Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Riley's POV

"Riley, I got your call, what the fuck are you doing here?" Rain asked me.

She sounded scared and perhaps panicked. I smiled at her. There was no need for her to be scared. There was nothing wrong with me other than the fact that my head ached and I had no idea what the time was.

"Are you drunk?" She asked me.

I gave her a shrug. I did not feel drunk, I just had a massive headache and everything seemed so blurry at the moment.

"Why the fuck did you keep on giving her the drinks?" She asked the bartender who looked like he wanted the wall to swallow him up.

I chuckled. It was a cute look on him but I also knew that I had to stop this because Rain could get real bitchy when she gets angry. Although, I still did not understand why she was angry.

"I told him to keep the drinks coming or I will make him lose his job," I told her with a chuckle.

Rain turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "What the fuck is wrong with you? We got drunk yesterday and I'm still suffering from the after-effects of it and you decided to get drunk again?"

She paused and took in a deep breath before she continued.

"Let's get you out of here. I'll call Van so he can bring the car." She said to me as she brought out her phone.

She was already calling him before she even finished the sentence. I chuckled and tried to take a sip of my drink but noticed that it was finished. Why would there be nothing in the glass? I specifically told the bartender to fill up the glass and to ensure it never went down.

I growled at him. "Why is my glass empty?"

He swallowed as he turned to Rain for help.

"You are not taking any more drinks, Riley. That's enough." She said to me,

"You can't tell me what to do, Rain. You are not the boss of me. You are only a best friend." I said to her,

Rain never even blinked. It was like my attempt to make her mad at me wasn't working. She just sat quietly and stared at me before asking.

"Why are you drinking? What's wrong?"

"None of your business."

She sighed. "Riley, I need to know why you are hell-bent on destroying yourself. What is wrong? What the hell happened?"

"It's just a little drink. I'm not going to destroy myself." I told her.

"Riley, please. I hate seeing you this way. The last time you drank this much was three years ago. Tell me, honey, what's wrong?" She asked me.

I don't know what prompted me to tell her what had happened. Maybe it was the sweet voice she used on me or perhaps I was just tired and needed to speak with someone but I told her the reason why I was getting shit-faced.

"I saw Ash today," I said to her,

"What? Where?"

"Here. I came in for a drink because I did something stupid and there he was sitting one seat away from me. I had no idea if he knew about the bar, that it was mine. It was surprising to see him and he looked…why did he look so good?" I asked her as the tears started pouring from my eyes.

I was not supposed to be this pathetic. I was never even supposed to show this side to Rain. Seeing Ash should not be making me cry because I was over him. I was supposed to be over him.

"Shhh." Rain said to me as she hugged me.

If there was one person who understands what I'm going through at the moment, it would be Rain. She saw me at my weakest after the breakup with Ash. She took care of me so she knew exactly what was going through my head at the moment. She knew what pain I was going through.

"It's okay. It's okay." She whispered to me.

Perhaps it was because of how soothing her voice was that I fell asleep. I had no idea when Van walked into the club or when they carried me to their home. But I do know I woke up with a massive headache the next morning and was that moaning?

"Fuck."

I heard the voice again. There was no way that was my voice. I knew that voice very well.

"Your best friend is in the next room," Van said to her.

Yup. My best friend was fucking her boyfriend next door. And here I thought I was important. I moved sluggishly from the bed. With every movement I made, the ache in my head increased. It was more like a pounding though and Rain's high-pitched moan was doing nothing to reduce it at the moment. If only, she made it worse.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen so I could get a cup of coffee and some analgesics to stop the pounding. I was halfway through the second cup of coffee when my friend walked down in nothing but her underwear.

"Riley." She said in shock when she saw me standing in the kitchen.

"Yeah, me. Surprise." I said to her with an eye roll as I took a huge sip of the coffee.

"Yeah, this is a surprise." She said to me as she walked past me to get a cup of coffee.

"You smell," I said to her when I caught a whiff of that odour.

"Like sex right?" She asked with a wink.

I had to refrain from giving her another eyeroll.

"And as much as I like you, you may want to cover yourself up," I said to her,

Van walked into the kitchen at that moment. "I like seeing you like this." He said to Rain with a kiss on her lips.

It hurt seeing them like this. This was exactly how my relationship with Ash had been. The others had been jealous of us and not the other way around although in this case, I was mainly the one jealous of them. I had no idea if Ash felt the same way.

"Nice to see you sober, Riley," Van said to me.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I replied to him as I finished the coffee in my cup.

"Riley." Rain called to me when she took a seat on the island.

"Anything?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"What happened yesterday?" She asked me.

I had no idea if I told her everything that had happened but I was not ready to go through the details again. That was the past and I was determined to focus on the future. I could care less about Ash. Oh, who am I kidding? I still care about him. A lot. This was why I tried to avoid talking about what happened at the club yesterday but Rain wouldn't let it go.

"Don't think you can hide from me. Tell me, what happened yesterday?" She asked me.

"Nothing."

"You told me you met with Ash yesterday. What happened after that?" She asked me.

I swallowed. There was no way I was going to escape this especially since drunk me had a big mouth. Why the fuck would I tell her I met with Ash yesterday at the club?

I swallowed. "That's all. I met with him at the club."

"Riley, don't think you can lie to me." She said to me,

"But I'm not joking. That's all that happened. We met."

"Then why did you drink so much?" She asked me.

Because it hurts? Because he still hated me? Because I hated myself for being trashy to him for destroying what we had? But I kept quiet. There was no way I was telling Rain all that.

She sighed but Van spoke up."You know, Ash came to the gym yesterday."

I turned to him. He had been quiet since Rain started her interrogation and when he decided to speak he dropped a bomb.

"What?" I and Rain asked him.

"He visited the gym. He looked so out of place and like something was eating him up and it wasn't until I sat him down that he told me he met you." He said to me,

"If it's eating you both so much why don't you just get back together?" Rain asked me.

I shook my head. "We can't. It wouldn't work that way."

"Then let us help you guys." She said to me,

"There is no way you can help us," I told her.

"That's because you still wouldn't tell us what caused the breakup. You refuse to speak, Ash refuses to say anything, and the only thing we know is that you both are hurting. You claim it was mutual but you cry every night." She said to me,

I stared at her in shock. "I do not cry."

"You cry in your sleep. Just yesterday you screamed begging Ash not to let you go. Not to turn his back on you." She said to me,

I winced. I had a dream last night. One I don't plan on having again because it brought up memories of that day. Each dream always ended with Ash walking out on me.

Rain held my hands in hers. "Tell me, Riley. Did he cheat on you? Did he hit you? What exactly went wrong? Why are you guys so hell-bent on putting yourself through this misery?" She asked me.

The tears gathered again. I hated this part of me. The part that was so weak when it came to Ash. I removed my hands from Rain's hold and took a deep breath.

"It's the past Rain. Let it go." I said to her,

"But it's hurting you. How do you expect me to just let it go? Tell me what's wrong. I'll gather the crew and…."

"Just stop," I screamed.

I had no idea why her talking was getting on my nerves. I was not in control of my emotions. Rain started at me with eyes wide with shock. I could not take it anymore and so I fled.

She thought Ash was the issue but it was me. I should have just spoken to him after I caught him with the cougar. But no, I decided to do something else that resulted in me destroying the best thing that ever happened to me.