I’m going to be sick. I’m going to scream. I’m going to allow the ground to swallow me whole, let it fill up my eyes and mouth, covering every part of me so I can become nothing more than dirt.
Because that’s what Jamie has just made me. Nothing more than dirt under his shoes. Worse, under Savannah’s shoes.
Turning to run back through the barn, numbness rushes in and consumes me, until I can’t see, hear, or feel anything except the sound of my heart breaking.
Chapter Four
JAMIE
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Savannah?” Gripping the redhead’s wrists, I push her off to hold her at arm’s length. Turning my face as she keeps dipping closer, her lips seeking mine. Shuddering, I push myself away from her, but the wall behind me stops me from getting too far. “Are you drunk? What the hell?”
Savannah tosses her long red hair over one shoulder and gives me a smug smile that churns my stomach. She’s always been trouble, but, until tonight, it’d been directed at other people. Not me.
“Awww, J, you know I’ve always had a crush on you,” she says.
This is the first I’ve ever heard of it. I didn’t smell liquor on her breath, but she has to be messed up to try this. “Okay, whatever, but why the hell did you just try to kiss me? You know I’m with Oakley.”
“I like an audience, what can I say?” Winking, then glancing over her shoulder, Savannah laughs.
My stomach twists and sinks as I move her out of the way, already knowing what I’m going to see. “Oakley! Wait!”
Savannah grabs at my sleeve as I try to run after my girlfriend. “Let her go. I promise you’ll have a much better time here with me than that stuck-up Montgomery princess.”
Ignoring her, I pull my sleeve from her grasp and chase after Oakley. She’s almost through the barn doors, but I catch up to her in a few long strides, praying to god that I can make her see reason.
My fingertips skate along the bare skin of her shoulder as I grab for her. Oakley whirls away from my touch. Crying and shaking, she puts her hands up like she’s trying to shove me away. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
“Oakley,” I say helplessly. “Baby, please. It wasn’t what you think. She kissed me. I didn’t want her to.”
“Fuck you, Jamie Walker.”
Flinching, I take a step back from the fierce sound in her voice. I’ve never heard her talk to anyone that way, much less me. I take a deep breath and soften my voice, trying to make her listen to the truth. My head whirls with dismay, like I’m drunk, although I haven’t had a drop.
“I was waiting for you—” I begin, only to be quickly cut off.
“To do what? So I can catch you making out with that bitch?” Oakley snaps, face twisted in a sneer as hysterical laughter escapes her. The sound reminds me of bottles breaking.
“I wasn’t making out with her!” I snap. My voice raises slightly louder than I want it to be. I glance around praying that no one is listening to our conversation. Taking a step closer to her, I reach out to touch her again, but she pulls back. “Please, baby. Can’t we talk about this?”
“Oakley?” Phoebe must’ve come looking for her best friend, and now she’s stepping in between us with her hands up. “Jamie, back up. What happened?”
Listening to the muttered explanation coming out of Oakley’s lips, I realize how bad it all sounds. How terrible it must have looked. I want to explain that I’d just been minding my own business, but as I start to protest, Phoebe jabs a finger at me.
“Why don’t you just shut up, Jamie? You’re only upset because you got caught,” Phoebe accuses. Putting her arm around Oakley, who won’t even look at me. “How long have you been cheating on Oakley with Savannah?”
“I haven’t been! Tonight was the first…shit, the only! Damn it, I wasn’t making out with her! I would never cheat. Oakley, baby. You have to believe me.” Desperate to get her to look at me, I try to get past Phoebe.
It’s useless.
Oakley’s best friend is fiercer than any guard dog. The two of us have always gotten along, but her loyalty is to Oakley, not to me. She won’t move, and of course, I’m not going to shove her out of the way. Though I sure as hell want to.
My shoulders sag as I accept that this night has gone totally off the rails. There’s nothing I can do right now to get her to believe me. And of course, Savannah is watching with pure amusement as the entire scene unfolds. Her voice carries through the night air as I turn to see her talking to one of her friends about what happened. Only to give me a small wave once she sees me looking.
Fucking spiteful bitch.
When I turn back to Oakley, my heart breaks. Watching the girl I love with tears streaming down her cheeks is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to witness. Every part of me wants to pull her in, comfort her, and apologize like crazy, but it won’t help. Nothing’s going to fucking fix this shit hole of a mess I’ve fallen into.
“Do you really want everyone at the party to hear this?” I quickly ask Phoebe when I notice too many eyes turning in our direction. “At least let’s step off to the side back here. And keep your voice down.”
