Not Alone Any More {Chase Elliott || Sequel to Only the Lonely} ✔️

xvii.

kathryn claire stepped out of the motorhome, her head spinning. she had no idea where she was going but she knew she needed to put space between her and what had just happened, a desperate attempt to process what she had just witnessed.

when she stepped into the motorhome and saw chase kissing somebody else -- it felt like her world had crumbled right around her.

in that moment, she had realized that her trust for chase had waned -- or maybe she never really had it in the first place. she knew that she should've stopped and really heard him out but she couldn't -- the image of chase kissing alicia was the only thing she could focus on. chase's crumbled face came to mind as she turned to leave. she hated that she had hurt him, that she had broken a promise but she needed to process this, to figure out where this left them.

"kc?" a voice called behind her, stopping her in her tracks. "where are you going?"

she turned to face ryan. she opened her mouth to try and explain what had happened but the floodgates opened, tears falling -- her sobs the answer to his question. chase had been kissing somebody else. in that moment she realized that she had no idea what had been true and what had been a lie. maybe it all was a lie.

"what the hell happened?" ryan strode toward her. "come on, i'll take you back to chase's --"

"no." she choked out. "i can't go back there."

ryan furrowed his brow, "kc, what happened?" he looked around, "why don't we go to my motorhome and talk?"

kathryn claire nodded, following him into his motorhome. her sobs had subsided into a few sniffles.

ryan motioned for kathryn claire to sit down on the sofa. she complied and they both stared at each other in an uneasy silence before ryan cleared his throat. "are you going to tell me what happened or do i need to go ask chase?"

kathryn claire sighed. "i had to go back to the garage for a minute and when i came back, he was kissing alicia."

ryan's eyes widened, "he was -- no. that doesn't sound right, kc."

"do you think i'm lying?" she shook her head. "it was obvious. he tried to hit me with the classic it's not what it looked like."

ryan sighed. "i don't know what happened but i know chase and i know alicia. she had chase wrapped around her finger, she would do things just to hurt him. it shocked the hell out of her when he broke up with her and now that he's moved on and is happy without her? i would not put it past her to set this up to make chase look guilty. to hurt him one last time."

"really?" kathryn claire sniffled.

ryan nodded, "hell, she ruined mine and chase's friendship just for the hell of it, it seemed like. i don't even think we had sex. i was drunk but not that drunk. so i have no doubt she would do something to ruin you and chase."

"you and alicia didn't..." kathryn claire's voice trailed off. "why didn't you tell chase that?"

ryan sighed, running his hand through his hair, "it was going to be her words against mine and i knew if i couldn't definitively say that it hadn't happened, i should just own up to it. i thought owning up to it would be the only way to salvage our friendship but i was wrong."

kathryn claire nodded, "i bet he'd be more apt to believe you now."

ryan nodded. "did you really think that he'd kiss her?" his blue eyes stared at her curiously.

kathryn claire shrugged, "he didn't exactly push her off of him or anything. he said he froze but i don't know. it all happened so fast."

ryan listened, nodding as she spoke. "if i had to bet all my money, i'd bet that alicia heard you coming in and leaned in and kissed him. look, i haven't spent a lot of time with you guys but i can tell that chase is head over heels for you. he is probably a trainwreck right now."

kathryn claire's eyes widened. ryan was right, he probably was a trainwreck and she needed to see him — to make things right. she couldn't help but feel a little guilty that she hadn't believed him when she should have. she had let alicia do exactly what she had set out to do — pull them apart.

"i need to go talk to him." she leaned over, giving ryan a half hug. "thank you for listening and talking. you really should tell chase what you told me. i think he'd have a lot more sympathy and you guys can move past it."

ryan nodded slowly, watching as kathryn claire rushed out of his motorhome.

she had no idea what she was going to say to chase but she knew the first words out of her mouth were going to be i'm sorry.