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I fling an arm across the bed, catching her around the waist and yanking her back down to her side. I crush her back to my chest and nip at her ear. “Nice try.”
She makes a tiny sound and I wrap my hand around the base of her throat. I can feel her pulse beating wildly in there. Her fingers won’t stop moving, her legs shifting.
“Would you just fucking relax and go to sleep? I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanna hold you.”
Leaning over her, I kiss her, pushing my tongue past her lips. With one final sigh, her body lets go of that tension, sinking into my hold.
“Go to sleep,” I say against her lips.
“Avery?” she whispers, right when I think she’s asleep.
“Yeah, baby?”
A sigh. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Yeah, baby.” I kiss her shoulder. “Thank you for staying.”
With Claire warm and snug in my arms, sleep envelops me in minutes, my body overcome with a quiet calmness I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before. My heart rate slows to a soft kick, like it’s finally found its place in this wild world.
But it feels like no time at all has passed when a blaring ring fills my ears, telling me it’s time to wake the hell up, signaling the end of my newfound peace.
With a groan, I roll over, slapping around for my phone to silence my alarm. And when I find it, when I blink through the glaring morning sun filtering through the wall of windows, that’s when I see the two missed FaceTime calls and the text message I received at 12:37am.
Samantha: Been thinking about you, handsome. Miss you & that divine mouth of yours. Thought we could video chat ;)
That’s also when I realize that the other half of the bed is empty.
Claire’s gone. Again.
***
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Avery
“Morning Mr. Beck.”
I grunt at Jacob as he opens the door to the Bentley for me. It’s not my typical greeting, nor is it my finest hour.
Sliding into the backseat, I bury my face in my hands. What a fucking clusterfuck this has turned into. How the hell did I wind up here after the last five days? All the progress I thought I’d made with Claire is gone just like that.
“Jacob, take me to Cherry Lane, please.”
“You got it, sir.”
I’m not in the mood for this today. I try my best to suppress a groan and an eyeroll, because none of this is his fault. He’s not the person I’m upset with. “Jake, man, it’s Avery. Please.”
“Right. Sorry, Avery.” He clears his throat and looks twice before pulling into traffic.
My thumb hovers over Samantha’s contact on my phone. I shouldn’t have to do this. It’s ridiculous. She always knew this was casual. We only saw each other a couple times a year. I thought it was pretty clear that I wasn’t interested when I left the party at the brewery after literally telling her I wasn’t interested.
I click the call button and hold the phone up to my ear while it rings.
“Well, hello there, Mr. Beck,” Sam purrs. “You’re a hard man to get a hold of. I have to leave for work in fifteen, but if we’re quick—”
“Sam,” I sigh. “You’ve gotta stop this.”
“Stop what?” I can practically see her fluttering her long lashes at me in mock confusion.
