MADversary (5 page)

But no, she thought.  She’d recognized Penny, Randy, and now Mike.  She was doing fine.  And maybe
not
recognizing someone would be a good conversation starter…
Your name and face are so familiar, but can you tell me something I’d remember from back then?
  No, maybe not.  That would make her sound like a selfish jerk.  She took another deep breath, knowing she should just be herself and
stop
worrying so much.  Still…she was pissed that Lisa had brought her here, only to abandon her in record time.

Mike finally wound up right in front of Megan.  “Megan Walker…how the hell
are
ya
?”  He embraced her in a tight hug and she had to hold her glass carefully so she wouldn’t spill any of her drink on his back.

“Pretty good, Mike.
  How’ve you been?”

“Couldn’t be better.”
  In just a few seconds, Megan had registered that Mike wasn’t married.  He took over talking, so she didn’t have to worry about maintaining the conversation, but it got tiresome quickly.  Mike was doing pretty well for himself.  He’d moved to Dallas, Texas, and owned a software company.  Megan almost laughed, because
what she and Lisa had been joking about had come
true.  Here was a guy who’d been a semi-outcast
and
was now probably quite rich.  She couldn’t tell if he was trying to
brag about it or just share his experiences with her.  She couldn’t get a good read on him.  But he was boring the shit out of her, so she found herself tuning out.  She’d gotten good at that over the years…too good.  She could maintain eye contact and keep the standard communication cues going without much thought—the head nod and the occasional “Oh, really?” did a good job of masking how
bored
she
was
.

Honestly, though, she was happy for Mike.  What she remembered of him was that he was a nice guy, just awkward around people.  He deserved to have good things in life. 
But as he continued his incessant chatter,
Megan found herself tuning out even more, and while she maintained steady eye contact with Mike, she also found plenty of opportunities to survey the crowd.  She did note that he kept breaking into her comfort zone, causing her to back away a little, until at last her back was pressing against the wall.  But she was still able to make slight adjustments to the side as needed.

She drained her
drink
quickly, hoping it would give her more patience to make it through an evening of Mikes. 
As her eyes continued to wander, she
even spot
ted
the cheerleading co-captains
Summer
and Monica.  And they didn’t look bad at all
, in spite of what Lisa had heard
.  There was no haggard appearance like
her friend
had described months ago.  They looked a little older, but they still looked like athletic young ladies.  Megan was glad Lisa wasn’t nearby, because she would’ve been crushed.

Mike kept talking, a
nd
as
Megan kept looking around
, she nearly dropped her empty glass.  Her eyes landed on Tyler Green.

Megan couldn’t figure out how long he’d been there, but he was
chatting
it up with a group of
former jazz band members
when she spied him.  She forced her eyes back to Mike and started thinking of a solid excuse to extricate
herself
from him.  Now that Tyler was here, all bets were off.  His absence was the only reason she’d agreed to attend this fool reunion.

Unfortunately, her plans to bail were derailed. 
There was no way she could leave now without looking like an ass, because Tyler had spotted her and was heading her way
, a huge smile on his face
.

Chapter
Six

THE YEARS HAD
hardly changed a thing.  Sure, Megan had seen plenty of pictures of him over the last several years, but none of the photos had
done Tyler Green any justice.  She couldn’t keep her eyes on Mike anymore, had instead switched her focus to the man whose presence was taking up all her
frame of
vision as he got closer.

He
was
a sight to behold.  His dark hair was short, but not too short…just rock star short.  It was longer than the standard businessman haircut, and
the
tips of his bangs touched his long eyelashes.
  As he got closer, Megan remembered one thing about Tyler that had always melted her, and that was his dark brown eyes.  The irises were so dark that they seemed to blend with his pupils
, especially
at night.  She could remember making out with him in the back of his car and the way his eyes looked.  It was one of the reasons she’d finally given in to him.  It was something she’d never regretted.

She felt a tentative smile creep
up
on her face as he closed the gap between them.  “Megan.”  Oh,
that smile
.  Teeth that were beyond white flashed at her as he turned his attention toward Mike. 
“And…
Mike Hardy,
right?”

Mike smiled and stuck his hand out. 
“Yep.
  Tyler Green.  Of course, you’d scope out the ex-girlfriend.”

They shook hands as a disconcerted look crossed Tyler’s face.
  “Actually, I consider Megan an old friend, and I’d like to reconnect.”

Well, that was a letdown.  But that was good, Megan thought.  Better to know right away that there were no other intentions.  It was a relief once she let the thought sink in.  Still…the years had been good to Tyler.  He was beefier than he had been in high school.  He was wearing a plain black t-shirt so his biceps peeked out at her.  She was impressed by the tone of his arms, but she was
more
fascinated by the ink.  She’d made a point of avoiding as many of his publicity photos as she could, but here in the flesh, it was hard to ignore.  Even though she’d bought the three CDs his band had released over the last several years and had studied the pictures inside, it was nothing like the real deal.

Shit
.  She
had
studied those goddamned pictures, hadn’t she?

As Tyler took her into his embrace, she tried to
will
her heart to slow down.  But pressed up close against him, she could smell him, and she remembered his smell…an earthy, masculine smell, but he was also wearing
a spicy
cologne.  As though they hugged in sl
ow motion, she could feel everything.  Her cheek felt the hardness of his chest, her hands,
the
taut muscles in his back.  Tyler hadn’t been this ripped in high school.

