Page 35 of A Love Like That

“Fuck,” I muttered into the mattress.

I groaned and stood, catching myself on the dresser. I frowned when I noticed my keys were gone. And then everything came back to me in a rush.

Ellie standing by my bed. I could still remember the feel of her skin beneath my hands. The warmth and softness.

Savannah calling out…

Oh god.That got my heart pumping even faster.

Bennett’s name flashed on the screen, and I assumed he was calling about Rex. I fumbled to answer it. “Hello?” I cleared my throat and tried once more. “Bennett?”

“Hey,” Bennett said. “Were you sleeping?”

“I, uh—” I rubbed my eyes, still disoriented. “I took something for my knee last night, and I had a bad reaction.”

“You okay?”

“I will be.” My head was spinning, but at least my knee wasn’t throbbing. “What’s up with Rex?”

After Ellie had gone downstairs last night, I’d tried to get dressed so I could help them load Rex into the car. But I’d barely made it a few steps before I’d had to lie down so I wouldn’t vomit.

I was never mixing beer and those pills again. Fucking terrible idea.

“Rex’s surgery went well, and he’s recovering. We’ll keep him overnight, and you can pick him up from the clinic tomorrow.”

“Surgery?”

“He swallowed a string, and it was blocking his intestines.”

I winced. How had I not even noticed? And then to be completely useless when everyone needed me? To hit on Ellie and to…

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Bennett said, as if he’d read my thoughts. “These kinds of things happen all the time.”

I let out a deep sigh and sank down on the edge of the bed. The things I’d said to Ellie. The things I’d done…Fuck.

And all the while, she’d just been trying to tell me that she needed help with Rex.

“Ellie was right to bring him in, and she was great with Savannah.”

My eyes widened. Savannah?Shit.The kids should’ve been my first thought.

Bennett was still talking, explaining something about Rex’s procedure and the recovery protocol. Ending on, “Rex really is going to be okay.”

I scoffed. Yeah. That’s what the doctors had said about Tessa after her surgery too. And she wasn’t fine. Far from it.

Tessa.I squeezed my eyes shut as bile rose in my throat. “Gotta go.” I ended the call and rushed to the bathroom, dry heaving over the toilet until I slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

What have I done?

Trusting that Ellie was downstairs with the kids, I switched on the shower and stepped inside. I replayed everything that had happened from the moment I’d seen her standing next to my bed to the moment she’d threatened to tie me to it.

We hadn’t kissed. We’d barely touched. And yet it felt like so much more.

I couldn’t stop thinking of Ellie’s soft curves and smooth skin. Her tattoo. My cock stirred, and I pressed my hand against it.

What had I been thinking?

I hadn’t been. That was the problem. I’d been acting on instinct. Finally giving in to my desires.

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