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“But what? If I hadn’t walked away from her because she was sassy with me, we would not be in this position right now. I know. That guy shouldn’t have touched her. But if I’d stayed—”
“It would’ve been someone else. Someone who might not have had a team of people to rescue them. Don’t take on the blame for what that piece of shit did.”
I huff out a sigh. “She was supposed to be my girlfriend right now.”
Joel looks at me hesitantly. I haven’t said anything to anyone about asking her out. But it doesn’t matter now, anyway. I’m not stupid enough to think I can just ask her out tomorrow morning and we’ll all go back to normal.
“I’m sorry,” Joel says. “Just… support her through this. You’re still Aaron and Rae.”
I chuckle at that. “You never stoppedshippingus, did you?”
He smirks at me and pats my shoulder. “Nope. All right, I need a beer. You want anything?”
I shake my head. “Just the remote.”
He nods and hands it to me before leaving the room.
I lean my head back against the couch and find a rerun ofFriends. Something small to numb the shittiness of tonight. I watch the episode—one I’ve seen a thousand times—and try not to think about the fact that tonight changed everything.
Rae
I blink my eyes open and slowly exhale. A rerun ofFriendsis playing on the TV as Aaron strokes my hair, just like he was before I fell asleep. My stomach twists as everything before that moment comes back to me, and I find myself wishing I could peel off my skin.
Then I hear the tiniest sniff, and I quickly roll over, catching Aaron off guard.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He tries to wipe the tears from his eyes, but I grab his hand.
He shakes his head. “Tonight—seeing you like that—knowing how alone you must’ve felt…” He shakes his head.
I sit up and climb onto his lap. I rub my hands on his biceps and rest my head against his, letting my eyes drift closed.
He sniffles again and his chest heaves. I wrap my arms around him as I collapse into sobs again. He squeezes me tightly.
After we’ve cried in each other’s arms for a while, I pull back slightly as both of us wipe away tears.
I reach for his hand, but pull back when I feel something cold.
My eyes drop to the ice pack on his hand. I yank it off, and my eyes go wide.
“Aaron!” His hand is red and purple and swollen everywhere.
“It’s okay.” His voice is even, and he’s attempting to reassure me, but he isn’t. That looks bad.
My eyes return to his, attempting to make sense of what I saw.
“You hit him?”
His eyes go wide with disbelief. Then his jaw tightens and his eyes move off me.
“Hell yes, I hit him. I got in the room and saw you cowering on the floor with him standing over you, belt buckle undone. I wanted to fucking kill him.”
I swallow hard and run my hand over his chest. “But you stopped.”
His entire body softens as he looks at me. “Because I saw you. And getting you out of there, making sure you were safe, that was the most important thing to me. As soon as I was sure he couldn’t get between us again, I—”
I run my hand over his cheek. “I know. Thank you.”