Stop it
, Megan urged herself.  They were just friends now; Tyler had said it himself.  She had to keep herself in check.  The
drink
hadn’t relaxed her enough yet, and she considered excusing herself to get another
one
.  She stopped considering, though, and decided it was a great idea.  As she removed herself from Tyler’s embrace, she said, “Great to see you both.  I need to get a refill.”
  She wiggled her empty glass at them.

Whew
.  She
slapped on
as sweet a smile as she could muster and then began walking back to the bar.  She couldn’t help but notice the confused look on Tyler’s face as she moved away.  But she couldn’t do it
, couldn’t be beside him anymore
.  Bad enough that she’d noticed all the piercings in his ears too.  Just feeling him pressed against her body had reminded her of one
of the
non-CD
photo
s
of him
she’d seen on accident.

When Tyler and his buddies had headed out to L.A., they
’d
belonged to a band they’d called
Tormentor
.  After losing touch with Tyler, though, she didn’t know what
had
happened, except that ultimately the band had gone nowhere.  Then one day she heard a band on the radio, and the voice of Tyler Green—a husky baritone with a distinctive growl—was unmistakable.  She was pissed when the DJ failed to say
who
the band
was
or the name of the song, but when she heard it a
few days
later, the DJ said the single belonged to a new band called
Madversary
.

She’d gone to Google
to look
them up, and
she found the band’s website
. 
There wasn’t much, b
ut there was a picture of the band in concert.  It
was
Tyler’s voice she
’d
heard, and a picture of him in concert with his band said it all—he looked like a metal star.  He was onstage with his shirt off, a guitar slung over his shoulders, hanging down
to
his hips,
his left hand wrapped around its neck, the other poised in front of the strings,
his face up against the mike, screaming a song.  But it was then that she’d noticed the proliferation of tattoos on his body, the piercings on his ears, and the l
ook of experience on his face.  And she’d realized then that she missed him.

She knew then that she’d buy any CD he released, but she decided she wouldn’t—
couldn’t
—follow him in the media.  Her heart couldn’t take it.  She still cared about him and hoped his career flourished.  But she couldn’t follow his career, and she didn’t want to know anything about his personal life.

Bad enough that she had scoured all the
thank
yous
inside the printed material for the CD.
  She wanted to see if Tyler thanked any woman or named anyone as a wife or love of his life.  There had never been any inkling of a woman.  Megan also knew Tyler wrote most of the lyrics for
Madversary
, and so she analyzed the words to ascertain any hidden meanings.  Was he with someone?  While she felt certain he wasn’t, she could never be one-hundred percent positive.  But she wasn’t about to go
back to their website or even to
Wikipedia
to find out.

So…as she walked back to the bar, it hit her.  She had obsessed and pined over Tyler Green
through
the
last ten
years a lot more than she’d allowed herself to acknowledge.  Even her extreme avoidance
smacked of obsession.  So it was better to walk away now.  She needed to grow up and move on.  She realized that maybe she’d never found many guys who made her happy because she was subconsciously comparing them to Tyler.  Well, that would end right here and now.  Walking away had been the smartest thing she could have done.

As she strolled to the bar, her eyes caught another person she recognized, Tamara…Dickens, had it been?  She couldn’t quite remember.  But that girl…if anyone could be called Megan’s enemy, Tamara would have been it.  Times changed, though.  Maybe Tamara had too.  So Megan kept walking.  She didn’t want to talk to the woman, and because Tamara seemed to be involved in conversation with someone else, Megan felt safe.  There were too many bad memories she didn’t want to relive, so another drink was warranted.

She waited at the bar for the bartender to notice her.  “Another Sex on the Beach?” he asked.

She nodded.  “Please.”
  She refrained from asking him to put more alcohol in it this round.

She leaned against the bar, hoping he’d be fast.  She was going to sit at the bar and finish it,
then
call for a cab.  She didn’t want to just rush out the door, because that would be too obvious, but she couldn’t stay.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Megan Walker.”

She turned her head and spied
Brad Prescott, starting quarterback
for
the Winchester Bulldogs their senior year.  He’d been a good-looking guy back in the day, although he’d been quite full of himself.  But he’d been graced with an athlete’s body and he’d taken the Bulldogs to the playoffs that year.  They hadn’t won, but they’d come close.  She knew he’d gotten a
scholarship to play football somewhere, but she couldn’t remember what school he was going to attend.  In fact, she hadn’t thought about Brad since graduation.  “Brad.  Good to see you.  How’ve you been?”

She could tell by looking that he’d been better.  His hair was starting to thin, and that was a shame.  His dirty blonde hair had always been one of his nicer features, but he was losing the battle.  Megan could tell he’d be completely bald by forty…if he was lucky to make it that far.  He also had a slight belly, but nothing too extreme.  She could tell, though, that he liked his beer.

“Not bad. 
What about you, little lady?”

Seriously?
  Megan tried not to grimace.  She could play nice for a little while longer.  She surveyed Brad a little more closely.  He had a tan going and had a wedding band.  Maybe she could get him to talk about family instead of making her feel like the “weaker” sex. 
“Fine.
  So…what have you been up to since high school?”