Just One Week (Just One Song) (19 page)

“Go inside. We need to get going.” She takes a deep breath, which only makes her breasts stick out further. She’s taunting me; the tease. I can see her smirk and the gleam in her eyes.

Finally, right as I’m about to say fuck it and screw my plans for the day, she turns and walks inside.

“I’ll be ready in twenty,” she says. I stand in the doorway, watching her walk through Zack’s house with her open robe blowing out to the sides behind her. Right as she gets to the corner of the hallway, she looks back over her shoulder and smiles.

I think she’s going to say something, but she doesn’t.

Instead, her robe falls to the floor and without missing a step she calls out, “I’m just going to hop in the shower.”

My head hits the doorframe as I watch her perfect, tight ass round the corner.

Tease.

God I love her. No other woman has ever made me feel the way Mia does. She makes me feel like I can conquer the world when she smiles at me like this, and I want to make her smile every day for the rest of her life.

But there’s no way in hell I’m telling her that. Yet.

By the time Mia’s done with her shower, I’m standing in the kitchen, keys in hand.

“Ready!” She calls out as she enters the living room and I practically hear her skip into the kitchen, her flip-flops slapping on the tile floor.

Less than twenty minutes later, I turn to Mia, watching her eyebrows pull in and her face contort into a look of confusion. We just entered a neighborhood with a locked gate, and I can tell she wants to ask what we’re doing here – who we’re seeing – but she doesn’t.

I pull my black Dodge Ram pick-up into my new driveway and with another look from Mia, I nod toward the front door.

“Wanna go in with me?”

She looks at the front door and then back to me. “Are we seeing someone?”

“Nope. Come on. I want you to see this.”

Without another word, I climb out of my truck and get to Mia’s door right as she opens it. Her ass is almost at my eye level when she looks down at the running boards. She practically had to climb up on her hands in knees to get into my truck that I added extra height to.

“Remind me never to wear a dress again in this truck.”

All I hear is that she plans on being in my truck again. Hell yes.

I smirk and grab her waist, lifting her out of the truck and setting her on her feet before she can make a move to climb out. Without looking at her, I grab her hand and pull her with me.

“Or I could just do that.”

She’s tapping her feet when we hit the front door and I put the key on the lock. As soon as we enter I wave her on inside and then enter the password for the security system. No sense in pissing off my neighbors before I officially move in.

Her mouth drops open and her eyes get larger than I’ve ever seen them.

“Where are we?” she asks and slowly turns to me.

“My house. C’mon,” I start and grab her hand again right when she glances back at the front door. “Let me show it to you.”

“This is yours?” she asks as we hit my living room. The wood floor is dark and the walls are completely bare. The entire duplex is painted in a light brown, or taupe, according to my realtor. I could care less about the color of the floor or the walls. The kitchen is off to the right and is bright white with a stainless steel counter top stove. It also has an indoor grill. That’s the only thing I care about in the whole place. It’s nice out all year long to grill out in Malibu, but to be able to do it in your kitchen? I stopped listening to the interior designer I hired to design the place after she told me that. I could give a shit if the walls were pink. Give me a grill and I’m a happy man.

“Oh my hell,” Mia says it quietly in awe, and I know she’s hit the dining room that leads out to the beach. “It’s right there.”

She doesn’t turn to me when I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. “Pretty cool, yeah?”

“I thought Zack’s house was amazing, being so close to beach, but this is … damn. You’re like feet away from it.”

“Twenty.” Twenty fucking feet away from the ocean. It’s insane. There’s a small deck off my dining area, three stairs, and then the sand is right there.

We’re silent for a few minutes while we watch the waves roll in and hit the shore. I can hear that sound all day and all night long.

“Wanna see the rest?” I don’t give her a chance to answer as I take one of her hands and start pulling her through the rest of the house. My place isn’t nearly as big as Zack’s mansion. But he got that when we were all single guys and could hang out in a massive bachelor pad. I don’t need something that big. This house only has three bedrooms, a sound proof room I had installed so I can bang on my drum kit without pissing the neighbors off, and the best feature of all – the beach.

“When did you buy this, Chase?”

“About six months ago. I had it gutted and then redesigned. It was a crap hole when I bought it, but my designer has done a good job of fixing it up.”

“I’ll say.” She has a slight smile on her lips now and I want to kiss her. “Why’d you get it?”

“I’m tired of all the travelling back and forth to New York. And it’s not like we can crash at Zack and Nic’s place anymore.” I shrug, trying to be nonchalant because I really don’t want her to start freaking out. I didn’t tell her that I’m moving to California yet because I wanted to see if she was really happy in New York. I never would have brought it up if she wouldn’t have lost her job, but she did. And she’s interested in the job Natasha has opening. To me, it’s fate.

To Mia … who the hell knows what she could be thinking.

“You’re leaving New York?” Her eyes get wide again and she takes in a slow breath. I can feel her pulse on her wrist pumping a little bit faster. Shit. She is going to freak out about this.

“I am.”

She swallows slowly, almost like she’s about ready to choke on something. When she speaks, she almost sounds like she’s talking over a rock in her throat. “Is that why …” she stops and clears her throat, glancing out at the windows in the master bedroom where we’ve ended up, and then back to me. “Is that why you wanted me to work for Natasha?”

