Page 13 of Coming Home to You
As I’m wandering the cereal aisle, looking for Lucky Charms even though I already have a cart full of crap, I nearly collide with Mrs.Holmes.She’s a sweet old woman, who was born and raised in Rockport and can’t help but find her way into the lives of everyone in this tiny ass town.
“Oh, Kelsey, dear, I heard what happened to you,” she says sympathetically, as she eyes my neck.My hand immediately moves to cover up the bruising, although I know there’s no hiding the marks.“How did you get involved with such an awful gentlemen?”
“I don’t know, Mrs.Holmes, but…” I try to sound casual while trying to avoid this conversation, but this old woman is quick and she cuts me off.
“It’s such a shame.You and Beck, he was such a sweet boy; you should have ended up with him.You know the whole town was certain you’d be married, especially after we all found out you two had been,” she whispers the next word like she just said ‘fuck’ in a room full of nuns, “fornicating.”
“Oh, sweet jesus,” I mumble under my breath.Shit, it’s times like this that I don’t blame Beck for bailing out of this town so fast it was like his ass was on fire.“It was nice to see you Mrs.Holmes,” I say, as I forget the Lucky Charms and ditch her before she can say anything else.
After a speedy check out and an even hastier loading of my groceries into my car, I’m on my way home, where I fully intend to put this bullshit behind me by gorging myself on chicken pot pie and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.I know Finn and his guys are doing all they can, and I have to let that be enough for me or else this is going to consume my life.
As I drive home, I can’t help but laugh at Mrs.Holmes and her nosiness.It always drove Beck crazy, but I understood the town’s obsession with us.There was little going on in this town and Beck and I were a break from the boredom and monotony of it.
There’s nothing better than first love and Beck and I made it no secret that we were infatuated with each other.The gossip drove him crazy, but I found it kind of sweet.All the talk about us getting married and having babies and Beck taking over as police chief had me dreaming of a quiet life that had a ring on my finger and Beck by my side.In the end it was all too much for him.He wanted more and I couldn’t give it to him.
I wish I could say I don’t think about it often, that I don’t think about him or what could have been our future, but that would be a lie.There isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t cross my mind.
I pull into my driveway and grab my bags off the seat next to me as I make my way to the front door.When I open the door, there he is sitting on the couch.The one person I never thought I’d see again.
Beck.
“How the fuck did you get in here and what did you do to my dog?”I ask through clenched teeth.I can feel my jaw tighten and my teeth begin to ache.
Beck is on the couch, his leg crossed and his foot resting on his knee.He’s wearing a navy blue suit that looks so damn good on him that I hate myself for even thinking it.Bella, my stupid guard dog, has her head resting on his lap.What.The.Fuck.
Without moving off the couch or even attempting to greet me, not that I expected it considering the way things ended ten years ago, he says, “Even after all this time, some things never change.”His tone is smug and his face impassable.
“What’s that, Beck?”I question with my eyebrows raised and a harshness to my voice.
He smiles and I nearly lose it.My grocery bags slip from my hands and hit the ground prompting Bella to look up at me, but she still returns her head to Beck’s lap.
That smile.That fucking smile.He’s so goddamn beautiful and it almost makes me forget why I’m so angry with him.
“Your alarm code,” he says casually.“And what can I say, the bitches love me.”He shrugs his shoulders as he looks down at Bella and then back at me.
My mouth twitches involuntarily into a smile and I bite down on my bottom lip to stifle it.He’s always been a cheeky fucker.
Before I can pick up my groceries, Beck is there doing it for me.He carries them into the kitchen and sets them down on the island with Bella trailing closely behind him.I storm into the kitchen after the two of them, already hot and fired up.
“Some guard dog you are, you whore,” I snarl at Bella, taking my anger out on her.
“Ah, see.That’s the girl I love,” Beck says and something inside me snaps.
“Get out of my house!”I scream, and I can feel my face heat up and the tears pool in my eyes.“Get out.Now!”
“Kels, baby, don’t be that way,” he says.
“No!You don’t get to come back here after all this time and act like nothing’s changed.You don’t get to fuck with me.You don’t get to have me, Beck.”My hands are shaking as the tears fall down my cheeks.
“Kels, please,” he practically begs and something in his voice stops me.“Just hear me out.”His eyes lock with mine and my breath catches in my throat.He’s far more gorgeous than I even remember.Time has been good to him.He’s more muscular and defined than when I last saw him.He’s filled out and the suit he’s wearing hugs his body perfectly, like it was made for him.But I can’t get distracted by all of this.I have to remind myself that he left me.
“Why are you here?”
“Why do you think I’m here?”he responds back and it just annoys me.
“I’m too tired for games, Beck.Stop dicking around.”I run a hand through my hair and sigh.
“I’m here because I know you’re in trouble.”
