Miles of Pleasure (8 page)

When they got closer, Kaylee noticed that Ryver's lipstick was smeared, and Ashton was wearing it. Her hopes had been crushed. Averting her eyes from Ashton, Kaylee pulled Ryver aside, wanting to find out what was going on, and what had happened - or hadn't happened -- with her and Jayden.

Kaylee looked at the joy written on Ryver's face, and despite her admonitions to herself earlier during the night to ignore Ashton, the thought of Ryver with him hurt her. "What happened to Jayden?"

"Oh, he's not really my type," Ryver slurred after a moment of careful thought.

"So you went for Ashton?" Kaylee asked. "What were you thinking?"

"Dude, he's hot!" Ryver giggled. She looked over at Ashton and waved, and he winked back before tossing a shot.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him!" Kaylee was getting angry, and she had an idea why. Ryver was her best friend, but at that point, she had never hated her more.

The smile left Ryver's face. "No, you never said he was off limits. You only said Noah and Brandon." Even though she was drunk, she still remembered the conversation, and she was quite proud of that fact.

"Well, I'm telling you now, he's off limits!" Kaylee yelled at her. She could feel the blood rising to her face as the anger really set in. She didn't realize how loud she had yelled, and had no idea that Ashton was close enough to hear her.

"Why is he off limits all of a sudden?" Ryver wanted to know.

Kaylee got even more flustered. "I don't know. He just is."

"Well, it's too late. I'm really into him," Ryver argued.

"Ryver, all he's going to do is fuck you and leave you."

Ryver laughed at her friend and how naive she could be. "I'm aware of that. That's why I'm hanging out with him. It's the same thing I want."

"Forget it, I'm leaving. Thanks for visiting." Kaylee was frustrated, not only with her friend, but with herself as well.

She went to get Colton, to see if he would take her back to the hotel, and when she returned, she saw Ryver and Ashton leaving the club together, hand in hand. She and Colton went to say goodbye to Noah and Jayden, then slowly walked back to the hotel. They didn't say much on the way there; Kaylee was lost in her own thoughts and Colton could tell she was upset, but he didn't know why, and he didn't want to make it worse.

Colton escorted Kaylee to her doo, and hugged her goodnight. "It was great having you back again, Beautiful."

"Thanks Colton. For everything."

"Anytime." He waited for her to get into her room, then he went to his own.

Kaylee looked around her empty hotel room. She wanted to throw something, to break something. She needed to let go of the furious anger that threatened to choke her. Ashton hooked up all the time, so why was tonight any different? If it wasn't Ryver, it would have been some other girl.

But it was Ryver! She was supposed to be her best friend. And it was Ashton! Did it really matter what he did or who he did it with? If it were another girl, would she be this pissed? Kaylee was so confused. She didn't know what was happening or where her feelings were headed.

She grabbed her pajamas and changed out of the club clothes that reeked of smoke. She washed the makeup from her face, still angry but somehow on the verge of tears. Knowing she had to have something to drown out the thoughts in her head, she grabbed her ear plugs and little mp3 player. Music in her head always kept her thoughts from going too far. Putting them in place, and shutting the world out, Kaylee crawled into her bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, the world looked a little brighter for Kaylee. She knew that she had overreacted the night before, but she still wasn't sure why. She was already showered and dressed when she heard a knock on the door between the rooms.

She opened it to find her best friend - or former best friend - Ryver, looking unkempt and ashamed. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Kaylee told her, trying to sound upbeat, but seeing Ryver come from Ashton's room brought a sharp pain to her chest.

"Do you hate me?" Ryver asked bluntly.

"No," Kaylee answered. It was true but at the same time, it wasn't. The calm that she had felt earlier was shattered by seeing her disheveled friend.

"About last night..." Ryver started.

Kaylee held her hand up. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hardly breathe. "I don't want to hear it. Please."

"But..."

"No, seriously, I don't want to hear it. Help yourself to the shower, I'm going downstairs for brunch," Kaylee said, knowing her words must have sounded harsh, but she just couldn't handle hearing about Ryver's night with Ashton.

She left before another word could be said. She went downstairs to drown her sorrow in food. Her emotions were all over the place - she was upset, but then again, she wasn't. She was accepting of the way Ashton was, but at the same time, the thought of him with Ryver made her want to cry. She was certain the last thing she wanted to do was eat, but she had to get out of there somehow, and it seemed the easiest option.

Not realizing how hungry she was, Kaylee chuckled when her stomach growled in the elevator. "So much for no appetite," she murmured.

She looked around the dining room where the brunch buffet was set up, grateful to see her brother and Colton already. She filled her plate, then zigzagged through the tables to meet up with the two familiar faces.

"Wow, have you not eaten in the past week?" Noah asked, looking at the mount of food on Kaylee's plate.

"Leave me alone," she grumbled.

"Ok, what's wrong? You only eat like that when you're upset." Her brother was concerned.

"Nothing, I'm just hungry." Kaylee plastered a fake smile on her face. She dug into her food, practically inhaling it. Before long, she was so full she could barely move, even though she still had half the food on her plate. "I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach."

