Page 48 of Leave Before I Love You
I roll my eyes. “One of those asshole journalists asked me if it was a fucking stunt I pulled for marketing.”
“What the fuck?” Ronnie narrows his eyes. “Which one?” he questions, looking toward the boisterous crowd of media with scrutiny. “Point him out, Hen. Point that motherfucker out.”
I clap a hand to his back. “Don’t worry about it, man.”
“Yeah, Ron,” Mav chimes in. “Now isn’t the time for you to start a fucking brawl. That shit would go viral. Too many cameras.”
“All right,” Ron agrees. “But if you need a distraction to get the fuck out of here, you let me know.” Before I can nod or tell him that that’s actually a good idea, he pulls me back into a bone-crushing hug. My back aches with the pressure, all screwed up from sleeping on the ground for two weeks, but I don’t say anything. For Ronnie Damon to be this emotional means something. “Fuck, Henry. I’m so fucking glad you’re okay. We’ve all been worried sick.”
“Thanks, Ron,” I say, my voice rough. It’s exhaustion. It’s emotion. It’s everything. “It’s good to see you guys.”
Mav follows suit, giving me another hug with a hearty clap to my back. “You scared the shit out of us, man. I swear I’ve never seen Ron cry so much.”
“Fucker,” Ron whispers under his breath as I laugh.
“It’s good to be back.” It’s a dichotomous statement—both true and false at once. Being back is everything I prayed and hoped for every day, and yet I haven’t felt right since we got here.
Avery’s hugging Beau now, her face pressed into his shoulder and her niece Addy patting her hair. June is holding Avery’s hand, tears streaking her cheeks, and Neil has an arm around Diane, both of Avery’s parents looking like they’ve aged a decade in the past two weeks. And her grandparents watch on—Phil and Bev standing sentry behind Neil, while Bill comforts Judy over to the side.
Avery turns her head slightly, and for a split second, our eyes meet. My whole body locks up tight. The need to hug her, hold her—it’s so fucking overwhelming. I’ve spent the last thirteen dayswith this woman. Every single minute, second, hour was spent together, trying to survive and cope and find a way to get through it all.
We’re bonded.
The urge to go to her, to tell her I’ll never forget the nights we spent together on the island, to tell her that I don’t want what we shared to stop now that we’re home, is right there, so close to fruition I actually take a step.
“Henry!” a familiar female voice yells from the opposite direction, stealing my attention and sending my stomach to my toes.
Ashley.My fucking girlfriend.She’s running toward me, her blond hair flying behind her, tears streaming down her face as she busts through the line of reporters and shoves Ronnie and Mav to the side. She throws her arms around me before I can react and sends my weakened body back a step with the impact of her weight.
“Oh my God, Henry! I thought… I thought I’d lost you!” Her voice cracks, and at the sound of her anguish, I feel like the world’s biggest asshole. The only time I thought about Ashley in the last thirteen days was when Avery asked me about her, and upon arriving here, it stings to admit, but I didn’t even think to look for her.
She’s a nice woman and an innocent victim in a conflicted situation, but right now, her body against mine feels like the enemy. A betrayal to the nights I spent cuddled with Avery and the very real sex we had on the island—my cock deep inside her and my eyes locked on her face when she came.
It’s so fucking ironic that the reality is the exact opposite.
“God, Henry. I was so worried,” Ashley chokes out. “S-so scared.”
“I’m okay,” I say, my voice hollow. “I’m here.”
Ashley pulls back just enough to look at me, her hands still gripping my arms. “I can’t believe you’re actually here,” she says, her eyes searching mine. “I’ve been praying for you every single day, Henry. Praying that you’d come back to me.”
Come back to her.
Ashley’s grip tightens, and she presses her face into my chest.I wrap my arms around her out of reflex, but my eyes keep drifting back to the crowd, searching for Avery. She’s nowhere to be seen, and the ache in my chest deepens.
For thirteen days, it was just Avery and me.Together.
Now, there’s another woman in my arms, and I’m not sure where we stand at all.
Avery
If my island tan were just a little bronzier, not only would I feel like a goldfish in a bowl being ogled by an entire city, but I’d look like one too.
My ears ring from the helicopter, and my heart pounds in percussive harmony with the sound. The cameras haven’t stopped flashing, and my body hasn’t breathed air since we got here, smothered instead by the desperate hugs of my parents and grandparents and Beau and June and Addy, and now, to make matters worse, there’s a woman fondling Henry Callahan like she owns him, and she isnotme.
“God, Avery!” June cries into my neck, still worked up fifteen minutes into our arrival. I barely manage to keep my balance as she clings to me. Her tiny baby bump presses against my stomach, and she’s sobbing again like a water main break. “I can’t believe you’re here! You’re really here!”
“Relax, June,” I say, patting her back as gently as I can. “I’m fine. See? All in one piece.”
