Page 80 of Surviving Lies

I knew I sounded desperate, but I really didn’t care.

“OK, Becca. I’ll be waiting for you.”

As I approached Gage’s door, my heart palpitated and my palms were sweaty. I wasn’t sure if it was from what happened the day before or that we hadn’t really spent time together since our somewhat failed attempt at sex.

I kinda thought it was both. My hand moved up to knock but hit air as the door swung open before I could.

“Hey,” he said in a low, seductive timbre.

I guess I’d forgotten how fucking gorgeous he was. Because when he opened that door and I saw him for the first time in days, he took my breath away. My state of mind, I’m sure, had something to do with it.

“Hi,” I returned, trying to be equally seductive, but feared I failed. Regardless, he gathered me in his arms and pulled me close, which was the reaction I was aiming for. I fell into his embrace, and we stood like that for a few minutes.

“You OK, Becca?” he whispered at the top of my head. He pulled away slightly and looked down at me, those dark-chocolate eyes inquisitive.

“I’ll be fine. Even better if we don’t talk about it. Can we just go inside?”

He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me through the open door. It was quite dark in his apartment but smelled amazing. When we reached the living area, I realized why. He had the lights down low and several candles lit around the room.

It was positively enchanting. And sexy.

The glimmer of the candles reflected off the metal tables they rested on. Eventually, my eyes landed on Gage.

“You look beautiful in this light,” he said. “And listen, this was not with any intention of, well, anything. I heard something in your voice, and I just thought this might be kind of nice, that’s all.”

Well, fuck. He was being thoughtful. That was not expected. And not what I really wanted at the moment. What I wanted to do was rip his clothes off and fuck him.

“We can pop a movie on if that would help. Whatever you want, Becca. You tell me.”

So accommodating. Possibly feeling guilty? But I didn’t care at the moment. I just needed to forget everything that had happened to me earlier.

“Anything, Gage. Anything to keep my mind off of my weekend so far, please.” I whispered the cracked words through the tears I held back. My phone continued to ping in my pocket, adding to my addled mental state.

“OK, Becca, come sit down,” he said as he led me to the couch. He sat me in my favorite spot in the corner of the sectional. As I curled up against the cushion, he covered me with a blanket. “I’ll be right back.”

While I waited for him to return, I shot a text to Lanie.

Me:

Made it to school now I’m at Gage’s

Lanie:

Perfect I should be back in a couple hours

Gage came back in with a big bowl of popcorn and two cans of soda. “So, action movie or chick flick?” he asked.

“Action all the way. The louder and noisier, the better, and you pick. My brain is shot.” I reached for the bowl, suddenly starving. “But I need something stronger than soda tonight. That will not cut it.” I motioned to the cans.

“Well, OK,” he responded as he sauntered to his bar. “What will it be? Wine? Beer?”

I felt like that wasn’t even enough to drown out the chatter in my head.

“How ’bout some of that brown shit you always drink?” I offered as I watched him over the back of the couch.

He turned slowly toward me, his eyebrows raised high. “You want a bourbon?” he asked incredulously.

“Sure, why not?” I retorted. “Are you insinuating I can’t handle it?”

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