Page 6 of Cruel Love

She hung up, and I couldn’t help but feel like I’d fucked up. It bothered me—a lot. I set my phone on the side table and lay back in bed. All I could think of was what it would be like to be with Aspen. My eyelids drifted shut, and those thoughts played on in my dreams.

CHAPTER FOUR

ASPEN

Sleep did not happen last night. All I could think of was what Phoenix had talked about and how he’d asked if I was his girlfriend. What could I say? “Sort of. We’re fake dating” wouldn’t go over without explanation, and I wasn’t comfortable giving one.

Max emerged from the stairwell, and I caught up with him halfway down the hallway. I was so glad we were still friends, and I was really trying to be better about asking him about his life and not just focusing on mine. We were both done with classes for the day, and I wasn’t scheduled to waitress that night at Dillon’s, the off-campus diner.

“Thanks for going with me to my doctor’s appointment.”

He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his side. “You know I’m here for it, baby girl.”

We exited the dorm and walked to the parking lot where I’d parked my car. Several girls looked our way. I didn’t blame them. Max was good-looking in that sexy, mischievous way that actor James Marsden from the movie 27 Dresses had. But Max was interested in guys.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Max squeezed me.

“Yeah, weirdly enough, I am. I was unconscious, so the crash didn’t affect me.” Even though what I’d said was true, revisiting the thought of the accident wasn’t what I wanted. I changed the subject to something much more fun. “What’s going on with your dating life?” I still felt terrible for crashing his rebound romance a little over a month before. But the guy he’d had in his room was a tool. I’d done him a favor, and when Max and I had both apologized, he’d admitted as much.

“Jaxon from art class asked me out.”

“Oh, nice!” Jaxon was a huge dude, and it was weird to see him with a sketchbook, his big hands dwarfing his drawing pencils. I pictured him playing basketball due to his height. “He’s cute. Did you go out yet?”

“Nope.” Max grinned and gave me another squeeze before letting go to get into the passenger side of my beater car. “We’re going to Dillon’s for dinner and then a movie.”

“Fancy.” I drew out the word as I got the car started, breathing a sigh of relief and sending a quick thanks to the car gods when the engine rumbled to life without stalling. It’d been doing that lately, and I did not want to dip into the baby fund to fix my rusty bucket-of-bolts hand-me-down car.

I still wasn’t touching Phoenix’s fight money. That was for the baby. And I suspected I would need it, especially if he didn’t get his memory back.

Away from school, I let loose everything that swirled around in my mind and kept me up for hours. “I talked to Phoenix on the phone last night.”

“Any progress?” Max put his phone away and gave me his full attention as we moved through the intersection.

“No. Not really. But he called me Surfer Girl. I about peed my pants.”

“That is promising.” Max tugged on a clump of my hair. “Some part of him knows who you are, even if his mind isn’t ready to release the memories yet.”

“That has to be it. It’s giving me hope, at least. But holy shit. He told me he didn’t remember losing his virginity.”

“Phoenix Bennett, a virgin? The smoke-show, one-and-done hottie? We are talking about the same guy, right?”

“Okay, smart-ass.” I laughed because it was funny if I didn’t focus on the tragic parts. “He propositioned me to come over and take care of that for him.”

“No, he didn’t.” Max burst out laughing. “How did you not run over there?”

He wasn’t kidding. I had barely stopped myself. The things that boy could do… but that was the problem. Mentally, he was fourteen, not the college freshman I’d had mind-blowing sex with at the cove over the summer. “I keep thinking he’ll remember and feel like I took advantage of him.”

“Says no guy ever.”

I pulled into the doctor’s office parking lot and got out and went inside. After checking in and taking a seat in the waiting room, I confided the other thing that was bothering me. “He’s more open than before the accident. He’s not constantly defensive. We talked. That rarely happened without one of us blowing things out of proportion and storming off, mad.”

“Then this could be an opportunity for you,” Max said as the nurse called me back. “Do you want me to stay here?”

“No.” I scrunched my nose. “I asked you to come with me for support, not wait out here.” We followed the nurse, and I leaned close to him. “What did you mean about it being an opportunity?”

“To get to know him without his defensive shields.”

The nurse took my blood pressure in the room and asked a few questions before saying the doctor would be in shortly.

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