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“So this party?” She smiles and I feel my nerves twisting in my gut.
“I mean, it’s only been a week and the party won’t be until next month so I really don’t know why I’m bringing it up, but yeah. Everyone gets a plus one and I - I don’t know. I just thought I’d tell you, I guess.” I’m beginning to ramble as she stares up at me, the nerves in my stomach amplified by the electric shock of gold that floods over her green eyes from the lights beaming around us.
“Ben?”
“Yeah?”
“I won’t be bringing a plus one.” She smiles up at me and I can’t help but match her as relief floods my senses.
“You won’t?”
She twists as she lets go of my hand, reaching up to wrap her arms around my neck and thread her fingers in my hair. She pushes onto her tip-toes as I wrap around her waist and she shakes her head.
“No.” She pulls me closer to her lips. “I don’t want one. I don’t need one.”
Her kiss is sweet and reassuring, meant only to soothe my mind, and I melt into it.
“If you want one though…” She smirks against my lips as her words trail off and I squeeze her slightly.
“You aren’t even funny, Wilcox.” I nip at her lip and she yelps in surprise.
“No?”
“No. Why the fuck would I bring someone else when I’ve got Mikaela fucking Wilcox in my arms right now?”
I kiss her again, letting myself get lost in the enrapturing feeling of her; her breath mixing with my own, her needs and wants and desires matching the ones I have ignored for so long.
Mikaela
I pull away with reluctance when someone clears their throat behind us, the noise dripping with dissatisfied disinterest, and a groan slips from my lips as Ben’s arms loosen around me. I’m not usually a kissing in public kind of person, and discomfort settles in my gut as I turn to apologise.
“I’m so sorry -”
The words are gone. Air is gone. My hands go slack as my entire body becomes clammy and unnaturally warm. My hips sting and my back aches and my stomach, previously alive with butterflies and admissions, is now a dead weight; dragging me down.
I can’t move. I need to move.
Why can’t I move?
Ben’s eyes are trained on me for just a second before he looks up, and then his body is stiff as a board and his grip on me tightens.
He pulls me back so that I’m against his chest and his heartbeat steadies me. I breathe with it. In for four and out for four. Neither of us speak. Neither of us move from this position, but my fingers dig into his arm as I cling to him and try to stave off the darkness creeping over me, and he holds me like he can stop me from crumbling.
“I should have guessed.” That voice, like nails dragging underneath my skin, rakes over me and I flinch with his words. Joshua Lucas holds venom in every syllable.
“Don’t fucking talk to her.” Ben’s voice is low and menacing as he stares at Josh and my heart hammers as tears begin to cloud my vision.
“It’s a free country, Big Guy.” Josh is swimming in sarcasm. “I can do what I want.”
“Not with her you can’t.” Ben moves around me, pushing me behind him as the couple we were walking alongside watches in confusion, and my knees begin to buckle.
I want to hold on to him. My fingers brush against his back just as a hand is placed against my spine and I jolt.
Ben swings back to face me, concern flaring in his eyes and only settling when the elderly man pulling me towards himself and his wife nods at him. He turns back to Josh.
“Tell me, Mr. Haston. How long did it take for her to crawl into your bed?” Josh juts his chin towards me as his glare turns to ice. “A day? An hour?”
Ben steps out of my touch and I reach after him.
