Page 29 of Awakening

“How do we even know she was taken? Maybe she ditched the fucking ring and took off all on her own.” Anthony turns to me. “Olivia, you don’t know. You might have been trying to leave this asshole.”

Ethan pushes Anthony in the shoulder and goes chest to chest with him. “You might wish that was the case, but that couldn’t be further from the fucking truth.”

“I don’t trust you, and I’m not letting her leave with you,” Anthony says, pushing Ethan in the chest.

“Hey, you two,” Nick says, physically separating them. “You both want what’s best for Olivia. Anthony, Olivia never would have tried to leave Ethan. They were in love. Fuck, they’re still in love. She just can’t remember it. Now, we know you want to protect her, but I mean it when I say there isn’t another man on this earth who will protect Olivia the way Ethan will.”

“Oh yeah? Is that how she ended up kidnapped? Because of this guy’s stellar protection?” Within two seconds Ethan is chest to chest with Anthony again.

Tears burn in my eyes. “That’s enough,” I say, raising my voice and wedging in between them.

“You two need to knock it off,” Chloe says, inserting herself between them as well. She then turns to Ethan with a sigh, and under her breath she says, “Ethan, you’re scaring her.”

Ethan turns to me and his face softens. He nods and says, “I’m sorry. I really am. I’ve just been a mess without you, Liv. It’s been fucking torture not knowing where you were or what was happening to you. My emotions are all over the place.” He takes a deep breath and says, “Can we start over? Maybe we can sit down and talk? I forgot your phone at home, but I have mine. We can look at some photos, and you can ask me questions. Anything you want.”

“Yeah, okay,” I say, wiping my tears away. That’s what I was expecting us to do from the very beginning, not all of this arguing. I sit down on the couch and Ethan sits next to me. A tingle rushes through me as his leg touches mine. He opens the photos on his phone and leans into me as he starts talking about the first photo. Now that he’s calm, it’s actually quite comforting to be next to him. The warmth of his body against mine makes my stomach flip. He smells so freaking good. I don’t know what scent he’s wearing, but it’s like it has some kind of soothing effect on me. The longer I sit close to him and take in his scent, the more relaxed I feel.

We sit next to each other like this for a couple of hours, just looking at photos on their phones and talking. Nick is kind enough to go out and bring back dinner for all of us. Chloe and I start to reminisce about college, but I feel Ethan tensing next to me when Anthony starts to chime in. Everything has been going so well. I don’t want them to start arguing again, so I change the subject to more recent photos. Looking through the photos again, for what must be the tenth time, I stop on some that Ethan breezed past earlier. The evidence is right there. I was pregnant.

Ethan clears his throat. “You’re so beautiful in these photos.”

“I look happy.”

He nods. “You were. We were very happy.”

I don’t remember anything about the pregnancy, but it’s clear that he remembers everything. “Are you okay?” I ask him, looking into his steel blue eyes.

He shrugs. “Honestly…I haven’t really had time to process that she’s gone yet. Right now, I’m just relieved that you’re safe and sitting in front of me again.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you.”

“I’ll be okay. Having you close to me helps,” he says, looking into my eyes.

“I feel terrible. I wish I could remember.”

He takes my hand and traces circles with his thumb. “It’s okay, Olivia. This isn’t your fault,” he says looking into my eyes. Just the intensity of his gaze as he touches me makes my throat tighten and I feel the need to put space between us. As I stand, I catch myself on Ethan’s shoulders when I get a little dizzy.

“Shit.” Ethan grabs my waist and eases me back down to the couch. He moves to kneel in front of me, taking my hand. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Anthony rushes to my side at the same time. “You need to rest, Liv,” he says, kneeling next to me as well.

“I’ve got this. You can go,” Ethan says, scowling at Anthony.

“I’m the fucking doctor here. You’re the one who needs to go, as in you literally need to leave. She’s still recovering from a head injury. She’s exhausted and needs to rest,” Anthony says, not budging.

“Nick, can you pull the car around?” Ethan asks. “I’ll help Olivia gather her things and we’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Panic floods my chest and I shoot to my feet.

“Liv, be careful,” Anthony says as they both rush to their feet, each of them taking one of my arms.

Ethan turns me to face him, takes my hands in his, and very calmly says, “Olivia, it’s time to go home.”

“Wait.” I yank my hands from his, and he looks at me with hurt in his eyes. “I…I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t go home with you. Not yet, anyway. I feel like we just met, Ethan. I don’t know you.”

“You do know me, and you belong with me,” Ethan says, taking a step toward me, but stopping as I step back.

“Listen,” I say, “I know this is an emotional situation for everyone. I’m living it. I get it, but?—”

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