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HANNA
I knew that someday I'd come face to face with Jameson Banks again, but I never dreamed that day would be today. The second my eyes landed on his, I knew that everything would come flooding back. I just didn't realize I'd actually have to feel everything all over again.
I watch Ellie run inside, and Jameson's eyes follow her before his gaze finds mine. If his eyes could sear a hole through my body, I'm confident they would. Eric's hand wraps tighter around my waist, almost protectively.
He doesn't look like the guy I remember. He's always had an athletic build, but now he looks like he could snap someone in half. Tattoos cover both of his arms, full sleeves of ink that I can't make out from across the room. Not something Jameson from college would've been into.
People change, I guess.
I mentally shrug, feeling Eric's breath on the back of my neck, "Is everything okay? You look a little pale."
"Yeah, everything is fine," I lie. "I'm gonna go check on Ellie."
He nods, moving his beer to his lips. I walk hesitantly into the back door and immediately spot Ellie. She looks absolutely smitten eating a cookie on Carson's lap.
"Whatcha doin', Ellie bear?"
She pushes her dark blonde hair out of her face, looking admirably at Carson, "Carson is telling me a story about a princess that fights her way out of the tower without a prince."
"Is that so?" I smile at Carson, his eyes finding mine, "That's very feminist of you, Carson."
"Our Ellie bear won't ever need a boy, isn't that right, El?"
Ellie giggles, "Boys have cooties!"
He tickles her sides, causing her to erupt in laughter.
"Oh, you bet we do!" He laughs, "You better run before I infect you with mine!"
Ellie's eyes shoot to me, terrified, before taking off in a sprint. Her little legs moving a hundred miles an hour while Carson follows close behind.
I turn around, cleaning up Ellie's cookie mess out of Blake's couch, there are crumbs pretty much all over the cushion, so I swipe them off with my hand to throw them away. When I stand back up, I nearly run into Jameson's chest, stumbling backward.
"Oh, I…" I stammer out, trying to think of something, anything to say.
"I didn't mean to scare you," He says, his voice a lot deeper than I remember. Hell, everything a lot different than I remember. His hair is shaved on the sides and longer on top, the type of haircut you need to see a barber for every couple of weeks, and his dark features even more attractive than I remember.
"Oh, that's fine. I just wasn't expecting you to be standing there."
I move around him, toward the trashcan flinging the crumbs off of my hand.
"Is she okay? I didn't mean to upset her, I was just talking about the plane, and she ran in here."
"Uh, she's fine. She gets like that sometimes. My brother just moved back home, so she misses him. Anything could set her off. She's been lashing out lately."
"Oh," He breathes a sigh of relief, "well, I'm sorry."
His words nearly knocking the air from my lungs as I think about how those two simple words could've changed my entire life.
He rocks back onto his heels as I stand here in the kitchen, staring at him like a deer in headlights.
"Hanna, I…" He starts to speak, inching closer to me with his feet. As he does, I instinctively move backward away from him.
"It's alright. Thanks for checking on Ellie!" I blurt, almost in a hurried blabber, anything to get away from him. I can't do this, not now. Maybe not ever.
I walk out the back door like a woman on a mission to get to Ellie, she's my comfort, and right now, I just need her near me. Eric jerks my arm as I walk by. Honestly, I didn't even see him, my focus solely on Ellie.
"Are you okay? You've been stomping around this party like a madwoman?"
