Page 50 of All Our Almosts

“Elliot—” I try to pull away but he shifts his grip to my upper arms.

“I haven’t even told my family we broke up. I couldn’t do it. We’ve been together for three years, Soph. You really want to throw all that away? They expect me to marry you. They expect grandkids. I thought you wanted kids!”

“I do—”

“Just stop this, Sophie.” His fingers are bruising, but his expression is longing, and it’s tearing my self-restraint in two. “Please. You don’t belong with someone like him. You’re supposed to be with me.”

Then his lips crash against mine, and my adrenaline spikes. I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want this. I shove at his chest but it’s no use. I can’t be here. But I can’t break free. So I do the only thing I can think of and bite his lip, hard enough to draw blood.

“Ow! The fuck?”

He releases me more forcefully than he means to and I stumble back, slamming against the bar and shattering a glass before hitting the ground, the taste of iron in my mouth. Then someone else’s hands are on my arms, but these hands are gentle, coaxing me up and setting me on a barstool. It’s Andy—his palm cupping the side of my face and eyes flitting over my body.

“Sophie, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I… uh… I don’t know.”

Andy spins to face Elliot. “What did you just do to her? What the fuck did you just do?” He crosses a protective arm in front of me—my seatbelt. I’m safe.

Elliot rises to the challenge, taking a step towards Andy with rage in his eyes. “Get the hell away from my girl, man. I’m not playing around.”

But Andy has a solid three inches on him and isn’t backing down. He steps in closer still, glaring down like death and speaking low enough that I’m not sure whether I really hear him say, “She’s not your girl anymore. And even when she was yours, she’s always been mine.”

“Fuck you,” Elliot spits, reaching around him to grab for me again.

And that’s when Andy punches him—clean across the face.

I have never, ever seen Andy do anything violent in his life. He’d always protected me and helped me in his own ways. But it’s like a caveman part of his brain came to life for the first time: all instinct, no remorse, just to defend me.

The room is a crush of bodies and sound, yet somehow the bouncer finds us in an instant—thick arms shoving them apart, booming voice yelling step away. Elliot is bent over, hand clutching his jaw. Andy raises his arms in a sign of peace as he turns to me.

“We’re leaving, right Soph?”

But something he sees has his face falling. He rushes up, one hand on my cheek, the other gently cupping my right elbow. I look down and see there’s blood on his fingers, blood on the broken glass across the bar. I can’t even feel it, my adrenaline is so high, but my lip is starting to tremble with the shock of it all.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” he assures.

Then Andy lifts me into his arms, storming out of the bar and not looking back.

15

“I’m just going to get the first aid kit and I’ll be right back, okay?”

I nod from my seat in the kitchen as wayward tears streak down my face. I’m not even in pain with the shock of it all, but emotions are crashing over me all at once and I can’t make it stop.

“I’m so embarrassed.” There’s a catch in my voice I can’t conceal. “It’s just a cut, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Andy reemerges from the bathroom carrying a blue and white bin labeled First Aid, as well as a washcloth and a bowl of soapy water. He pulls out the chair next to me, positioning us face-to-face and setting the supplies beside us on the kitchen table. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m just going to take a look and then we can decide if you need stitches, okay?”

“No stitches,” I insist. “My insurance sucks. And I don’t think it’s that bad, really. I’m sorry I’m crying.” I wipe more tears away, laughing a little. “I’m even ruining the eyeliner Rayna did. This is so silly.”

“It’s not silly.” His voice is firm, calm. “But Soph, I need you to take off your shirt so I can see the cut. Do you want a blanket or something?”

I shake my head. “No, that’s okay, just give me a second.”

He politely looks away as I pull my turtleneck up and over my head, then drop the ruined garment on the table.

“There, all set.”