Page 29 of Unexpected

The room was suddenly spinning as my panic bubbled to the surface. I wanted to release it in the sobs I felt at the base of my throat—it was the only way to release it completely—but I couldn’t cry.

“I used my other card,” I said in a small voice. Years of training taught me how to keep my composure while every part of me inside was in turmoil; however, I never could keep my voice level. The panic seeped through my words.

“I’m sure you did, baby.” Michael reached out his hand and patted my knee. It took all of my strength not to flinch when his hand softly landed on me, rubbing back and forth over my skin through a rip in my jeans. “Everything went so wrong last night, and I think we need to start over.”

I nodded, but when I didn’t say anything, he squeezed my knee, fingers digging into my flesh. “Yes, let’s start over,” I responded in a gasp.

“Good, good.” He relaxed his hand. “I know you said Luke, or whatever the fuck his name is, was just here by coincidence, and fine, I’ll give you that one. But I need to know, Hazel, has anything happened with him?”

“No, Michael. Absolutely not,” I said exasperatedly. The words came out in a rush, like I couldn’t get them out quick enough.

“Let me rephrase: have you kissed him?” I shook my head. “Fucked him?”

I shook my head again while simultaneously I pleaded, “No.”

“Did you let him touch you at all?”Yes.But it wasn’t how he was implying, so I answered honestly.

“No.”

Michael seemed to believe me. He wrapped his hands around my own as his knee bounced. He was lost in thought, and I was scared to imagine what was going on inside his head.

“Okay, I believe you, baby. I do.” Once the words left his mouth, I felt a hesitant wave of relief wash over me.

“I would never do anything to jeopardize us.”

He nodded in agreement, but when his eyes met mine, there was something behind the normal baby blue that made me think there was more to it than what he was letting on.

“I’m sure, baby. You would never do anything intentionally to jeopardize us, but…”

I sucked in a breath.

“What you do, or what you could do, may be unintentional. I just want to make sure you understand that your actions could have consequences for our relationship. You should stay away from men like him. Honestly, you should stay away from men in general.”

“Men like him?” I asked and immediately regretted it when I saw the anger flash across his face.

“Men that obviously want something more from you, Hazel. And I’m not talking about friendship,” he sneered.

“Michael, I don’t think—”

“You don’t think what, Hazel? That he doesn’t fantasize about what you’d look like spread out on his bed? Or on your knees with his cock shoved down your throat?” I winced as spit flew from his mouth. Each consonant was harsher than the last and drove home his point. “I can tell by the way he looked at you that he wants more than friendship, so don’t give me that shit unless you’re even more blind than I thought you were. Are you really that ignorant that you can’t see what’s going on right in front of you?”

Nothing was making sense anymore. Whether Michael was right or wrong, I didn’t know. But all I knew was that he was getting even angrier, and I had to do something to change the trajectory of the conversation.

Small beads of sweat had formed above his eyebrows, and his face was growing redder by the second as I sat silent in front of him. He was waiting on me to respond, but I needed to carefully craft my answer. That took time I knew I didn’t have. He squeezed his hands together in his lap before shooting out and gripping my upper arm.

“I’m so sorry. I really didn’t know anything. I won’t see him again,” I said in a hurry.

It must have been the correct response because his grip loosened once my words set in. The hand that had been gripping my arm wiped the sweat from his brow and then continued stroking my knee. My stomach rolled at the thought that his sweat-covered hand was touching me. Sweat that was only present because he was drunk and mad and unfathomably out of control.

“Good, baby. Do you understand now?”

I nodded, but thought better of it and said, “Yes.”

He scooted closer to the very edge of the coffee table that Luke fixed and took hold of my hips. Thinking of Luke for even a second made my heart hurt. For that one moment I thought maybe I had overreacted earlier and the emotion in his eyes wasn’t pity but worry. The thought was fleeting though. Only a few inches from my face, the reek of the alcohol even stronger combined with Michael’s body odor as he continued, “Everything I do, I do for us. I work so hard so that we can have the life we want and the life we always talked about. Do you remember when we were about to graduate, and we were sitting in the library studying for finals…”

Before he even started, I knew the moment he was going to implore me to remember. The peak of our happiness was in that moment, right before we realized—or I realized—that we had been jaded by the luxury of our childhoods.

“... and you had the best concentration face. I think you were studying for one of your literature class finals…”

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