Page 152 of Anyone But Her

I give up trying to fight him and let my body collapse into his.

A minute ago I never wanted to see him again, but now I don't want him to let me go.

"Tell me what's wrong," he says. "If it's something I did, I'm sorry. I'll fix it."

The cold rain continues to pour down in a steady stream. My shorts and shirt feel heavy against my skin and I shiver as the wind blows around us.

He runs his hand along my arm. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing and you're soaking wet. Let's go inside."

My legs aren't ready to move. My entire body is aching, leaving my emotions numb, just the way I want them.

"Jade, talk to me."

I look up and see him watching me, waiting for some kind of answer. Before he can speak again, I reach up and press my lips to his. I shouldn't be kissing him so I don't understand why I'm doing this. But I don't understand anything right now.

Garret gently pulls away. "Tell me what's going on. Why are you out here? Why were you at the party? And why were you drinking?" His voice is filled with so much worry and so much concern. After seeing him at the party I don't know why he even cares. But I know he does. I can feel it and I can see it in his face and it pisses me off. I don't want him to care about me. Not now. Now after what he did.

I push away but his arms tighten around me. I won't look at him. Because when I do all I see is the image of him coming out of that room. With her. And then I see the vodka bottle and it reminds me of my mom and that letter she wrote.

It's too much. It's too many emotions. I want the numbness back.

The rain continues to pour and I shiver again.

"We're going inside." Garret's tone is forceful. He finally lets me go but grabs my hand, pulling on me to go with him. "Jade, come on. I'm not leaving here without you."

My mind is still racing, trying to make sense of things that make no sense at all.

When I don't move, he picks me up and carries me up the hill to our dorm.

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BONUS Excerpt from STILL LOVE YOU, a standalone contemporary romance, available now in ebook and paperback!

Willow

I cannot believe Silas is standing in my dorm room. Driving me home. Back to Berkeley. Where he is now living...and working for my dad! How could my dad hire him? Out of all the people he could've chosen, he had to pick Silas?

What is Silas even doing here? He's supposed to be traveling the world, hiking up mountains, doing volunteer work.

"Willow?" He's standing in front of me now. The door is closed and it's just the two of us. His full lips—the ones I know so well because they've touched every single part of my body—slowly slide up into a smile. "Are you going to say something? Maybe a hello?"

I swallow, my eyes diverting back to his. "Oh, um, yes. Hello. Sorry. I'm just surprised to see you here."

"I thought your parents told you I was moving back."

"Yeah. They did. I just didn't believe them."

His eyes remain on mine. "Why wouldn't you believe them?"

I glance away from him. "Because you have a history of not following through on things."

I shouldn't have said that. He just got here and I don't want to start fighting with him before we even get in the car.

Silas and I used to fight about a lot of things. The fights were intense but short-lived, always ending in a passionate kiss, followed by clothes being ripped off and our bodies colliding. Just the thought of that has me sweating even more in this sweltering hot room.

"They turned the air off," I say, fanning myself. "That's why my room is so hot. I guess they thought we didn't need it since everyone's moving out today."