Page 143 of Always You

“Well, you’re with me now. You can play catch up with her tomorrow.”

“What’s the problem, Laurie?”

She folds her arms in front of her body, making me roll my eyes at her childish behavior. “The problem is you talking to some other girl when you’re with me.” The buzzing sound of my phone stops, showing the missed call, before it almost instantly starts to ring again.

“She’s my best friend.” A worried feeling trickles down my skin, wondering if maybe Charlotte’s calling for something important.

“And I’m your fiancée.” Laurie pouts.Goddamnit.

“Exactly. Why are you being all insecure about this?” I look at the phone, dying to pick it up.

“Because you two have a history. I don’t trust her.” I quietly watch her for a few seconds when the buzzing stops again.

“What is not to trust? She lives on the other side of the country?”

“I don’t fucking care!”

“Do you trust me?” I ask, when the phone rings again, balling my fists to stop myself from answering.

“Yeah.” She says one thing, but her eyes clearly express something else. I’m not even gonna point that out.

“We’re just friends. Nothing is going on between us.”

“Fine,” she snaps, “but in that case, yourfriendcan wait until tomorrow.”

As much as she pisses me off, I’ve had a long day, and I don’t feel the need to get into this now, knowing there’s some truth to what she’s saying. I’m going to marry her. She should come first. Because at some point, that happens in life. You settle with a partner, get married, and they become your center of attention. But I’m not sure if I’ll be able to push Charlotte away like she wants me to. I owe her too much. She saved me, acting like my light when I couldn’t see the end of the tunnel.

“Please?” Laurie gives me a pleading look, slightly turning me on when her lashes flutter at me, a grin forming in the corner of my mouth. The phone stops ringing, and I grab it, sauntering toward her with a seductive smirk on my face, before it starts ringing in my hand again.

“Fine,” I say, cupping her face as I press a kiss to her lips. “Just let me send her a quick text, and then we can order some food.”

“Fine.” She rolls her eyes.

HUNTER:I’m in the middle of something. Will call you later.

“Happy now?”

“Yes. Now kiss me.” She beams as I throw my phone on the counter again, covering my mouth with hers, and it doesn’t take long until our kisses become more demanding, making my dick twitch in my jeans.

My hands explore the rest of her body, getting more turned on by the second, as I push that other feeling away, something fierce.

The feeling that I’ve just made a huge mistake.

58

I’m not okay.

When you are younger, you think your parents are invincible. Superheroes. You don’t think about them dying long before you have kids of your own, and until you’re completely independent. Not for me. I’ve known my mama could leave me since I was eight, preparing myself for that day to arrive sooner than I’d ever have kids. But now I realize you can never really prepare yourself for it. That’s bullshit. A white lie, you tell yourself, hoping you’ll be fine. Well, the truth is—I’m not fine.

I'm hollow.

“Have you heard from Hunter?” Julie hands me my glass, taking the seat in front of me on the screened porch.

I let out a snicker, though there’s nothing funny about it.

“Of course not. Bet you that Instagram-addicted bitch won’t let him.” I sound bitter, and frankly—I am.

I tried calling him a bunch of times, the night those police officers crushed my world in two. Even after he sent me a text to say he was busy, I brushed the rejection aside because I simply needed him. I needed my best friend to tell me everything was going to be alright. That I could get through this even though I had no clue how. But he never answered, and he never called back. He should've been standing next to me when they lowered my mother's casket in the ground.

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