Page 433 of Not Over You

My mind is still melting with the bombardment of information when the door jerks open. I jump up and nearly topple back into the tub when Benji storms in.

“What the fuck,” he hisses at me, quietly clicking the door closed.

My eyes stay on it until he shakes his head and steps in my line of sight.

“Don’t worry. My brother’s checking out our music setup in our other spare room.”

“Oh.” It’s all that comes out, and I force my eyes to the floor.

Because looking at Benji right now is not an option. My entire world froze over when Archer stepped out of the way, and I saw him. He looks almost exactly the same, only his jaw seems sharper, his muscles more developed.

Fuck, why am I thinking about his muscles.

“Charlie,” he says, and my eyes shoot up to his face.

He has a cold look to him, a harshness I’ve never seen before, and I can’t stop my lower lip from trembling. It hurts. It all hurts as much as it did when it happened.

“Fuck,” he breathes, and then he reaches for me. “Come here, CJ.”

A whimper escapes me as he pulls me to his chest. My arms fly around him, and I grip his flannel overshirt as tightly as possible. Like if I never let go, everything will be all okay again. The way it was before between us.

“I didn’t know,” I tell him, my voice weak.

God, I hate feeling this way. I’ve always kept my anger at the forefront of my mind when it comes to Benji, but something tells me that’s not going to work anymore.

He pulls back and swipes the tears from under my eyes with his thumbs. It’s oddly intimate and has me moving away from him.

“Don’t,” I snap, harsher than I intend.

Hey, there’s the anger.

“Okay,” he replies with a distance to his voice, but then he lets out a deep sigh. “Look, it’s been a long time since…whatever happened between us.”

My glare jerks up to find him, standing with his back against the door, seemingly without a care in the world.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he says.

“Like what?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Like you want to slap me. I’m trying to apologize for what happened graduation night. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I shouldn’t have done…” He trails off and takes another deep breath.

My fists clench, hidden by my arms, and I dig my nails into my palms. I always knew he regretted what he said, but to hear him admit it.

“Can we just agree we were both a little drunk that night and put it all behind us? Pretend it never happened?”

I want to remind him I was stone cold sober that night, but right now, Benji’s offering me a much needed life preserver. We can leave that night in the past, ignore the regrets and pain, and just move forward.

With a nod, I let my hands fall to my sides, keeping my palms facing away from him so he can’t see the crescent shapes I’m sure to have left in my skin.

I notice a muscle jerk in his jaw before he fakes a smile and moves to open the door. Just as quickly as he appeared, he disappears, leaving me alone in the bathroom.

A few stray tears escape, and I wipe them away with my hand, promising myself those are the last tears I’ll ever let myself cry for Benji Jones.

After another minute of getting myself together, I open the door. Archer is just coming out of the room across the hall with Jordan on his heels. Benji is nowhere to be seen. Jordan gives me a tight smile, and if I had to guess he’s not a fan of me.

He heads down the stairs at the end of the hall, and Archer hooks his head for me to follow him into the guest room where we left our bags.

As he shuts the door, he catches me with his arm and drags me to him. I can’t help but laugh at him as he buries his face in my neck and lets out a huge sigh.

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