Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Arizona

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Chapter Seventeen – You Can't Always Escape Your Past

Usually on a Friday night, Parvenue nightclub would have a line around the building full of girls and guys alike trying to gain entrance into the club. On this particular Friday night, however, one side of the nightclub had been made up with a white sheet hanging over the side that covered the entire brick wall, a long strip of blue carpet leading from the left side of the building to the club's entrance and an equally long line of photographers and reporters standing behind the velvet ropes that held them back. There were multiple celebrities walking down the blue carpet, taking advantage of the photo ops before entering the club to wait for the two people they were here to celebrate.

"Man it is packed!" Shane commented looking out the car window. He looked over to Mitchie who was seated beside him, on her phone. He rolled his eyes and reached over, taking the phone away from her.

"Hey!" She protested trying to grab the phone from him.

"Sorry to bother you again Rachel. I promise we'll leave you and Hayley alone for the remainder of the night!" He said into the phone before pressing end. He handed it back to Mitchie who was pouting at him. "You have to stop calling the babysitter."

"But I don't even know this Rachel girl. She could be some psycho for all we know." She said putting her phone back into her purse.

"But she's not. She checked out with the babysitting agency I got her from, okay? Just relax and enjoy this party. I mean do you see all these people? They're here to celebrate us and our engagement." He said grabbing her hand, entwining their fingers together. She gave him a smile as if to agree to relax. "Now, let's go get our picture taken!"

Shane and Mitchie exited the car and were immediately greeted by flashing bulbs. It was a little reminiscent of when they first arrived at LAX. Mitchie had gotten more use to it now but it was still a little unnerving.

After walking down the blue carpet and getting their picture taken and saying a few words to some reporters, Shane and Mitchie were ready to enter the club to get the festivities started. Before they entered, Shane jumped in front of Mitchie, a devilish grin on his face.

"I have a surprise for you." He said smiling. He turned to the bouncer and waved his hand forward as if to call him over. The bouncer nodded and pressed on his earpiece. Within a minute or so, a girl came walking out of the club.

"Oh my gosh, Caitlyn!" Mitchie yelled embracing her friend in a hug. Shane stepped aside to give them some space. "What are you doing here?"

"Shane flew me out so I could be here for your engagement party! Which, by the way is way bigger than your previous engagement party." Caitlyn commented with a wink.

"All right ladies," Shane said walking back over to them, draping his arms over both of their shoulders. "Shall we go and par-tay?"

When the three of them walked in, there were some 'heys' from various people but everyone was so busy dancing or drinking or just talking their entrance went almost unnoticed.

"Shane my man!" Shane looked to his left and say fellow label mate Luke Williams walking up to him.

"Luke! I haven't seen you in forever. Good to finally see you, bro." Shane greeted him. He watched Luke peer behind him and lick his lips and smile.

"And I'm guessing you're Mitchie?" He said grabbing Mitchie's hand, kissing it. "You are much more beautiful in person."

"All right Mr. Smooth Talker," Shane said playfully stepping between the two of them. "You think you can do me a favor and not hit on my fiancée?"

"Maybe if your fiancée wasn't so darn attractive." Luke said playfully. He slapped Shane on the back jokingly. "I'm just messing around. Congrats you two! I wish you nothing but happiness and I'll be expecting my wedding invitation soon, yeah?"

Shane nodded and watched Luke walk away from the three of them. He turned to Mitchie, silently asking what she thought of him.

"He was…nice." She said with an overwhelmed smile.

"Eh, Luke's harmless, trust me." He assured her. He looked over to Caitlyn who stood beside Mitchie, bobbing her head to the music that was playing.

"You're a dancer, right?" He asked her. She nodded proudly. "Would you like to meet the most uncoordinated guy, ever?"

"Um, I guess." She answered tentatively. Shane smiled and the three of them walked over to a table that was near the back. There sat Jason, Danielle and Nate. The three of them stood up to greet the approaching three.

"Aw look at my little brother all engaged and whatnot." Jason cooed embracing Shane in a hug.

"Congrats you two," Danielle said giving Mitchie a hug as well.

"Hey, I'm Nate." Nate said introducing himself to Caitlyn. She shook his extended hand with a smile.

"You must be the most uncoordinated guy Shane was talking about." Nate looked over a Shane with a horrified look. "I could tell because when you were bobbing you head to the music you were really off beat. Which is weird because you'd think you'd be on beat seeing as how you're a musician. Am I talking too much? Sorry, I do that sometimes." She finished with a nervous laugh.

"No, its…cute." Nate said. Mitchie looked over at Shane who looked on like a proud father.

"Well my work here is done," Shane said clapping his hands together. "If you guys don't mind, I was going to take Mitchie around, meet some more of my friends?"

"Oh go ahead. We were just going to chill here anyway. Have fun you two!" Jason said as he and Danielle sat back down at the table next to Nate and Caitlyn.

Mitchie and Shane walked away from the four, Shane looking for people to introduce to Mitchie. So far the night was going off without a hitch.

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"Now I know you had your doubts about the idea of having such a huge engagement party but you have to admit, that was fun." The party had ended and everything ended up going exactly as planned. Nate and Caitlyn even hit it off and went out after the party to hang out, just the two of them. Now Shane and Mitchie were going back home, ready to relax after a tiring night.

"Okay, I'll admit it. It was amazing. I just can't wait to get home and crawl into bed." Mitchie said with a yawn. Shane silently agreed as he turned the corner onto their street. As he drove up to the house, they saw an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

"What the…" Shane muttered parking on the curb and not in the driveway next to the strange car. "Stay here," He instructed unbuckling his seatbelt.

"No," Mitchie grabbed Shane's wrist, stopping him. "I don't want to sit in here while you get to have all the fun."

"What if its some psycho?"

"But its not," She said mocking him from earlier. "Its probably Nate or Caitlyn or something." He reluctantly nodded for her to exit the car. She walked behind him, holding on to his arm as he approached the car. Shane turned around, holding his hands up telling her to stay while he approached the car. He walked up to the car hesitantly. Before he could get to the driver side window, the door opened and a man stepped out.

"You could've parked next to me, you know."

"Oh my God," Mitchie said covering her mouth with her hand.

Shane recognized that smug smirk anywhere. His cool demeanor instantly changed. He felt his nails digging into the palm of his hand from how hard he was balling his fist and his jaw start to throb due to how hard he was clenching it.

"Get the hell out of here, Ken." Shane managed to croak out.

"Wow, you look gorgeous Mitchie. I wish you would've dressed up like that for me when we were engaged." Ken said completely ignoring Shane.

"Are you deaf or something? Leave, now." Shane yelled. Ken turned to Shane in annoyance.

"I didn't mean to drop by unannounced. I thought you guys were here but obviously you were out hitting the town. Just so it's not such a surprise, I'll be back tomorrow. You and I have some unfinished business." He said directing his words at Mitchie. The two watched him get back into his Lincoln and drive away. Shane took a deep breath and turned to Mitchie who looked like she had just seen a ghost. It was the past was coming back to haunt them.

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Sorry for the long wait for an update! I hoped you guys liked it! Oh and you should check out my other story. Its called 'Story Of Us' so…yeah, check that out! ;]

Thanks for reading! :]