Free If I Never Knew You (If I Never Knew You Series) by Aubrey Bailey Page B

asked. Oh boy, I could hear the questions coming before they even made it out of his mouth. "Well, you need me to pick you up tonight, don't you?"
    "Um, no," I said. "I'm doing a double shift."
    "Again?" Orion asked. I had done a few double shifts the last few days, but still managed to see Orion, Mom and Andy quite a bit.
    "Yeah, sorry."
    "Madison, I'm worried now."
    "Don't. Everything's fine."
    "Okay, are we still on tomorrow?"
    "Uh, no...I can't."
    "More work?" Orion exclaimed, starting to sound bitter. I was beginning to think he wasn't buying the work excuse.
    "Something along those lines."
    "Well, whatever," Orion said, now sounding defeated. I closed my eyes tightly to stop from crying. "Guess I'll talk to you later."
    "Yeah," I said. I hung up the phone and then agonized over what I had just done. Why was I such a wimp about Damian? I needed to tell him the truth and let the shit hit the fan. We would break up and then Orion and I could be together.

    It had been two weeks and I was back to being a workaholic. I worked all the time again and when I wasn't doing that, I was with Damian. I ignored all of Orion' calls and avoided him as much as possible. I was so glad that the restaurant was packed every time he came in.
    I rarely saw Andy, too. After the first few days, he stopped coming by the restaurant every day for lunch. My boss didn't really pick up on anything, but Jen sure did. She didn't know anything about what was going on, but she picked up on my mood change and the fact that my brother wasn't around as much. I did double shifts like crazy, working around twelve hours a day, every day. One day I actually went to work at seven in the morning and stayed until three the next morning. My mother, who usually stayed out of my work decisions, became worried and asked me what was going on. I didn't tell her the truth about my feelings towards Damian and Orion-she was fond of Orion and wanted him to move in-so I lied and said that the Wayside was short staffed.
    I tried to avoid Damian as much as I could, but one evening he decided that we should go to my uncle's club.
    Lo and behold, Orion's band was playing. And I had to sit through three songs perched on Damian's knee with his damn possessive arm wrapped tightly around me and my eyes watching the crowd rather than the band, just to be safe.
    "How's everyone tonight?" Orion asked into the microphone. A cheer erupted and I glanced up at him to see a forced smile on his face. "Well, here's another new song. I haven't written one in a while, but I've gotten the inspiration back." Another cheer broke out through the crowd. Orion continued, "She's been gone for a while now, and I can't get her out of my mind." Unlike last time, he didn't announce the name of the song, as it just started up.
    It was a slower song that started off with Orion singing. He sang about a girl who had grown distant from him and how sorry he was to see them drift apart. It didn't take long at all to figure out it was about me. When it ended, I was practically in tears. I just had to look at Orion, didn't I? I could have sworn I saw a tear rolling down his cheek as well. He looked at me, then he turned around to look at his band and there was some discussion.
    "Can we go, please?" I asked, turning around to look at Damian. He smiled, as if pleased or something. I guess I did something right. Was it the way I asked? Anyway, I got my wish and we left, but not before I caught Orion's eye once more.

    I walked backstage after watching Madison leave with Damian. Andy was also backstage, having watched the show from back there. I had decided not to move in with Madison and her family because Madison was never home now. Madison's mom, Barbara, agreed that I could pay for Andy's driving test, so I took him to the testing place and he passed with a perfect score. I know he was trying to be brave and act like it didn't bother him that his sister was oblivious to his achievement due to her crazy work