Page 59 of Desperate Needs

“Oh, um, yeah. We’re just having fun, Shell.” I shrugged, playing off the strength of my feelings for the man.

“I see. Just be careful, Clem, Sometimes when you’re having fun, you fall. And falling can get people hurt,” she whispered before hugging me goodbye.

I gnawed on that little gem the rest of the afternoon before I showered and dressed carefully for my dinner date.

He was supposed to pick me up himself, but I received a terse text from Connor around 6:30.

Connor

I am sending a car to pick you up in ten minutes to bring you back to my place.

It was a little strange, but not much. I assumed he had a reason.

Business or something.

I straightened my long, stretchy skirt and made sure my top was in place. A wave of nervousness hit me, and I placed my hand over my soft belly and tried to breathe normally.

What the heck was I doing?

I shouldn’t think so hard about this. It’s just dinner with Connor.

But it felt like more.

Something was different. It had felt off ever since he texted me, like the air had shifted.

I couldn’t shake the sense that something was coming. The moment I saw his name on my phone screen, a knot formed in my stomach. Part anticipation, part dread.

I told myself this was just a casual fling. But inside, I knew that wasn’t true. My feelings for him were anything but casual.

That text wasn’t the usual kind of message he’d send—short, casual, and full of the playful banter.

This time, the words were more deliberate, almost cryptic. The tone was different, charged with something unspoken.

I read it over and over, trying to make sense of it, but the uncertainty lingered, hanging in the back of my mind like a storm cloud.

Since then, every little thing had felt off. Oh, I told myself I was just being fanciful. I had a tendency to do that, but I just couldn’t help it.

After the girls left and I’d read his text, the quiet in my apartment seemed louder.

The space around me felt too still. Like the world was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

I kept glancing at my phone, half-expecting another message. Waiting for Connor to say ‘just kidding, I am on my way’ or something like that.

But it never came, and I was left with the distinct impression that something was simmering beneath the surface.

Something fierce and wild.

Untamable. Like him.

Truth was, it wasn’t just his strange text that made me feel unsettled. It was the instinctual sense that something was looming just out of reach.

My mother always told me the universe had a way of waiting for the right moment to reveal the secret truths it had in store for us. It was her way of explaining the years she and Pop had been separated.

Their story was so damn incredible, but I knew that wasn’t for me. I mean, that kind of love just didn’t happen every day.

I loved my parents. But sometimes I was overwhelmed by the impossible standard they set.

Connor didn’t love me. And the realization broke my heart a little.

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