Page 98 of Off Limits

“I-I—"

I tighten my hand on Lochlyn’s arm, causing him to look down at me. “Hey, baby girl. How are you?” Gently, he brushes his knuckles against my cheek. I missed every touch so much.

Snuggling my face into his chest, I give him a tiny kiss before sitting up.

I look between the two of them and breathe deep, making sure my voice is steady before I speak. “I don’t want you two fighting over me. So this is what’s going to happen.”

While looking directly at Chelsea, I take Lochlyn’s hand in mine, meeting her eyes with a fierceness I’ve never used on her before. Lochlyn pushes up to sit behind me, so his hand rests comfortably in my lap.

“Lochlyn and I are going to be together; we never should have been apart. We’re happy together, and we love each other, a lot.” His lips press gently to my shoulder. “I can understand that it may make you uncomfortable to see us together, so I promise we will do our best to keep anything beyond kissing out of this room. I don’t want you to be afraid to be in your own space.

“But that means I’ll be spending a lot of time at his apartment. We have a lot of time to make up for, thanks to you.” I’ve never been so blunt with Chelsea. It feels good. “You should be happy for that, because it means you can have Brendan come up and stay in here, and you won’t have to worry about being bothered.” Lochlyn tenses behind me, but I ignore him. His feelings on Brendan don’t matter right now.

“I’m going to pack a bag with some clothes and my books and stay at Loch’s for a few days. I love you, Chels, but I’m hurt and I’m mad. I had nowhere else to go for a few weeks. Now I do. And I want to be with him right now. More than I want to be with you. I need time to heal, and we need time to put the pieces back together.” Lochlyn has been resting his chin on my shoulder and tilts his head down to give me another kiss.

Chelsea looks at the ground and nods. I’ve never seen her upset before. At least not over anything I’ve said or done. “I’m sorry, guys. I really am. I understand, Shay. Go, spend the time you need. I’d even understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.” She’s feeling vulnerable. It’s a new look for her. And it’s about damn time she showed some humility and take responsibility for her actions.

“Chelsea, I still want to be your friend. But you hurt me. You made me choose between the two of you. That wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. And I can promise you that it was not the easy choice you thought it was.” I feel Lochlyn look up. He thought I chose her outright, that he had no chance. I never had the opportunity to tell him just how close I really was to choosing him. That I toiled over it for those days I asked him to give me space to think.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I could possibly begin to show you how truly sorry I am. I wish there was something I could—”

I hold my hand up to stop her. “It’s not necessary.” Besides, right now they’re empty words. Like Lochlyn said, she needs to show us.

“Well, I don’t know, babe,” Lochlyn grumbles behind me.

I turn to look at him, putting my hand on his chest. “No, it’s not important. It doesn’t matter. We’re together now, in the open, no more secrets, no more lies. We lost time, but we can get it back. We can make up for what we lost. No need to hold a grudge.”

“You’re too good of a person for me, Shay. I don’t deserve you.” He presses his forehead to mine.

“I agree,” Chelsea says behind us. She’s trying to make light of the situation, but he pulls away to glare at her. I know it’s going take a lot longer for him to forgive her.

He opens his mouth to say something back, but I push my hand harder against his chest.

Sliding off the bed, I bend down to get a duffle bag out from under it. Lochlyn stands next to me, arms crossed against his chest, standing guard as he glares at Chelsea. By the time I’m done, they still haven’t looked away from each other.

I put my hand on his cheek, turning his face to me, and pushing on my toes to give him a tiny kiss. “Hey, let it go.” His arms fall to his side as he relaxes.

Turning around to face Chelsea, I read a sadness in her eyes. “This isn’t goodbye, Chelsea. I just need some time, space. We”—I wave a hand between Lochlyn and myself—"need to be able to work through what happened. I chose you and turned him away, so we need to fix that.”

Leaning down, he kisses my neck. “It’s okay, Shay, I—”

“No.” I turn to face him. “No, I need to explain myself. And I will.” I lace my fingers through his, feeling invigorated not having to think about who’s around and being able to do what I want. “Let’s go.”

Grabbing my bag, he throws it over his shoulder. He brings my hand to his lips and then lets go, roping his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. Before he leads me out the door, I turn back to say a quick bye to Chelsea. Lochlyn does not.

Once we’re outside, he slides his arm down around my waist. We walk in silence to his car, where he tosses my bag in the trunk, not letting me leave his side. He opens my door for me, but before I can slide into the seat, he pushes me against the car, pressing tightly against me, his mouth on mine.

As his hand cups my chin, the world around us disappears. It’s just Lochlyn and I, together again.

The apartment door is still closing when Lochlyn pushes me against it, one hand against my neck, thumb grazing over my lower lip, while the other slides to my hip. “I missed you.”

His mouth closes over mine, hungrily and urgently.

“Babe,” I try to say. “Loch.”

“Loch.” I try a little louder. “Lochlyn.” I can barely get the words out around his hungry lips.

“What?” he asks as he moves to my neck.

---