yanked it from his grasp, the tears already building.

“
Stop
it.”

She reached for the knob; he grabbed her again and planted her back to the wall, inches away from her intended destination. “No, babe, I’m not going through this shit. I’m getting you outta here.”

“He wouldn’t…
be
with her, would he?” How humiliating, how
fucking
mortifying, that Brian, that
anyone
would see her like this. For that, she hated Seth Warren right then. Hated him and hoped she never saw him again—except to open that door and scream at him what an idiot he was for getting back with that…that…whatever she was.

She’s someone who knows him better than you, looks like he wants, acts like he wants, almost had his child, for God’s sake. And what are you? Someone he thinks will break his heart someday. While she might be off her damn rocker, she’s someone who would
never
do that. And he knows it.

“Macy, he’s drunk. And possibly on something else, according to Gus. Even if he is with her…he’s not in his right mind.”

“I can’t know this and not confront him.”

“
I
can’t be a part of it. The guy just lost his grandmother. He just lost
you
. For weeks now, he’s had to deal with Brooke and his fucking brother. My advice, Macy, is to go back home and hash it all out once he’s back and coherent. This isn’t the way.”

The tears spilled, and all of her hatred wasn’t reserved for Seth right then; a little of it was for herself, for letting herself be so upset. For letting herself be affected. Brian, tight-jawed and angry, didn’t let his burning blue gaze leave hers for a moment. Probably trying to reassure himself she wasn’t going to snap and start screaming. “All right?” he finally said. “I’ll take you to get a hotel room. Then I’ll come back and take care of him, whoop his ass, whatever you need me to do. But I need to make sure he sobers up.”

“He makes a habit of this, does he?” she said bitterly.

His eyes narrowed, and she knew all of his anger wasn’t at Seth, either. “No. Not really. But I can distinctly recall one other time.”

“Are you trying to put the blame for this on me? Because that’s bullshit, Brian. I know that’s your ‘boy’ and all, but if he’s in there screwing her, it’s because either he wants to be, or he was stupid enough to get hammered with an unstable ex floating around. Grief is no excuse. He shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“I know it’s his fault, all right? But I’m not letting you go in there all the same.”

The hell you aren’t
. “Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms and staring at some blurred fixed point to the right of Brian’s head. Hesitantly, he let her go, first one hand and then the other falling away. She did her best to look whipped and miserable—hell, that wasn’t a stretch.

“Look, I’m sorry.” He gave her a gentle nudge toward the direction they’d come from. Mohawk and the object of his affections had moved on to a more private locale, at least. She let herself be led away. “We’ll get you settled, and then you can call Candace, and you girls can rage all night about what slimy pigs we are.”

“Sounds good,” she said, giving a sad little chuckle. “You’re not a slimy pig, though, Brian.”

“I had my moments before Candace came along. Don’t write him off yet, Mace. Give him a chance to explain.”

“I intend to.” She cast a sideways glance at Brian. He’d gone off alert.

I intend to…right fucking now.

Whirling, she sprinted back toward the door, reaching it and flinging it open almost before she even registered Brian’s exasperated, “Aw,
damn
.”

A swath of light cut through the otherwise dark room and lit up everything she never wanted to see: Seth fastening his jeans, Raina on her knees in front of him. Both of them winced from the sudden illumination, Seth cursing as Raina leaped to her feet. He looked ready to fall off his.

“What the hell is going…?” His voice drowned away as recognition filtered through his eyes. “Macy? Oh, fuck—
Macy!
”

That expression, that dawning devastation on his face, was damn sure not what she’d hoped to see as she and Brian made the drive over. She turned and darted away. Brian was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed, head lowered. He looked up and only watched her race past. But she heard him intercept his friend.

“Leave it alone, man.”

“Get the fuck off me. Macy!”

“Goddammit, you’re not gonna get shit accomplished right now. Don’t make me slam you.”

She didn’t know where she was going. Where could she go? She was here with Brian—which had been Huge Colossal Mistake #1. He was her only way home, and now he had his hands full. A sob escaped her, and she rubbed hard at her face, rapid steps grinding to a halt. She’d opened that door because she wanted to confront him, and here she was, running away in typical Macy fashion.

“Macy,
please
.”

A glance back showed Brian to be doing an effective job holding Seth at bay…hell, with his bloodshot eyes and slurred voice, it was a wonder he’d even got it up for that bitch. The bitch who took that particular moment to saunter out of the room and directly toward Macy. She nearly jumped back. Raina wore white-out contacts and her eyes were liberally smeared with black, and she looked like something out of Macy’s worst nightmare. But the worst thing, the thing she’d see in her head from now on, actually wasn’t the makeup, the clothes, or the dead eyes. The worst thing was the tiny, smug grin of triumph curving her black-lined lips. The worst thing was the little exaggerated show she made of wiping the side of her mouth with one tattered black sleeve as she swayed past.

This
was what he wanted.

This was what he could damn well have.

Her heart raced like a fleeing rabbit. Seth had managed to wrench himself from Brian’s grasp and stalked toward her.

“I’m sick of trying to talk sense into you fuckers!” Brian threw his hands up. “Be dumbasses, then. I don’t care.”

“
Macy
.”

She fell back a step as he advanced, and then another. He looked as terrible as Raina, except the black under his eyes wasn’t synthetic. A fresh well of tears pooled in her eyes.

“Please, baby, that wasn’t what it looked like.”