"When you're ready to tell me what's wrong, let me know." Noah stood up and kissed Kaylee's head. He was such a good brother to her, she didn't know what she would have done without him.

Kaylee was just getting up from the table when she felt a hand on her back. A deep voice whispered in her ear, "Nothing happened last night."

Kaylee turned to look into Ashton's face. The relief that flooded her was extreme in its force. She immediately blinked back the tears that threatened to glaze over her eyes and reminded herself that she couldn't trust a thing he said.

"What you do is your own business," she said coldly.

"I know that," he smirked. "But I'm telling you that nothing happened. I thought you might want to know. I didn't touch her."

"Well, yay for you," she bit back. She hated that smirk. She wanted to wipe it right off his face. He was so full of himself, like she actually cared what he did the night before. She tried hard to convince herself of that, even as her heart was racing and a part of her wanted to sing with relief.

She started to walk away from the table, and nearly stumbled when she heard what he said next.

"You should be thanking me; I did it for you." He wasn't sure if she wanted her to hear that or not, but it was the truth.

"I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that," she said before stalking out of the dining room.

She felt a little more calm as she went back to her room, but wondering what Ashton had meant was nagging at her mind. He had done it for her? Done what? Turned Ryver down...for her? She didn't know if what he had said was good or not. Why did he have to be so confusing, and so damn annoying?

K
aylee got back to her room to find Ryver packing her stuff. "Hi," she said softly as she walked into the room.

"Hey," Ryver answered, a little coldly.

The sadness and fury she had felt before her breakfast rose up again. Kaylee took a deep breath to calm down.

"Listen, I'm sorry about last night. I don't really know why I got so upset with you for hanging out with Ashton." Kaylee sat at the edge of the bed. She felt bad that their friendship was going to be ruined over something like this. She knew that the visit had started out with good intentions, only to end in a bust.

"It's pretty obvious to me that you have feelings for him," Ryver said in a huff.

"Whatever, I don't have feelings for that arrogant ass!" Kaylee rolled her eyes. Ryver just shrugged as if she didn't care one way or the other.

After what Ryver had said sank in, Kaylee had a question. "Wait a minute. If you thought I had feelings for him, why did you go after him?"

Ryver sighed. "I wanted to get laid, and at the time, he seemed like a sure thing." She didn't sound as though she had a bit of remorse for what had happened. In fact, she sounded defiant, as if it were her right to get laid by whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

"Jayden was a sure thing! Colton was a sure thing! I'm sure there were tons of guys at the club who were sure things. Why did you have to go for the one person you thought I liked?"

Kaylee was pissed. She watched as Ryver said nothing, and just shook her head as she kept packing. After a long moment, Kaylee realized that she what she had to say next had been a long time in coming.

"You know, there's a time in life when you need to grow up. Something like this would have passed in college, but we aren't in college anymore. And I guess we aren't friends anymore either. A true friend would never have done that. I know it, and you know it, and we both know that your actions last night were all about you and nothing else."

Kaylee got up from the bed, and walked to the door. She put her hand on the handle, and paused before turning it. "We had some great times, and I refuse to let my memories of those times be tainted by what you pulled last night. I hope someday you grow up, but until then, I think it's best if we cut all ties. I'm sure you can see yourself out."

Ryver didn't look up the whole time that Kaylee was talking. She kept her head down, and kept packing. It wasn't until Kaylee left the room that Ryver stopped what she was doing, and looked at the door that her former best friend had just gone through. She closed her eyes, trying to get Kaylee's words out of her head. Though she knew Kaylee was right, she didn't want to think about it. It wasn't the first time she had heard someone say something like that to her, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last either.

Ryver finished packing, and left as fast as she could. If she could have erased the last few twenty-four hours, she would. The whole visit had been one giant mistake.

Kaylee sought refuge in Jayden and Colton's room, far enough away from Ryver that she wouldn't have to look at her, but close enough that she could hear her leaving. She lay on Jayden's bed with her head tipped back, looking to the table where Colton and Jayden sat. They were talking about the concert they'd be performing that night, and where their next destination was going to be.

The phone rang, startling Kaylee since it was right next to her head. Jayden dove across Colton's bed to grab the phone before Kaylee could, then shot her a sheepish look when she gave him a questioning glare.

The phone conversation was short, and Jayden barely got one word in. When he hung up, he let Kaylee and Colton in on what was said. "That was Cody. We need to meet in his room in five minutes."

Kaylee laughed, "You got summonsed to the manager's room like you'd get called to the principal's office." She rolled on the bed laughing, and Jayden got up from Colton's bed and jumped on her. He tickled her, which made her laugh so hard she had trouble catching her breath.

"Laugh all you want because you need to be there too, funny girl," he taunted.

Kaylee stopped laughing with an effort. "Is it good or bad?"

"You never know with Cody." He shrugged his shoulders. "We better go, he hates it when we're late." Jayden stood, offering his hand to Kaylee to help her up. She took it, and when she was back on her feet, the three of them headed to the floor below to meet with the band's manager.

Ashton and Noah were already waiting for them when they got to Cody's room. Everyone wore a blank face, so it was hard to gauge whether they were in trouble or not.