She keeps her eyes on Jase, and when he gives her a nod and says, “Come on. One night,” she gives in to him.
“Okay. Fine,” she sighs, and I watch as Jase gets an almost victorious smile on his face, not understanding why it’s such a big deal for her to go out.
“Wipe that smile off your face, Jase,” she scolds with humor. “You’re embarrassing me.”
Before their banter can continue, I say, “Come on, babe. Let’s go. It’s getting late,” as I stand up and take her hand.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Jase tells her and she walks over to hug him goodbye. “I’ll call you.”
“Night, Jase,” she says.
“Bye, guys.”
We take the elevator down and she asks, “Why is Jase picking me up and not you?”
“I have to be there early to get some work done so I can take the night off and not have to worry about going in too much this next week. But I’ll be there when you and Jase get there.”
When the elevator opens, we step out to go back to my place for the night.
“Ryan, how’ve you been?” Mark says when he walks in with Chasten, the drummer of the band.
“Good, man. How was Ohio?”
“Great. We got a ton of snow, so we were stuck at the house for a couple of days, but we survived,” he chuckles.
“Survived?”
“If you knew the women in my family, you’d be scared to be cooped up with them during a snow storm. Luckily, my sisters are like a fresh new toy for Jase, so he just sits back and laughs at their shit while I try and find a way to escape it.”
“So I take it you’re glad to be back then,” I tease.
“Yeah. Oh, hey, Jase said Candace was coming up here tonight. Is that true?”
“Is there something I should know about Candace that I’m not getting?” I ask as I follow him over to the stage so he can start setting up with the guys.
“What do you mean?”
“Why don’t you tell me why you’re so surprised by the fact that she’s coming here?” I question. Maybe I shouldn’t, but curiosity gets me.
He sets his guitar down and then turns to me. “Candace likes to avoid crowded places.”
“I get that. I just can’t figure out why,” I tell him, hoping he’ll throw me a clue, but he doesn’t.
“She’s slow to open up, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that,” he says.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Just be patient with her.” He leaves it at that, and I accept the advice because that’s all I can do. I wanna get into my girl’s head and unfold everything inside. Patience isn’t my strong suit, but it’s the only hand I have to play with her.
I go upstairs to get a few files from Michael’s desk, and when I walk in, I look out his large window that overlooks the back lot and see Jase’s SUV as he turns in. I find the files I need and then watch as Candace steps out of the car. God, I’m falling for this girl. I’m wound up just thinking about getting to spend time with her tonight.
Her back is to the building, so I can’t see her face, and I wonder what she’s staring at as she stands there. Jase says something to her but she remains standing next to the dumpsters. When she finally moves, her heel catches on the pavement, and she takes a hard fall onto her bottom. As soon as she hits the ground, I watch, numb, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. She’s freaking out, frantically stumbling back on her hands. Jase rushes over and huddles down in front of her, picking her up, and I can faintly hear her screaming.
I snap out of my trance. Tossing the files, I run down the stairs and fly out the back door to see the both of them back in Jase’s car. Candace is crying and screaming, and I stand there in near shock, confused as hell by what just happened. As her eyes find mine, she throws her hands against the dash and yells at him hysterically as he peels out of the parking lot.
“Candace!” I yell after her as the car pops the curb when Jase hits the main street.
She’s gone, and I don’t have a clue what the hell is going on, but I’m freaked out at what I just saw. I don’t even think about going back in, I just take the keys that are in my pocket to go to the one place I know she’ll be.
While I drive to Jase’s apartment building, hitting every damn red light, I replay what happened and try to figure out what she saw that triggered her like that. I pull up to the building and throw my car in park when it hits me.
Holy shit.
Chills prick my arms, and I swear my gut hollows out when the memory of that night floods me.
Oh my God.
She was standing right there. She’s small. She’s timid. Scared.
No. Get your shit together. It’s not her.
My mind is racing faster than I’m able to keep up with. I feel like I’m out of my body and can’t decipher reality from my f**ked up head-trips. If Candace was her, I would know.
I would know, right?
I sit in my car as I feel my emotions swarm into a rotation of visions I wish I could just forget. All I can see is that girl. Her beaten face, her naked, bloody body.
“Fuck!” I slam my fists into the steering wheel, desperately trying to rid the memories, but they’re too vivid. I don’t even want to think about that girl being Candace. It’s too f**ked up. Pressing my palms against my forehead, I attempt to pull myself together. I know Candace is with Jase, and I just want her to be with me.