Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,89
Trey and his girlfriend to a rematch!”
“I’m not really feeling it right now, Mason. But I’m sure Chase would love to take my spot.”
I need to know where Aiden went. It’s killing me to not know how he’s doing. I know I have no right and I should probably leave it before I make things worse, but feelings don’t just go away because your brain tells them to.
I try to step around Mason but he takes a step to block my path. “You’re not still thinkin’ ’bout Aiden, are you?” he asks with a frown. “’Cause he’s not thinkin’ about you.”
I blink at him, taken off guard. “What?”
“Listen, k-bear. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but you know Aiden. Once he’s done with a girl, he’s done. Remember Kaitlyn?”
Mason is standing there completely harmless, but he might as well have just stabbed me in the chest, twisted the knife, pulled it out, and then stabbed me again.
“What Aiden and I have is different than anything he might’ve had with Kaitlyn,” I say, knowing in my heart that it’s true, even if Mason’s words planted a tiny seed of doubt in my mind.
“Maybe,” he says, “but I’m pretty sure he was flirting with a bunch of girls earlier, and if not tonight, then it’s only a matter of time till he does.”
That’s good. He’s moving on. Once I leave it’ll be like I was never here. That’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. Maybe if I keep saying it over and over I’ll actually start believing it instead of feeling like turning into a sobbing mess.
Even drunk, Mason notices my I’m trying really hard not to cry right now face, because he says, “Oh, but don’t worry, k-bear. You’ll always be my number one.”
“That’s very reassuring, Mason. Thank you,” I say just to be polite, but it comes out flat and deflated.
Mason is either too drunk to notice or doesn’t care, because he beams his perfectly straight, white teeth at me. “Anytime! Now how ’bout that beer pong rematch?”
I manage to slip out of playing beer pong by switching out with some random girl, and go sit out on the beach to watch the calming waves. A body sits down next to me, but I instinctively know it’s not Aiden, even though I wish it was.
“This party would’ve been a lot more fun if we all weren’t bummed out,” Annalisa says, resting her palms on the sand behind her and leaning back.
I laugh humorlessly. “I guess this whole thing was a dumb idea, huh? All coming here accomplished was starting fights and causing tension between people who were the best of friends.”
“It’s not your fault. Clearly we just can’t handle being together for long stretches of time without drama finding us,” Annalisa says matter-of-factly. “Honestly, all of this would’ve happened whether or not we were together anyway. It was only a matter of time.”
“I guess,” I sigh. “Maybe not the drama and threats from Aiden’s dad, but I guess everything else.”
“I know. Andrew Kessler needs to calm his balls,” Annalisa scoffs. “He called Aiden again an hour or two ago.”
I snap to attention when she says that. “What did he want?”
Annalisa sits up and rubs the sand off of her hands. “Julian told me that Andrew told Aiden he has one more chance to reconsider talking to the reporters or else he’ll have to take ‘drastic measures’ to stop him.”
My eyebrows draw together. “What does ‘drastic measures’ mean?”
Anna shrugs. “Beats me. He was already a shitty person to begin with, and no fancy suits can cover that up, so I wouldn’t underestimate him.”
“What did Aiden say?”
“He told him to go fuck himself and that his meeting with Vivienne Henfrey tomorrow night is happening whether he likes it or not,” she answers, smiling at Aiden’s confidence.
Good. I hope Aiden takes down his disgusting deadbeat dad, even if I won’t be there to help him. I’m glad he decided to do it after all, but it makes me more resolved than ever to leave.
Erin’s Pre-NYE party is apparently so big that the cops come to break it up pretty early, much to everyone’s dismay. By the time we stumble back to the beach house, it’s only one in the morning.
The babysitter tells us that the twins are upstairs sleeping before Aiden pays her and drives her home (since he didn’t have anything to drink). The rest of us (mostly the half who are happily intoxicated) decide one o’clock