Page 74 of When Our Stars Aligned

“I’ll handle that,” Carter whispers in my ear, casually tilting his head towards my belongings. “Let’s just go inside, okay?”

Michelle and Gabby run to me as soon as we step inside.

“Oh my God! Aly! What happened?” Gabby gasps and throws her arms around me.

“Why are you with Carter? Where’s Jax?” Michelle asks, concerned.

The floodgates flow open once more and I begin to sob uncontrollably. I was hoping to make it to the privacy of my own room before I started again.

Carter clears his throat. “Aly had a very rough night and is going to head to her room. She knows you both mean well, but she really just wants to be alone right now. She’s given me permission to tell you everything because she doesn’t have the strength to explain it again.”

I give Carter a small hug and retreat to the solitude of my bedroom. I don’t even look at Gabby or Michelle as I walk past them. I take off my dress and slip into pajamas. I then turn off my phone, crawl into bed, and cry into my pillow for the rest of the night and well into the next morning. Once again, I’m all alone in this world.

42

Jax

The thumping in my head becomes in sync with the sound of someone pounding on my door. I try to open my eyes but end up squinting as there’s too much sunlight coming in through my windows. Groaning, I move to a sitting position on my couch. I haven’t been able to sleep in my bed; it’s not the same without Aly in it. The knocking becomes incessantly louder. I need to get rid of this headache and whoever is playing drums in the hallway.

“Your truck is in the lot, so I know you’re in there.” The distinct sound of Travis’s voice travels through the door. I stagger forward to open it. I don’t want to deal with him, but I’ve ignored him enough these past few days.

“What do you want, Trav?” I open the door and begrudgingly move to the side to let my best friend and his furry sidekick in.Gus immediately jumps up on my couch and curls up for what is probably his fifth nap of the day.

“What do you think I’m doing here? You texted me the other day to say you weren’t coming in. Then you don’t show up or answer my calls for days.”

“I’ve been sick.”

“Yeah, lovesick.” He walks around and studies my kitchen. “Carter told me you and Aly broke up.”

“What did Carter say?” I snap my head up. I wonder how much he knows.

“Not much. He was pretty tight-lipped about it all. He just said you broke Aly’s heart.”

“Ibroke her heart?” Annoyance bubbles inside of me.

“That’s all he said.” Travis holds his hands up. “He refused to tell me anything else. Maybe he doesn’t know much more. But, come on, this is Aly we’re talking about. What could she have possibly done to cause all this?” He waves his hand around my dirty kitchen and living room.

For the first time in days, I take a good look around my condo. It’s trashed. The kitchen counter is littered with liquor bottles and various takeout containers. There are blankets and a pillow sloppily thrown onto my couch. I haven’t vacuumed or swept. I can’t remember the last time I did laundry or took out the trash, which I now see is overflowing and leaking with God-knows-what.

“I’ve been living in hell.” I run a hand over my face and notice that my normal stubble feels more like a full-grown beard…complete with crumbs in it. When was the last time I took a shower?

“You smell like a dumpster fire,” Travis says, reading my mind.

“I feel like one too.”

“Man, what the hell happened?”

I proceed to tell him the story of how Aly completely duped me into thinking I was in some sort of amazing relationship. How she built up my trust and broke it down. How could she wake up in my bed as Alyssa Winters and go to work as Alyssa Parker? If she lied about her name, what else did she lie about?

“I don’t know, man,” Travis says once I finish my story. “I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s a reasonable explanation. She only used the last name at work? Nowhere else? No credit cards or loans taken out in the name?”

“No, I ran my credit and did a few searches. Nothing has been touched. It looks like she only uses the name at work.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“It makes sense that she goes by a different name at work?” I look at my best friend like he sprouted an extra head.

“Ah, you’re too emotional to think straight.” Travis seems to brush me off. “It makes sense, though. For years you’ve buried your emotions under lock and key. Then Aly came along and set them free. Now, you don’t know how to control them.”

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