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He scoffed. “We’re Elite. Rules don’t apply to us.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You sound like a snob.”
Ben said nothing but bent to place me in the passenger seat of his car. Frankly, I had no idea how he manhandled me the way he did. I wasn’t a small person. I was five foot seven and had a pear-shaped frame, which meant my hips and thighs were the widest part of my body. I had booty for days, okay? I’m not saying any of that was a bad thing, just that he was hauling it around like it was easy.
Grabbing the seatbelt, Ben leaned around me, hand brushing my hip as he clicked it into place. My stomach fluttered wildly at the innocent touch, and I held my breath, waiting for him to pull back and shut the door.
He didn’t shut the door. Instead, he sank low into a squat and gently grasping my chin to pull it around.
“You just got out of the hospital. You just had a panic attack.”
I opened my mouth to argue about that, but he made a sound, cutting me off, and dug his fingers deeper into my chin.
“You’re worried about sleeping beside someone you don’t even know. I’m not being a snob. I’m being a good fiancé. You’re coming home with us. You can sleep in my bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor. I’ll take you to get a phone in the morning, and then we’ll go meet your roommate. If you still aren’t comfortable after meeting her, we’ll figure it out.”
“You’re a good fiancé, bro,” Matt said from the darkened back seat.
Ben’s teeth flashed with a fast smile. “Maybe we should just get married, P. At least you appreciate me.”
I rolled my eyes.
Ben got up to close the door. Before he could, I grabbed his hand. “Wait.”
He leaned back in the opening, eyes questioning.
“I appreciate you,” I whispered.
Everything about him went soft, and it made my stomach flutter all over again. Cupping the back of my head, he leaned in and kissed my forehead. He did that a lot. I really liked it.
“Good girl.” He spoke so quietly the words hummed across my skin.
When he shut the door to walk around to the driver’s side, the interior of the car was silent, but then Matt spoke. “It’s good to see him happy.”
It made me wonder why that sort of sounded like he wasn’t happy before.
17
Kruger
I couldn’t breathe when she walked out of the bathroom in nothing but one of my shirts or stop the swelling of my heart when she snuggled in my bed, whispering that it smelled like me. I was powerless to the panic when she cried out in the throes of a nightmare and impotent to deny how fucking right it resonated when I wrapped myself around her and she calmed.
I’d been waiting a lifetime for those little things that felt so big.
How ironic that a lie unmasked the truth.
I loved her so much I wondered how I’d ever kept it hidden and understood I would never be able to again.
18
Jess
I was starting to wonder if I was a pervert.
I mean, sure, I had the whole retrograde amnesia thing and all, but I thought I had a pretty good handle on myself. The other stuff around me was questionable, but my self-awareness was on point.
Apparently not. I’d been having these thoughts, disruptive little whispers that were frankly making it hard to focus.
Yeah, yeah, focus wasn’t my forte since I might or might not have been pushed down the stairs. You’d think I’d be worrying about that, right? Or the fact that I had to use a printed-out schedule and be escorted to and from classes by my friends who were taking shifts so I didn’t get lost or overwhelmed.
