Page 26 of Where We Belong

Cory: You can’t help me. My heart has been broken too many times, and I’m not sure if I want to put myself on the line again.

Cory: I have things to do. Lose my number, okay?

Ben: I just want you to know that I wasn’t drunk when I kissed you. I stopped it because I thought it was for the best.

Cory: Best for who?

Ben: We have to discuss this in person.

Cory: Not interested but thank you.

Ben: Please, give me a chance.

Cory: Is this part of your therapy?

Ben: Probably.

Cory: Well, try to fix your shit without me, okay?

Ben: What if YOU are what I need to fix everything?

Cory: Then don’t. It’s pretty simple. Leave me alone.

Ben: I will, but if you find it in your heart to hear me out, you know where to find me.

Chapter Thirteen

Cory

Fucking Benedict Farrow.

I swear that man has a death wish. One of these days—probably tomorrow—I’m going to maim him, and no one will find his body. Okay, I need to rethink that plan because his daughter needs him for at least another fifteen years. But after that, he’s going to meet his maker, I swear.

Thanks to him, I was distracted during our meeting with the lawyers. My thoughts were consumed by Benedict. His recent texts burned in my mind, dragging me back to that kiss years ago. The kiss he gave me during my first college party when I was just a freshman. It’s ancient history now. It happened. He rejected me, and yet…

I’m still hurting.

I remembered it all too vividly. My hesitant lips, the warmth of his mouth… the fantasy that one day he would see me becoming a reality.

In that instant, I longed to beg of him, please, love me, be gentle with me. For one fleeting heartbeat of time, I thought he did—he was loving me. He caressed me with his tongue, his soul merging with mine. His hands were so tender as they cradled my face, his body pressed to mine with such warmth. In that beautiful, delusional instant, I felt seen, cherished, adored—like I was everything to him.

But as quickly as it bloomed, the fantasy died. The feeling that I meant something vanished, leaving me empty, used. The cold void tore ragged chunks from my naïve heart. For years after, I hoped we could regain that closeness, that intimacy. I twisted myself into who I thought he wanted, dimming my own light, just praying for another scrap of the affection I craved.

Anything to taste again that one perfect moment when I believed I was his entire world—when he was mine.

Now, now my heart is done with him. It took so long for me to realize I deserve more than a few crumbs of affection, more than constantly struggling to earn someone’s love and respect. I’ve been swallowing my own voice and needs for too long. The girl who lived for that kiss died years ago. Now there is only me, free to walk away and finally live for myself. My heart is still mending, but I am no longer his. I’m my own person.

“You okay?” Huxley asks as we leave the lawyer’s office.

“Yeah, fine,” I lie, keeping my eyes fixed ahead, hoping he’s still too enamored with his fiancée to notice the turmoil roiling inside me.

“You sure? You seemed distracted,” he presses.

“Just concerned about the lawsuit,” I say, trying to keep my tone light, casual. If he realizes this is about Benedict, we’ll fight. Huxley hates when I keep things from him and hates it more that I can’t let Ben go.

My twin is the one person I’ve never managed to fool. He’s known about my desperate crush since the first time we met Benedict years ago.

Hux scoffs, clearly not buying it. “You were completely checked out back there.”

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