Page 166 of Always You

“Actually, no,” I confess.

He raises his eyebrows in question, and a feeling of guilt showers my body as I awkwardly look at him, quickly recalling my day with Hunter.

“So, I used to have a best friend...” I start with a cautious face.

“Other than Julie?” he asks, as I nod in response. “And she’s back in town?”

“Heis.”

He frowns in surprise, then gives me a sweet smile that I wasn’t expecting. “Youhad a guy best friend?”

“Yeah, his name is Hunter. We spent most of our senior year together.”

“I’ve never heard you talk about him.” His stance is open, and his face interested, making me a bit unsettled, not knowing how I even want him to respond.

“We kinda drifted when he moved to LA after graduation. He just moved back.”

“That’s nice. Can’t wait to meet him.”

“Right.” I get up, needing some space, though I don’t know why. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Alright, wanna have dinner tonight?”

“Actually, I think I’m gonna head to bed early, watch a movie.”

He gives me a troubled look, filled with sympathy, pissing me off even more. He’s the perfect boyfriend, supporting his girlfriend after a traumatic event, but I just want him to be angry, mad. I want him to scream with me, but then that’s a lie, because really, I just want to be alone.

“Are you sure you are okay?” He gets up, closing the distance between us, rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

“I need a break.” The words are blurted out before I can even process them.

Dark eyes look at me through thick black lashes. “From us?”

“From life. But yes, also from us.”

The last few days have been confusing as fuck. I was already feeling like shit, and now Hunter being back in town is fucking with my head, with no way to fix it.

But I don’t want Ben to fix it either. I want to wallow in my misery, with a bowl of ice cream, trying to figure out all the shit going on in my life.I just want to be alone.

“I know you’re going through a rough time…”

“It’s not just that. It’s everything. I just need time.Alone.”

He wants to argue with me, but I push out the air from my lungs when he nods.

“Okay.” His forehead rests against mine, then he presses a chaste kiss to my lips. I pray for a tingle, a curl of my toes.Anything. But all I get is more doubt when I feel nothing.

“Can I call you?”

“Yeah.”

He stares down at me, his hand softly going through my hair affectionately, the thing I loved about him. We met at the bar, where he came in with his co-worker from one of the local elementary schools a few towns farther away. He’s the baseball coach of the high school, and he looked damn sexy walking in with his black sweats and black t-shirt. His black hair was a little longer on top of his head, and messy from a day on the field.

He instantly caught my eye.

The next day, he took me on a date, and I loved how he kept running his hand through my hair, in the most endearing way, actually asking him to keep going.

Now I just want him to stop.

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