Me: Physically, yeah. Mentally, no.
Eric: Be there in 5.
I stand up to walk, but not the way I came, afraid that he might come looking for me when I don’t show up. He knows that I run the same route. Everyone knows that. I walk through some alleyways, the unwelcome change doing absolutely nothing but making me hella anxious. Rounding a few corners, I finally get to where I told Eric to meet me, and I’m relieved to see his truck.
Pulling the door open, I slide into the seat.
“Hey,” He smiles.
“Hi,” I whisper, afraid to look him in the eye, knowing he’ll see right through me.
“Jolene,” He questions, sensing that something is up, “What happened?”
I continue staring out the window as we sit perfectly still in this empty lot. Afraid to even say it out loud.
“Ashton.”
His grip tightens on the steering wheel, “Did he hurt you?”
“No, I didn’t talk to him. The flowers in his hand made me sick, so I hid and ran away like a coward.”
“I’ll take you to my house,” he grits, “then I’ll go take care of it.”
“No!” I blurt, “Really, it’s fine.”
He starts the engine, “Obviously, it’s not fine if you are afraid to go into your own apartment.”
I’m left struggling for words, so I just say precisely what I’m thinking, even if I’ll regret it later. “I just don’t want you to leave me.”
His foot collides with the brake harder than it should, stopping us from moving. “I want to kick his ass,” he growls. “It’s bullshit that he thinks he can just show up unannounced.”
He’s frantic at this point, even more than I am, and it sends a whirlwind of emotion into the pit of my stomach. I don’t want Eric to get hurt or, worse, get into trouble. Especially not for me.
“Please, Eric. It’s okay. He’ll realize that I’m not home and rethink the entire thing. He’ll be back in whatever hole in Nashville he crawled out of by tomorrow.”
He stares at me, the intensity nearly taking my breath away. Leaving me mindlessly gazing back into his beautiful blue eyes.
“Okay, well, tomorrow you can go home. Tonight, you can stay with me. Unless you want me to escort you home, but I can’t promise that I won’t hurt him.”
My stomach does a little backflip that he cares so much, and of course, part of me wonders what that even means.
“Stay with you?”
He glances across the truck at me and smirks, “Yeah.”
I basically melt into the floorboard but quickly remind myself that I can’t feel like that. I can barely control myself here in the truck, never mind at his house. Alone. I’ll tell him later that he should take me home. It’ll be better that way. Even if it means I have to deal with Ashton.
He cuts the wheel into his driveway, and I realize this is maybe only the second or third time I’ve been over here. Killing the engine, he opens his door, then the back to grab the grocery bags, and I follow him inside.
Everything is spotless. It doesn’t even look like the house is lived in anymore, which is a little concerning. Before, when Hanna was around, it looked different. It looked like a home, and he looked happy. It didn’t feel that way anymore, though. It just felt empty. It made me sad.
He drops the bags to the counter, and I start emptying them, helping him put some things into the fridge. I mean, I was here a couple hours early now that Ashton fucked up the evening, so I knew he wasn’t ready to cook.
“Do you want to take a shower?” He asks, causing me to assess my appearance. I glance down at my leggings and my sweaty tank top.
“I don’t even have clothes to change into,” I note.
He holds up a finger and disappears into his room. I swear to God, if he brings me something of Hanna’s, I might just leave now.