Adeline's POV:

"Ty, you have to go." I said exasperatedly as I kicked my shoes off and sank down onto the couch. There were a million things that I needed to be doing in preparation for the banquet tonight and having this argument with my brother for the third time today definitely wasn't at the top of the list. Yet here we are. Earlier in the day, I thought that we had came to an agreement, that he would go. But when I walked into the apartment that he and I shared and found him drunker than a skunk, I knew that his words from earlier had been said to shut me up.

"Fuck that banquet. They only want us there so they can hound of with questions -questions that we don't have the answers too. Questions that we will probably never have answers to since mom decided that she was better off not knowing what happened." Said Ty, pacing the length of the room, rage coming off him in waves.

"That might be the case but don't you think that daddy would want us to go. For fucks sake Ty, you are being honored for winning the championship. You earned your place at that banquet." I said, tears clogging my voice at the mention of daddy.

"Yeah well, if I hadn't have been out on that fucking track, I wouldn't have been so tired. I would have been right by daddy's side. I would have been there to call for help." Screamed Ty, as tears streamed down his cheeks. He was so close to my face that it forced me to sink back into the cushion of the couch.

"You were doing what you loved. Daddy wanted nothing else for you than for you to do what made you happy." I said, standing from the couch since Ty stepped back. "Look, I know you are hurting. I am too. But there is nothing that we can do to change anything that's happened. All we can do is try to live our lives in a way that would have made daddy proud. We have to pick up the pieces and learn to live a life that doesn't involve him. If that means attending banquets when we would rather drown ourselves in our sorrows, so be it. It's what daddy would have wanted."

"How the fuck is this so easy for you Addie?" said Ty, his tone no longer filled with hurt. Honestly I would prefer it over the malice that I heard there now.

I knew that the right thing to do would be to let him have his moment but dammit, I was tired of him using me as his fucking punching bag. I was tired of being the one picking up the fucking pieces of this family. I was tired of holding in what I was feeling just so it wouldn't hurt someone else. "Fuck you, Tyler Randal Gibbs!. And yes, I just used your full fucking name so don't even give me that shocked look! You know damn well this isn't easy for me. I was the one that found him. I was the one that had to call the ambulance. I was the one that tried to give him CPR and bring him back. I was the one that watched the EMT's load him on into the ambulance. I was the one that watched that ambulance pull away with no lights and sirens because there was nothing that could be done for him. I will have that fucking memory with me for the rest of my life. I was the one that called Mom to tell her. I was the one that called you and the rest of our siblings. I was the one that called grandpa and told him that one of his children had gone to heaven. All of it fell the fuck on me to do because I'm the fucking oldest. And if you ask me, that's not fucking fair. I shouldn't have been the one that had to do that. And I shouldn't be the one that you like to use as a fucking punching bag when you are feeling mad at the damn world! It's not my fault that daddy died. If not anyone's fault so I'd fucking appreciate it if you would stop blaming me and everyone under the sun for something that we had no part in. It's sure as fuck not going to bring him back!"

After my explosion, I stood in the middle of the living room, Ty and I looking at one another. With the way I was feeling, I wanted him to swing on me. I wanted him to give me a reason to punch him so that I could physically knock some sense into him. But I knew that it would be pointless since he was drunk. Plus, daddy always hated when we fought, even though he always told me when he got me alone that he was glad to know that his daughter knew how to protect herself.

"I can't go." Said Ty after a few minutes, his shoulder slumping as if all the fight had just run out of him. Suddenly he looked older than his 20 years.

"Ty—"

"I said I can't do it, Addie. I cant go sit in a room full of people that knew daddy. I can't go listen to those same people give me their condolences and tell me how happy and proud daddy would be of me. I just can't do it." Said Ty, cutting me off.

"Okay." I whispered.

At my response, Ty turned on his heel and headed for his room, leaving me standing alone. If I hadn't have wanted to go the banquet before, I damn sure didn't want to go now. But just like the big girl that I knew I was, I knew that I was obligated to go. It was my job to go even if I knew that Pappy Joe wouldn't fire me for skipping out on it. Hell, he was even skipping out on the banquet.

Resigned to my fate, I made my way into my bedroom and began pulling things from the closest for tonight. Tears pooled in my eyes as I laid out the emerald-green dress that mama had helped me pick a month ago for tonight's event. We were all supposed to be wearing green tonight. Daddy's tie was supposed to match mom's dress perfectly. Ty's was supposed to match mine. And my other siblings were supposed to finish up the look, making us look like we were ready for some bougee family photo. Damn, what I wouldn't give for that to happen...

