Page 33 of Forever Love-Reimagined

“Why did you let me do that?” I shouldn’t be mad at him because I made the choice, but I wasn’t coherent—he should have been my guardian ad litem, and looked out for my best interest.

“A pack of wolves couldn’t have stopped you from devouring that food last night. And I wasn’t about to lose a finger trying. Besides, you need to live a little.”

This wasn’t what I would call living. If anything, death could probably take me at any minute. “I need to shower.” It was the only thing that might make me human again.

“That’s a good idea.” He waved his hand in front of his nose, and I unassumingly sniffed myself, but I didn’t smell.

“You’re a jerk.” I socked him in the arm but immediately regretted it because the hostile movement made my head want to explode.

He rubbed the offending spot. “Jeez, Ali, I was kidding. Why don’t I run you home, and you can sleep it off?”

I nodded, then I had a slight panic attack. What if Steph was there? I didn’t want her to see me like this. She would for sure think something had happened last night, and I wasn’t ready to start another fight or talk about the first one.

“On second thought, let’s do a drive-by, and if Steph’s car is gone, I’ll go in. But if she’s still there, would you run in, grab the stuff I need, and bring me back here?” I all but pleaded.

“What, you don’t want Steph to see you in all your glory?” He chuckled, and I was about to smack him again but had learned that lesson.

“I’m not ready to see her, okay?”

“All right. I won’t make you beg.” He moved toward the garage, and I followed.

We climbed into the car, and he looked at me. “Please don’t refund your tacos in my car.”

“I’m fine.” I scowled at how much I ate, but there was nothing I could do about it now. “So, did anything else of importance happen last night?”

He backed out and headed toward my place. “Do you remember me setting up an appointment with a hypnotherapist for you on Monday?”

“A what?”

“Yeah, you decided hypnosis would help you uncover who the girl in your dream is. You mentioned it might be a repressed memory or something. You were all gung-ho about it last night.”

“That sounds nothing like me. You’ll need to cancel that because I’m not going. It sounds hokey.”

“Blake, don’t be like that. I already made the appointment and cleared your calendar. What harm could come from it? You might figure something out. Isn’t that what you want? You said you wanted to find out who she was and what was causing the dreams. Isn’t it worth a try to see if Dr. Hahn can help?”

I sighed. “Ugh. I guess I’ll do it. But I’m not happy about it.”

“Girl, are you ever happy?” He laughed, and I gave him a sideways glare, but his comment didn’t deserve a response.

I had been working on myself a lot lately and wanted to be more positive. But it seemed like as soon as I was, shit hit the fan. There was a reason for my hard shell; it kept me safe. And now that I had let down my guard, I exposed myself to vulnerability. I didn’t like it. I needed to become the Queen Bitch Ty thought I was. No, I didn’t want to do that either. I was so confused.

As he continued to drive, I rested my head against the seat while gazing out the window. He was singing with the radio to some pop song I'd never heard. What was I going to do? Even now, after sobering up and having time to cool off, I still wasn’t ready to forgive Steph. Something in my gut was telling me she wasn’t the one for me.

We had our issues, but I genuinely hoped we could make things work if we tried. But that might be the blinders. We all saw what we wanted, and I guess I didn’t care enough to look deeper. What was it she said? I was complacent.

Steph was beautiful, but sometimes she was volatile and vindictive. Was I only with her because she was physically attractive? No, there had to be more. I mean, we had fun together, although those times were becoming fewer and farther between with our clashing schedules.

Would I even be sad if she moved out? It would be weird, but that was about all I came up with.

“Earth to Blake.” Ty was waving his hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention, and I swatted it away.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re here—at your house. Steph’s gone, so I was trying to get you out of my car because I need to meet David. But you had that thousand-yard stare, and I was afraid you were catatonic again. You didn’t get pulled back into a dream, did you?”

“Oh, no. Sorry. I guess I zoned out. I didn’t even realize we’d stopped.”

“I gathered. Hence, why I was trying to get your attention. Anywho, it looks like you’re in the clear. Do you need anything from me before I go?”

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