Page 177 of Just for the Plot

And then, she leans in and presses the softest fucking kiss to my lips, so soft that I barely feel it, making it seem like I’m living in some sort of fever dream before she pulls away.

“Please just let me be,” she says before releasing me and stepping back. “Let me go, Bennett.”

And then she’s gone.

Leaving me completely heartbroken.

I got so close…and she just took it all away.

“Thanks,” I say to OC, who hands me a beer and then takes a seat next to me on the couch.

After Bower left and I gave her a solid ten minutes, sitting outside her door, to change her mind, which she never did, I texted OC and asked him to meet me at Maritime, because if I am going to be in anyone’s company, it’s going to be with the guy who is also nursing a broken fucking heart.

“What happened?” he asks, leaning back on the couch with me as we stare out at the crowd.

“She’s out with Cougar, after I begged her not to go. After I basically tore my heart out of my chest, handed it to her, only for her to push it away and leave. But not without dusting a feather of a kiss across my lips.”

“Oh fuck,” he says, sipping his beer. “Dude, that’s…that’s brutal.”

“Yeah, I know.” I take a large gulp of beer, not interested in getting drunk tonight, but also not fighting the idea either.

“What did you say to her when you were begging?”

“I told her all the things I’ve been dying to say to her but have never said out of fear that it would scare her away, and well, it did exactly that.”

“I don’t think it scared her away,” he says. “She wouldn’t have kissed you if it did.”

“True.”

“Why do you think she kissed you?”

“Because she likes me,” I say, knowing deep in my soul that it’s the truth. “There’s no doubt where her feelings are. She wouldn’t have been so emotional if she didn’t like me. She’s just not going to take the leap and risk it to be with me, and I think that’s what fucking hurts the most. Because I’d take the leap. I’d do just about anything to be with her.”

“That’s because you’re in love. Did you tell her that? Did you tell her you love her?”

I shake my head. “Nope. Thought that would be a surefire way to get her to run as fucking fast as she could away from me. At least when I told her I liked her, she just walked.”

“Shit, dude. That’s brutal. I’d like to say that the pain slowly eases, but I’m still living in it. At least Bower just went out on a date. My girl is getting fucking married to someone else.”

“With my luck, Cougar is proposing tonight.” I drag my hand over my face. “Fuck. I feel sick.” I set my beer down and rest my forearms on my thighs. “As much as I’m grateful you’re here, I think I want to be alone.”

“I get it,” he says.

“Sorry for dragging you out here.”

“Don’t apologize. I’ll grab a car with you.”

“Sure.”

Together, we head out of the bar as he types away on his phone before handing it over so I can enter in my address. As we wait outside, I stick my hands in my pockets and look around.

“Where the fuck do you think he took her? Do you think she’s snuggling into him, whispering into his ear?” I clench my hands in my pockets, wanting to punch my hand through the fucking brick wall behind me.

“Thinking about them together is not going to do you any good. Been there, done that.”

“He doesn’t even fucking deserve her,” I say, my anger getting the best of me. “He doesn’t know her like I do. He doesn’t understand what she likes and doesn’t like, but then he’s able to fucking help her with her book truck idea. Fuck!” I yell as I tug on the brim of my hat, starting to lose it as the pain and the unknown collide together, creating a war within me.

“Car service is here,” OC says as he nods toward a black Suburban.