Page 33 of Further To Fall

She rubbed sleep from her eyes, and her hair stuck up all over the place. “Better.”

I slipped my phone into my pocket and my feet into my shoes. “I have to get to the gym, but Liam is going to check on you in a couple hours. He said to text him if you want him to bring you anything.”

A small frown formed on Carter’s lips. “Okay. Are you all right?”

I shuffled my feet. “Yeah, fine. Just running late.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” she said. Her head was quirked to the side in that adorable way that now only compounded my nausea.

I backed towards her bedroom door. “I’ll text you later. Get some more rest.” I hauled ass from Carter’s apartment to my car, eager to get my ass to the gym to pound the shit out of something.

16

Carter

Austin was freaking out. I could recognize the look of sheer panic in his eyes. I just wasn’t sure if the alarm spelled good or bad things for the future of my heart. I was hoping against hope that he was flipping out about the possible change in our circumstances and not freaking out about how he was going to tell me that kissing me felt like kissing a sister.

I tried a shower to clear my head, but it was no help. Cautiously, I slipped on my most comfortable sweats, taking care to not bump my neck or move too quickly. Heading out to the living room, I found Lexi sitting at the bar drinking her coffee. “Oh my God, you look awful!”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Taylor left me a message yesterday and told me what happened. Are you okay?”

I continued into the kitchen, filling the kettle with water to make myself some tea to soothe my throat. “I’ll be fine.”

“Was that Austin I saw making a mad dash from your bedroom?”

I fought a cringe at the thought of Austin trying to get away from me. “He spent the night to make sure I was okay.”

Lexi placed her coffee cup down on the counter. “Honey, are you sure that’s a good idea? I know you have feelings for him.” I pulled a mug down from the cabinet and found a lone box of tea amongst all our coffee paraphernalia, trying to ignore Lexi’s words.

I made a noncommittal humming sound in the back of my throat. What I wanted to say was, “Yes, all right? I’m head over heels in love with him, and I have no idea if he feels the same. Sometimes, I think he might; and other times, I think he sees me as his sister.” But I didn’t say that. I wanted to keep that admission to myself for just a while longer. As soon as I spoke those words out loud, there would be no taking them back.

Lexi ran a perfectly manicured finger around the edge of her cup. “I think if a guy wants you, he’s going to make the first move. Especially a guy like Austin. And I don’t say that to hurt your feelings. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and get more hurt down the line.”

I gripped the edge of the cool granite counter top to the point of pain, using the feeling to ground me. “Mm-hmm,” I answered, biting the inside of my cheek. I knew there was a possibility she was right, but I also knew that she didn’t know Austin as well as she seemed to think she did.

I needed to call up my courage and talk to him, be honest about my feelings. At least then, I would know. Then, I could either jump him or try to move on, but I knew I couldn’t stay in this place of limbo any longer. Especially when lip touches that seared my soul were being introduced into the status quo.

Lexi rose from her stool, leaving her coffee cup for me to clean up. “I’ve got to get to work.”

“Okay.” I washed her cup while I waited for my tea to steep, the whole time thinking about how I could explain to Austin that I had fallen in love with him.

I fellinto step next to Taylor as we headed towards Ford’s bar. It was Liam’s birthday, and I had taken extra care in my preparations for the evening. My strawberry-blonde hair hung in soft, beachy waves down my back. I had lined my eyes in a shade of coal that made the green in them pop, and I was wearing a little black dress that made it look like my legs went on forever.

I had given it my all to make sure I felt my best because the last two weeks had sucked big time. Being forced to take a week off work to recover meant that I was super behind on everything now. Michael knew what his father had done and felt horribly guilty, no matter what I did to assure him that it wasn’t his fault. And Austin was officially avoiding me. I had only seen him once in the past two weeks, and it was for about ten minutes when he and Liam dropped off dinner for me. We had traded a few texts, but he always had excuses for why he couldn’t hang out. Tonight, I was getting answers. My phone buzzed in my clutch, and I pulled it out.

Lexi:You almost here?

Lexi had finagled herself an invite to Liam’s birthday party when he had come over to hang out with me while I recovered. She wasn’t exactly the person I was most excited to hang out with, but I didn’t blame her for wanting to go to a rock star’s birthday.

Me:Walking up now.

Lexi:Great! We’re in the back.

Taylor and I made our way past the line of people to the front door where the doorman checked us off a list and let us through the velvet rope. I grasped Taylor’s hand as I cut a path through the crowd towards the seating at the back of the bar. I found Liam surrounded by gorgeous women, Ford, and a few more guy friends. I leaned over the table and grasped his face, planting a smacking kiss on his cheek. “Happy Birthday, Liam.”

He smiled a smile that told me he’d already had a few. “Thank you.”

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