Not wanting Ty to hear me crying -not that it mattered anyway since he was probably pissed at me for my blow-up- I walked into the bathroom and turned the taps for the showers, climbing in before the water was even hot. I let the cold water send a shock though my system reminding me that I was capable of feeling something beside pain.

*****

Makeup really is a wonder product. It hides your dark circles from not getting enough sleep. It hides the blemishes that have popped up because of stress. It makes you look alive when you feel dead on the inside. Need a more defines jaw line? Add contour in just the right place. Need your eyes to really pop? Add a highlight. But most of all, it gives you a mask to hide behind so that the people around you cant see just how badly you are hurting.

And that's exactly what I was doing – hiding behind my mask of expensive makeup all while plastering a fake smile on my face, something that was proving harder and harder to do. In the twenty minutes that I have been at the banquet, I bet there have been fifty people come up to me asking how I'm doing, asking how everyone in my family is doing. I'd given each of them the same answer, saying that were just taking it day by day. What I really wanted to say to them though was that we would be better if people would just stop asking us how we are, if they would just stop hovering over us and let use figure out how to get though this.

Needing to take a moment for myself, I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing tray and made my way out onto the balcony of the hotel that was sponsoring the banquet, happy to find that it was empty. More times than not at these events, the balconies were often as busy as the rooms holding the event. Since I feet were already killing me from teetering in my heels, I walked over to the railing and slipped one off, leaned down and gently began massaging my arch. I was just starting to find some relief when I heard the door open behind me.

"Shit, I didn't know anyone was out here." Said a male voice, one that I didn't recognize.

"It's okay." I said, slipping my heel back on and turning slowly in the direction of the voice. When I did, I stumbled. Why? Because one of the most attractive men in the Xfinity series stood before me in a three piece black on black suit. As if seeing him dressed like that wasn't sexy enough, the backwards ballcap on his head that didn't go with his suit at all was even sexier.

"I'm Jeb." Said the stranger, his hand extended.

"Adeline." I said, reaching out and placing my hand in his. I don't know what it was -and I'm choosing to blame the champagne flowing though my system- but as soon as we touched, I felt like I'd touched a down electrical line. But not in the my-hair-is-standing-on-end-like-in-a-cartoon-kind-of-way but in the deliciously adult way that you read about in all those romance novels. Jeb must have felt it too because when I went to pull my hand away, he only gripped it tighter, refusing to let me go.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman." He said. I couldn't miss the slight southern drawl in his words -something that I was a definite sucker for.

"Th-Thank you." I said, forcing myself to swallow since my mouth was suddenly dry. It was then that I remembered that I was holding a champagne flute so I lifted it to my lips and down the contents in one guzzle.

When I finished it, Jeb took it from my hands and placed it on the table beside us. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here all alone when the party is in full swing in there?" he asked, the hand that had held mine earlier still holding onto it; only now, his thumb was grazing over my knuckles in a way that was causing my blood to heat -something that was wrong on so many levels since I didn't have any business being out here alone with a man much less with one that could make me want things and I didn't even know anything about him other than his name and that he drove in the Xfinity series. Although, sex would give me something to think about other than the tragic drama that it has been lately...

Forcing those thoughts to the very back of my mind, I decided that it was safer to just answer his question. "I just needed a minute. It's been a rough few weeks."

"That's an understatement." Said Jeb, his tone soft. He must have read the question in my eyes before he continued. "Of course, I know who you are. Everyone knows who Adeline Gibbs is. Everyone knows shes the prettiest thing to ever happen to JGR."

"Flattery wont get you anywhere."

"Ahhh well, some say that flattery will get you everywhere."

"And who says that? The guys trying to make a name for themselves? The guys that think telling a girl she has a pretty name, flirting a little, and giving them a well-placed smile will scramble their brains and make them dumb enough to seduce?" I said, anger washing over me. Jeb hadn't given me any indication that he was the type that would do that but then again neither had Christopher when he and I were dating. He'd said all the right things, did all the right things, to convince me that he really loved me and allowed me to let my guard down around him and even show him favoritism when it came to sponsorship meetings and then needing a face for their logo.  

"Whoa, hey. Did I do something wrong? Because I was just doing some shameless flirting, figuring that it would be safer than asking you that dreaded 'how are you doing' question. And now this? If I did something wrong sweetheart, you're going to have to spell it out for this country boy." Said Jeb.

"It's just- it's been a rough few weeks." I said with a sigh. "It was nice meeting you, but I should go."

Turning in my heel, I made my way back into thr party, away from the man, the whole whole feeling his eyes in my ass as I walked away.

Addie's dress, shoes, and hair👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