Page 36 of Tangled Up In You

They were laughing and Gavin was just standing there, letting them. He, of all people, should know how sensitive she was to this kind of bullying behavior.

She wanted to understand why he was acting like this. Why he was basically dismissing her. But she could see that he wasn’t going to relent and become the boy she’d once known. He was someone else now. Someone who didn’t have any interest in revisiting the past.

Still, she wanted to try one more time to get through to him, asking, “Do you even understand what you’re doing?”

When he simply shook his head with a blank expression, anger and hurt rose up in her chest.

“You’ve,” she started, ready to tell him off. Ready to tell him that he just single-handedly ruined what they once had, tarnishing the memories of their time together that she had cherished. But then tears clouded her vision and strangled her throat and she looked down, struggling to regain her composure.

This finally got a genuine reaction out of him, as he pulled away from the blonde and moved closer to her.

“What have I done, Sophie?” he asked softly, tilting his head in an effort to meet her eyes.

But she lost her nerve, suddenly feeling foolish for imposing on an old high school boyfriend who had obviously moved on. Her friend Felicity had understood what rock star ambitions meant all too well. She should have listened.

“Forget it. Never mind. This,” she said and gestured first to herself and then to him, “wasmymistake. But at least now I know the truth about us.” She turned away before he could see the tears fall from her eyes.

“What a jerk,” Gracelyn said.

She must have been close enough to hear everything and while Sophie appreciated the support, she just wanted to get out of there. She glanced around and through unfocused eyes saw that Shay was watching her from one corner of the room, a sympathetic look on his face. Martin wasn’t far either and was also watching her. It seemed her interaction with Gavin had garnered everyone’s attention. At least that hadn’t changed, she thought and laughed bitterly.

She and Gracelyn were halfway down the long hallway in the backstage maze of the venue when someone called her name. For the briefest second, she imagined it to be Gavin running after her with apologies.

Instead, it was Conor who was by her side in a moment, offering her a cloth bandana for the tears welling in her eyes. In addition to donning a long-sleeve T-shirt, he had also obviously witnessed her disastrous encounter with Gavin.

“What was that about? Why did he act like we never meant anything?” she asked as she took the cloth and dabbed at her eyes.

“Soph, I tried to warn you,” he said gently.

“It was such a mistake to come here.” She blinked back more tears. “I have to go.”

“Don’t leave like this. Hang out with me. I’d love to catch up with you.”

“I, uh, I can’t stay here.”

“Then take me out of here. Show me Los Angeles.”

“That could be fun,” Gracelyn suggested hopefully.

It could, Sophie knew. If her heart wasn’t in agony.

“Sorry, I just can’t. Thanks for checking on me.” She kissed him on the cheek before turning away.

“Sure,” he replied with a sigh as she and Gracelyn moved away.

Sophie sensed both Conor and Gracelyn’s disappointment but she really couldn’t stay. She needed the space to try to process the confusion and heartbreak of her encounter with Gavin.

The fact of the matter was that they hadn’t seen each other in two years and his first instinct had been to deliberately hurt her.

She had no idea why.

Maybe it was just bad timing with catching him all hyped up after a show like Conor said. But that blasé rock star persona wasn’t like him. It couldn’t have been the real him.

Still, there was no excusing how he’d treated her. And she would have to accept that she’d never know why he’d acted that way. Because she was done chasing Gavin McManus.

17

GAVIN

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