Page 50 of Into the Woods

I stared at him for a beat, not sure how to reply.

Concern trickled into his expression. “Bex?”

“Uh, sure,” I stammered, unable to form an excuse for why this was never going to happen. Right now I just needed to get out of this car. “What time?”

He grinned. “I’ll pick you up at ten, does that work?”

“Absolutely,” I assured him, gently pulling away and opening the car door.

“Bex?” he called as I was about to close the door.

I froze and peered inside.

His dark eyes were fathomless pits. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you in my life. You’re extraordinary.”

A weak smile tugged at my mouth. “Eric, I can honestly say I’ve never met anyone quite like you, too.”

“Get some rest, love. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow,” I echoed as I stepped back and closed the door. I turned and headed for the front door and used my key to unlock it. Once inside, I quickly set all the locks and leaned against the heavy wooden barrier, catching my breath.

Inside my purse, my phone buzzed with an incoming message. I already knew it would be from Court, but I wasn’t ready to deal with him.

The house was dark and quiet, with only a few dim lamps lit downstairs and along the curving staircase. I needed a shower and my snuggliest jammies before crawling into my bed. Tomorrow I’d text Eric and tell him I’d gotten worse and had to cancel.

I was mentally rehearsing my excuse as I walked into my bedroom. I kicked the door shut and reached for the light switch. Warm light flooded my space, illuminating the man waiting on my bed.

My heart jumped into my throat, and I fell back against the door with a gasp. “How the hell did you get in here?”

Court stood up with a slow smirk. “Your grandparents’ idea of a security system is a joke, sweetheart.” His dark eyes swept the length of me. “You okay?”

I opened my mouth to say yes, but the word stuck in my throat. All of the stress and emotion of the night—hell, of the past year—crashed over me at once.

A pit of darkness opened in my mind, and then I was freefalling into it without any idea where it would end. The world spun as I slid down the door, tears flooding my eyes as I started to shake hard enough for my teeth to chatter. I caught the flash of fear in Court’s eyes a second before I squeezed my eyelids shut.

Before my ass could hit the floor, I was caught and lifted up, cradled against a warm chest, and held by strong arms.

CHAPTER 16

BEX

I buried my face in the fabric of his jacket. The supple leather absorbed my tears as I sniffled and breathed in the scent of the coat mingled with fresh soap.

Tomorrow I would mentally bitch-slap myself for falling apart all over Court Woods, but tonight I was going to leach comfort from him like a sponge, the way I had when I was little. Once upon a time, he’d been my protector, the one who made the bad things better.

I still remembered the day Doug Pearce had pushed me down when I’d tried to take the last swing on the playground. My ass had barely hit the ground when four shadows fell over me. Court, Ash, Ryan, and Linc stood behind me, having seen what was about to go down from the other side of the playground, where they’d been playing a game of pickup soccer with other fourth graders.

Court had helped me up and checked me for injuries while the others threatened Doug until he pissed his pants in front of all of Cloverleaf Private Elementary Academy. I knew for a fact Ryan, Ash, and Linc hadn’t touched Doug, but he’d had a black eye the next time I’d seen him at school, and the knuckles on Court’s right hand had been split.

No one gets to hurt you, Becca.

But then everything had changed, and the guy I’d thought would always have my back had abandoned me. He had been the one who hurt me.

Rubber bands wrapped around my chest, squeezing until I was sure my lungs would pop. My breaths came in choppy pants as tears clogged my throat and I turned my face into Court’s neck.

His arms tightened around me, a silent promise that he would keep out the world for tonight. “Becca,” he murmured as my sobs devolved into hiccups, “sweetheart, I need you to look at me. Come on, let me see those gorgeous eyes.”

I lifted my head and blinked up at him.

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