Page 44 of Falling Too Late

Chance leaned forward, mirroring my position, his own drink in his hands. I felt his eyes roam over me, and suddenly I was thankful for the alcohol in my system, giving me confidence to not shrink away from his gaze.

I stared at him for a minute, my brain fuzzy. My eyes looked over him in appreciation. Chance was cute in a boyish way. His blond hair was cut short. He was wearing a seafoam-green collared shirt that made his eyes pop with a stronger hazel color, with a pair of light wash jeans. I felt like this was the first time I’d noticed how good-looking a guy could be.

Lies. You’ve noticed Alex.

The alcohol seemed to be affecting more than just my coordination, allowing wayward thoughts of Alex to come to the front of my mind, but I tried to push them back and focus on the boy sitting in front of me.

I realized I’d been staring at him a little too intently. He leaned in closer, and I froze. He was a breath away now and he paused, his eyes staring into me. His soft palm slid along the back of my neck, and panic once again gripped me.

I put my hand to his chest, halting him. “Stop!”?

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Alex’s voice boomed behind me.

CHAPTER 18

ALEX

I fastenedmy belt back in place. The water was running in the ensuite bathroom, Amanda rinsing her mouth out. I ran a hand through my hair and leaned against the bed. Amanda had pulled me aside and wanted to talk. I entertained her just long enough for her to pull me upstairs. Then I was in a position I hadn’t intended on being in tonight.

I scrubbed my hand down my face. I felt like an ass.

Wren does not want to date you. You did nothing wrong.

I would be reminding myself this over and over. Since the lunchroom conversation, I’d stopped letting myself think that Wren and I would ever be something more. I didn’t treat her any differently than I had before. I still welcomed her into my arms whenever she wanted to be there. I just had to remind myself that this would always just be this. A friendship. A platonic friendship.

Wren had been through so much that it only made sense that she would never want to be in a relationship. In a position to have sex with someone.

No shit, dumbass.

Amanda stood in the doorway of the bathroom, wiping her mouth with a towel. “Well, that was fun.”?

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. “Amanda, we shouldn’thave done that.” It felt wrong to be up here with Amanda when I had just left Wren downstairs.??

“What do you mean?” She batted her eyes at me, trying to force the look of innocence. “You didn’t do anything that I didn’t want.”

I shook my head at her again. “That’s never going to happen again.” I had stopped anything that could have happened between us the day that she called the police. I couldn’t trust her to keep her head down on my side of town.

Her face fell and she crossed her arms, knowing exactly what I was thinking. “Alex, what would you have had me do in that situation? She was literally screaming at the top of her lungs like a crazy person.”

“I had it handled.”??

“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have been the one to handle it. That was a police situation. She had a mental breakdown right there.”

Amanda wasn’t going to understand. She didn’t grow up where we did. She didn’t understand that you were to keep your head down and let things play out. You never called the cops. Amanda had been a nice distraction for a while, but I didn’t want anything more with her, and I knew she didn’t want anything with me. She just didn’t like that someone else had my attention.

I went to leave, but her voice stopped me.?

“Well, at least we gave your friend a show.”?

Confused, I turned back to her. “What are you talking about?”?

“You know, your, girlfriend.” She smirked at me. “Yeah, she must have been looking for you ’cause she popped her head in a little bit ago before realizing the position I had you in and then scampered off.”?She laughed. “Her face looked like she had seen a ghost.”?

My heart dropped out of my chest, and I pulled the door open, rushing out of the room. Standing at the top of the stairs, I looked down at the throng of people and triedto find Wren. When I couldn’t spot her from there, I got down, pushing through people and going room by room. I still couldn’t find her and I felt the panic start to bubble up in me. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I wasn’t supposed to be gone this long. I entered the kitchen and Jon was standing there, pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge.

“Hey, where’s Wren?”

“Out on the lawn. I was grabbing this.” He held up the water.

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