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  “What?” she said reaching for the stereo and turning it down. She looked back over at him to see sweat dripping down his face. He was gasping for air, and his eyes were wild with what looked like fear.

  “Stop the car, Audrey, now!” he yelled again.

  Audrey pulled to the side, and before she could even stop the car, he was out of it, slamming the door behind him. Audrey put the car in park and hopped out as she screamed, “Tate! Stop!”

  But he didn’t.

  He kept walking, his hands laced behind his head as he took in deep breaths. Running up to him, which was a hard feat in 5 inch heels, Audrey moved in front of him to stop him. “Tate, what’s wrong!?”

  Tate wouldn’t talk to her though, he moved around her. She took a hold of his arm, stopping him, “What the hell?!”

  “You drive like a fucking maniac, Audrey! You could kill someone doing that! Are you nuts?”

  Taken aback, Audrey stopped, her eyes wide in confusion, “I watch what I’m doing.”

  “No, you don’t. You are the worst driver, and I refuse to ride with you any longer. I’m walking back home,” he said moving around her and down the side of the highway. Audrey blinked a few times as anger bubbled inside her. Catching up with him again, she stopped him.

  “I am a safe driver, thank you!”

  “You are delusional,” he said simply, not looking at her.

  “So you are not going to dinner? You’re gonna pout and go home cause you don’t like my driving? You could have driven, Tate!”

  “I’m going home. I don’t have anything else to say to you, Audrey.”

  “Well I still have a lot to tell you! So fucking stop for a minute and talk to me! Act like a damn adult! I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!”

  Tate turned quickly, almost knocking Audrey off balanced as he got in her face and said, “Leave me the fuck alone.”

  Audrey froze.

  She could see in his eyes that he was extremely upset, but Audrey didn’t understand why. Not saying a word, he held her gaze, his eyes wild as he took in a deep breath. He then closed his eyes, running his hands through his hair as he let out a frustrated yell, scaring Audrey to the core. Turning away, he started walking down the busy highway, cars passing by quickly, but she didn’t think he cared. Something was very wrong, but he had no desire to talk to her about it, and it pissed Audrey off to the extreme. Weren’t they supposed to be able to tell each other anything and everything? What the hell was his problem?

  Fuming, Audrey made her way back to the car, and got in, slamming the door behind her. She then let out her own frustrated yell before starting the car and driving off. For once she didn’t touch her iPod, or even her radio. She rode in silence, begging herself not to cry.

  By the grace of God, she made it to Fallon’s without crying, but the drive was all a blur and she knew she wouldn’t remember it later. Her mind was going at speeds faster than Shea Adler’s slap shot trying to figure out what the hell she had done to Tate. She had never seen him that angry and she didn’t understand what happened, hell, she probably never would until they talked.

  If he even wanted to talk to her.

  With her shoulders hung low, Audrey made her way up the drive way to Fallon and Lucas’ house. Feeling the way she did, she couldn’t even take in the beauty of the gorgeous home that Lucas had bought before Fallon had come back into his life. Audrey knocked on the huge door and let out a long breath. When it opened and Aiden wrapped his arms around Audrey’s waist, she felt a little better, but not much.

  “AA! I’ve missed you!”

  Audrey didn’t have to fake her smile, she missed her little buddy. Wrapping him up in her arms, she kissed him hard on his cheek before letting him down. He then led her into the house and towards the kitchen. Something smelled fantastic, but for once Audrey didn’t care what Fallon had made. She was debating if she should even stay, maybe she should go back home and try to talk to Tate. Surely after a long walk in the cold, he would have calmed down by now. But should she? In a way she didn’t deserve his angry lashing out, but, this time, she had caused it. It wasn’t like when Levi would just yell for no reason, this was different and she needed to fix it.

  But how?

  When Aiden and Audrey entered the kitchen, they found Fallon at the counter, with Lucas behind her, kissing her exposed shoulder. They were the picture of happiness and lust, and it made Audrey miss Tate more.

  “Mom! AA is here!” Aiden yelled out, making both of them jump before looking up from the counter. Fallon smiled as she moved away from Lucas, and towards Audrey. She hugged Fallon tightly, and when she pulled away Fallon looked behind her, before looking back at Audrey.

  “Where is Tate?”

  “Well ‘hello’ to you too,” Audrey said dryly as Lucas gave her a sideways hug.

  “Hey, how you doing?” Fallon said with a roll of the eyes, “Where is Tate?”

  Audrey shook her head, “He didn’t come.”

  “Why?” Lucas asked.

  Audrey shrugged her shoulders, “We got into a huge fight over my driving and he walked back home.”

  “What?” Fallon asked, her face transforming into the same confused expression Audrey wore.

  “Yeah, he said I drove like a maniac and then left. I don’t know.”

  Lucas pulled his phone out and then a minute later dropped his it from his ear, and then looked over at Audrey, “He isn’t answering.”

  “Yeah I know, I tried a few times too,” Audrey said, sadly.

  “What were you doing that he didn’t like?” Fallon asked.

  “I was dancing, and singing, like always.”

  “Well that is weird,” Fallon said, biting into her lip.

  “No it isn’t,” Lucas said. Both women looked over at him as he went on, “He is really weird when it comes to riding in the car. I mean, who wouldn’t?”

  “Huh?” Audrey asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Well you know, with how his family died and all.”

  It was as if Lucas had thrown Audrey into the boards, knocking the air out of her. She couldn’t breathe, and her vision was getting blurred. Surely, she heard him wrong.

  “What?” she gasped.

  Lucas eyed her before looking over at Fallon, who wore the same worried expression Lucas did.

  “Please tell me you knew his family had been killed in a car accident, Audrey,” Fallon said slowly.

  Audrey shook her head as she clutched her neck in utter shock. Tate never said anything about that, quite the opposite really! He never once said his family wasn’t alive anymore, but then again anytime they came up, he always did change the subject. What the hell? Moving without speaking, Audrey made her way out the house and into her car while Fallon and Lucas yelled after her. She ignored them. She had to leave, she had to talk to Tate.

  She had to find out why he never told her.

  She had to make sure he was okay.

  What the hell had she done?

  ***

  Tate was pretty sure he was about to pass out.

  Along with being frozen from head to toe, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking and his heart was still beating in overtime. Tearing into the house, he slammed the door shut, while rubbing his hands together for warmth as he rushed up the stairs. When he reached his room, he threw off his coat. Then, in a daze, he went to the piano, dropped down onto the bench and opened the cover. He sat there feeling his hands touching the keys. Just to experience the normalcy of it.

  Taking a deep breath, fighting against the tears that wanted to fall, Tate replayed his argument to Audrey as his hands moved freely against the keys. He couldn’t believe how careless she was in the car. She danced like she was on a dance floor. She sang at ear piercing levels, and she was more focused messing with her player than she was paying attention to the road. What if she had lost control of the car? What if she would have run head on into a car that was filled with a family?

  What if he lost her too?