Page 75 of His Every Move

I wanted to kiss him. Fuck, I really wanted to kiss him.

“I’m sorry. Again. For being a creep. For not telling you everything from the start.”

“It’s okay,” I said, genuinely accepting his apology. “Just promise you won’t hide things from me again. Or watch me, unless I’m streaming and you’re tipping.” I gave him a wink to show I wasn’t being fully serious.

“I swear it. And I swear I’m going to stop drinking. Get things back in order.”

“And I’ll help out however I can.”

He smiled and squeezed my hand in his. He looked around the room, appearing to notice it for the first time since he got here. “Alright, so now tell me what happened last night? Why are you staying at one of the more expensive hotels in the city?” Benji’s eyebrow arched. “Not that I’m complaining.”

I chuckled at that, even though the question made my skin crawl. “Yeah, well, Iamcomplaining. Nomad broke into my apartment yesterday.”

Benji’s jaw dropped. “What? How?”

“Through the fire escape. Broke the window.”

“Fucking hell. Eli, fuck. I’m so sorry I wasn’t in the right mindset to help you.”

“It’s okay. I understand. It sucked, that’s for sure, but thankfully, I wasn’t home, and neither was Fran. The cops came and said they have video of the person they think it is.”

“Did you see the video?”

“Mhmm. It’s from a coffee shop next to my building. It shows a lanky guy running down the street ten minutes after the break-in happened. He had a sweater on and had the hood over his head, so I couldn’t see a face. But the sweater was white, and there was clearly blood around the front pocket, where his hands were.”

Benji glanced down at his bandaged hand. I cocked my head. “You know, it’d be dumb of me if I didn’t ask…”

“I punched a mirror last night. In my drunken haze, I must have been pissed off at myself. I know it’s not great timing, but I swear, that’s what happened.”

If it weren’t for the security cam footage, I would have found myself slightly more suspicious of how Benji hurt his hand. But I believed him.

I felt like I was making the right choice in trusting him.

Please, please, please, don’t prove I’m wrong.

Chapter27

Benji Morrison

I had to be dreaming.None of this could be real. Was I really this fucking lucky?

I messed up, but I owned it, and Eli appeared to have accepted my apology. He wasn’t kicking me out or raising his voice. He wasn’t smiling, either, but who was I to complain about anything? At least there was a chance for me to earn that smile back. That’s all I needed.

A chance.

“I’m sorry again. Really.” I tested the waters by reaching for his hand. He didn’t pull away.

“Just please, Benji, don’t fuck this up.”

“I won’t,” I said, smiling. His lips twitched, curling at the corners. I was getting there, breaking through the invisible wall that had been erected between us—all because of me. “And I’ll make it up to you.”

“You better. That’s a whole lot of making up.”

“I fucked up. I really, really did. But I’m awake now. I can see what needs to be changed. And I’m going to change it—for myself.”

“Good. You need to make sure you’re open to changing. It’s not going to be an easy road, but I know you can do it.” His hand squeezed mine. His lips curled up a little more, his blue eyes glinting in the light shining from the floor-to-ceiling window. We were on the thirtieth floor of the hotel, giving us a picturesque view of the city. Yet, no matter how beautiful the view could be, I found that my eyes wouldn’t drift away from Eli’s.

I got him back. I thought I was going to lose him, but this may have just made our bond even stronger.

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