“Is it so bad if I want you near me?”

Before she can answer, her cell phone goes off. I want to tell her not to answer it. To talk to me and tell me what’s going on, but she wrenches her hand out of mine so quickly I know I can’t.

“Sorry,” she says, concern appearing all over her face when she grabs the phone and sees the caller ID. “I’ve gotta take this.”

I nod my acceptance even though what I want to do is throw the phone into the ocean so I can finish talking to her. Tell her I want her here. In my house. With me.

I don’t hear her say hello, but I know as soon as the voice starts talking on the end of her phone that whoever is calling isn’t giving her good news.

Immediately, Mia’s face goes ashen white. And before I can ask her what’s going on, tears fill her eyes and she drops to her knees.

“Okay,” she chokes out. Tears start falling down her cheeks. Without thinking, I will my feet to move and scoop her up into my arms and sit us against the wall. She’s cradled in my arms, but I don’t think she knows that I’m holding her.

Mia’s eyes have gone completely blank. She’s staring out the windows as I hold her, wipe away a few errant tears, and curse to myself because I can’t hear a damn thing the caller is saying.

“I can’t,” she finally says. Her voice sounds robotic, like she’s operating on autopilot. As if she just realized I’m holding her, her eyes move to me and then her mouth drops open. I go to squeeze her harder, wanting her next to me so I can comfort her as soon as she’s off the phone, but she doesn’t give me a choice.

She jumps out of my arms and walks across the room. I pull my knees up and rest my elbows on them, not taking my eyes off her for a second. But the look on her face and her quick escape from me is clear: Get away from me.

She’s staring at a blank wall, her back to me, when she speaks again. “Send all the records to Dr. Gilbrath.”

What the fuck?

“I understand,” she continues, “but I can’t go back there. Dr. Gilbrath will understand. She’ll take the case, I’m sure of it.”

My head is spinning. What case? What doctor? Go back where?

“Thank you for your call.” She chokes the words out just as she sinks to her knees again, her cell phone falling to the floor.

I don’t waste a second rushing over to her. “Mia?” I ask, wrapping her up in my arms but she doesn’t say a word. Her head is buried in her hands, her long blonde hair completely concealing her. “Babe?” I ask again.

And again, she says nothing.

Shit.

I pick her up and carry her out to my truck. She doesn’t say a single word the entire time I have her in my arms. I don’t even know if she knows she’s
in
my arms. Her shoulders are shaking like she’s crying, but there’s not a single fucking sound coming out of her mouth as we walk down the stairs and outside.

Whatever is happening is breaking Mia and causing a foreign sharp shooting pain directly into my chest.

My hand rests on her thigh the entire ride back to Zack’s house, but she doesn’t move an inch or make a sound. I’m not even sure she realizes we’re in a truck, rushing down Highway 1. Her eyes have been planted on the window in front of her, staring off into space.

She apparently realizes when we’ve stopped though because she jumps out of the truck as soon as I put it in park when we pull back into Zack’s garage.

She’s off and running into the house before I even get the keys removed from the ignition.

“Mia!” I call out, slamming my door and running after her.

“We’re concerned based on the changes in size from your scans six months ago that this may not be the benign growth we were hoping for. Given your family history, we want you to come in for a biopsy as soon as possible.”

I think my heart may have stopped beating. It had to have because I certainly know all the blood rushed from my brain.

I feel nothing.

I knew this was going to happen. I knew I would not be the first woman in my family to escape breast cancer. I just never thought it would happen before I turned thirty.

My mind is racing, replaying the phone conversation with my doctor in New York. It’s on repeat and the only thing I’ve heard in the last hour. I have a vague recollection of the pain I saw in Chase’s twisted expression when he carried me to the truck. But that’s all I see – the pain I’m bringing him.

And it will only get worse. I have to get out of here and back home.

Dr. Gilbrath was my doctor for years before I moved to New York. She is also the doctor who treated my mom fifteen years ago when she got cancer and almost died. Miraculously, she recovered. I doubt my family will experience more than one of those in my lifetime.

“If it’s not benign, we’ve caught it early. You’ll have options, and time to decide a course of action. This is just a step … it’s not the end.”

Only it will be. I already know my options and either way the outcome will mean loss. And pain.

“MIA!”

I jump at Chase’s shouting and turn to him.

“What?”

“I’ve been screaming your name for the last five minutes. What in the hell happened?”

I’m going to die.

I can’t choke the words out. I just know I can no longer have him. Ignoring him, I pull out my suitcase from his closet and start packing my clothes.

He stops me, throwing my clothes back onto his bed.

“What in the fuck is going on?” he asks as he slams the lid shut on my suitcase.

“I have to go home.” The words sound emotionless. I feel absolutely nothing as I stare at the suitcase he just closed.

I can’t even look at him. I can’t bring my eyes to his because I know it will hurt too much. I knew. I knew this was going to happen. I never should have gone along with his idea for one stupid week.

I can feel the pain and confusion he’s feeling. It’s choking me.

“To New York?” He’s breathing so hard he sounds like he’s just been for a run on the beach.

“Home,” I repeat.

He practically hurdles his bed and grabs onto my arms. My head snaps to his, but I focus my eyes on the stress line on his forehead in between his eyes instead of looking at him directly.