Page 97 of Whenever You Call

What I was feeling. What I could give. How good I knew we could be together. It all had to come out, and I was ready.

But when I reached my place, and I finally looked up and came to a halt, I thought I was dreaming because standing outside my door was Hannah. Beautiful, blonde-haired, bright-eyed Hannah, who still had that air of devastation about her as she stood before me wearing a simple white summer dress and small leather jacket, pushing her short hair behind her ear as her gaze locked onto mine.

Time stood completely still.

For a moment too long, all we did was stare at each other.

Fuck, she’s beautiful, and I’m so in love with her, it fucking hurts to want her so badly.

My memory had done her no favors. I forgot that the blush on her cheeks had become my new favorite shade of pink. I forgot that her bow lips made me want to sink my teeth into her and pull her body close to mine. Most of all, I forgot how much that lingering sadness in her eyes made me want to erase every moment of heartache she’d ever endured, only to fill her life with new, happier moments and memories now. Better ones, featuring better days.

“Hannah…”

“For a moment, I was worried I’d knocked on the wrong door,” she said softly, leaning against the door.

“You’re here,” I whispered.

“I don’t know why.” She looked down at the car key in her hand as she twisted it around. “But here I am anyway. Every time I thought about calling you, it didn’t feel like enough. If this is going to be our goodbye, I needed to see you when we said it.”

Like fuck I’m going to let this be goodbye.

You’re mine.

I couldn’t believe my damn luck, but as her eyes rose to meet mine again, I knew she was a scared animal, ready to bolt if I made so much as one wrong move.

“Do you think it’s going to be our goodbye?” I asked carefully. “Do you… want it to be?”

“Nobody ever wants to say goodbye, Logan, but sometimes it's necessary.”

Fuck. She really meant it. Despite the obvious sadness lingering around her, she’d grown a little stronger too, and I had to wonder what the hell she’d been up to since she ran out of that gym and away from me. Where had she been, and what had pushed her shoulders back and given her that extra bit of strength I’d always wanted to see in her?

“You left LA, didn’t you?”

She nodded her response.

“Why?”

“I had to get out of here. I needed space.”

“From me?”

“From youandhim.”

I hated being lumped into the same sentence as the guy who I couldn’t connect with on any level anymore, but that was the price I had to pay for having lied to her.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“Seattle,” she said, pushing her shoulder up against the door. “I thought it was about time Bella knew where she came from. We did a little soul searching while we were there, the two of us.”

“Did it help?”

“In some ways.” Her brows pulled together. “But not as much as I hoped it would.”

I took a step closer. “Why not?”

“Because I came back with just as many questions as I left with, and most of them center around you.” She focused back on the key in her hand as though that held all the answers. As though she didn’t see me stalking closer. “About what happened. How you came into my life. Whether I should trust you or let you go. Whether everything had been a lie and you were just a figment of my imagination—someone I conjured up into something he never really was.”

I closed the distance completely until she straightened up against the door, and I could feel her body heat not far from mine. I saw the worried flickering of her eyes as she searched my face, a slight hint of pain lingering there that she desperately tried to hide.

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