A laugh burst from her, loud and horrible. “I’d hoped for something a little more original from you. Maybe then I might actually believe you at least
give a shit
.”

“She came on to
me
, all right? I didn’t fucking
do
anything. I thought about it, I’ll admit that, but it didn’t happen. Nothing happened!”

“So I’m supposed to believe she was down on her knees…doing what, Seth? What could you even possibly supply right there? That she was looking for a lost contact? She had both of those freaking things in, so no go. I’d have to be the biggest moron on the face of the earth to believe any spin you try to put on that scenario. If the next words out of your mouth are anything
other
than ‘I let her suck my dick,’ then I’ll know what you think of my intelligence.”

He shook his head. “That’s not how it was. I was half passed out. She opened my pants before I managed to push her off, and she landed on the floor. Then I got up, and you came in, and I
swear to Christ
, baby, that’s all that happened.”

It wasn’t the most implausible thing she’d ever heard, and she could believe it of Raina, but…oh, God. She dropped her head in her hands, then shoved her hair back, blinking tears away as she stared up into the harsh overhead lighting. She found it increasingly harder to look him in the eye the longer they stood here. “I just…I have to get out of here.”

Brian ambled up behind Seth. “Finally, someone speaks sense. You should have decided that about five minutes ago.”

Seth ignored him. “Let me take you somewhere and we can talk—”

“
No
. You’re drunk. Or high, or whatever the hell. I’m not going anywhere with you.” It was then, as he tried to reach for her and she stepped back, that she noticed the reddish-purple patch of skin on his neck just at the edge of his collar. “Oh, God, Seth. Apparently you lay there and liked it long enough for her to give you
that
.” She shoved him hard in the area with one finger.

“Dude has lost his fucking mind,” Brian muttered, rubbing a hand back and forth across his brow.

“Shut up, man. Macy…you just have to believe me.”

“Oh, I
have
to? Why? You didn’t believe me.”

“Or don’t believe me. What-the-fuck-ever.”

“Excuse me,” Brian cut in, “but I liked her idea. Let’s get out of here before this turns wicked.”

Before it turned wicked? Was it not already? “Yes, please,” she told Brian, hating how small she sounded. “Get me out of here.”

Seth stared at her for one seemingly endless moment, nostrils flaring, and, given the visible tension racking him, she had the terrible thought he might hit something. His only options were Brian, the wall, or her.

Brian noticed. “Hey,” he said, taking his arm. “Take it down a notch, bro.”

Seth only yanked himself out of Brian’s grasp and then shoved past him, muttering curses until he turned the hallway up ahead.

Macy kept her hotel room pitch-dark so she wouldn’t have to watch the incessant blurring of the ceiling through her tears, which wouldn’t stop.

Why hadn’t she calmed down and listened to Brian? That hadn’t been the time to cause drama, no matter what had been going on in that room. Seth wasn’t even hers; she had no right to mark him as her exclusive territory. To make a scene like that in front of his friends when he was already hurting? If she hadn’t been so blinded, so out of her head with jealousy, she would’ve seen it.

Stupid, stupid. Thinking about what might have happened in that dark room was futile. Only two people knew, and both had good reason to lie about it. Mulling it over, she realized she could believe both sides equally. The only solution was to get one of them to fess up.

Why did she care? The whole ugly scene played out again against the back of her closed eyelids. His face when he’d recognized her. The wreckage there. Tears pooled again and squeezed out and spilled over each side of her face. She didn’t try to stop them anymore, but flopped over on one side and sobbed into her pillow. There wouldn’t be any sleep tonight. Her heart lay in bloody pieces.

Her cell phone chimed and she almost didn’t bother to reach for it. Despite Brian’s suggestion that she call Candace and vent, she hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone. Brian had dropped her off and she’d hardly even flipped on a light before slipping out of her clothes and under the sheets, letting the hum of the air conditioner lull her.

Nevertheless, she reached for it and sat up straight when she saw Seth’s name.
Im at ur hotel. Plz talk 2 me.

God, she couldn’t. Could she? She was weak right now, so weak and desperate to believe him that she might fall for something stupid.

But her need to see him apparently made her stupider. She texted him her room number, then collapsed back and cursed herself, rubbing her still-pounding forehead hard with the heels of both hands.

By the time he knocked, she’d gotten up and slipped into a T-shirt and boxers. The sound, though expected, sent her heart slamming in her chest. She let him in without looking at him, knowing if she did, she might be well and truly screwed. In more ways than one.

“Are you okay?” he asked, shutting the door as she sat on the bed and glanced at the clock. It was almost two. She wondered if he’d had a chance to sober up much yet; somehow, it seemed like it.

“I’m fine.”

“You’ve been crying.”

“So I have.”

He cursed under his breath, rubbing a hand over his head. “Baby, I know what you said is true. Nothing I can say will make what you saw look any better.” He took a seat at the little desk along the wall opposite her, straddling the chair backward, putting himself in her line of sight. Close enough to touch, but he didn’t, and she appreciated that. “Really, you don’t have any reason to believe me. But you don’t have any reason to believe her, either. She’s the one who put her own spin on that scenario. Not me.”

“I was just lying here thinking about that,” she said. “How either one of you has as much reason to lie as the other.”

“I have more to lose,” he said softly. “I admit that. I have
way
more to lose.”

“That doesn’t really speak in your favor.”

“I know. But it’s the truth.”