Page 22 of Everything After

“Uh. Morning,” I say, pulling away when I feel that weird feeling in my belly again.

“You sleep okay?” he asks, stepping around me to grab a shirt from the closet. He has a towel wrapped around his waist, and I watch the way his muscles flex. He says something else, but I don’t catch it.

“Huh?” I ask, my eyes snapping up from his arms to his eyes.

“I said,” he says as he pulls on a shirt. Even then, the fabric strains against his biceps. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess,” I say.

That’s a lie. I dreamed of Beckett hurting me the way Anthony did. I keep my head down because it’s hard to look at him today after dreaming of that.

“Are you okay, Sierra?” Beckett asks, lifting my chin to look at him.

“I’m just a little off,” I admit. “Nightmares kinda made me restless.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he says, hugging me. I bury my face in his chest and breathe him in. It’s like a fucking drug, only there’s that fucking feeling again. I pull away and finish getting dressed so I can go to the kitchen and make coffee.

When Beckett comes in, usually he would hug me again and make silly comments about how I may as well drink the creamer straight. This time, he keeps his distance, and I am thankful for that.

When we get to work, Beckett disappears into the shop, and I sit down next to Bella. “Morning,” she says with a smile.

“Hey,” I sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… Don’t know,” I admit.

“Are you sick?”

“No. I don’t think so,” I tell her.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Mental or physical?”

“I… both?” I say. “I keep getting this weird feeling in my belly. It’s like… hot pressure.”

“When did you feel it the first time?” she asks, turning to me.

“Last night when I was reading that horrific book you suggested,” I say.

“Aww. You didn’t like my smut?” she asks with a giggle.

“I don’t get how the main female can be so damn giddy about sex,” I say, curling my face up.

“Question…” Bella says. “When you felt this pressure… What was Bex doing?”

“He was next to me reading,” I say. “He had his hand on my thigh, like stroking my skin. He always does it. But I just felt weird, so I told him to stop… Well, and then…”

“Then?”

“When I put my Kindle down, we cuddled like we have been to fall asleep. He kissed my neck and… It happened again. I was trying to get comfortable, and I moved back against him, and he pulled away like I hurt him. But then… I just can’t imagine why Bex would want to do that to me.”

“Wait. Pause,” she says. “Then what? Did he do something you didn’t want?”

“No. I felt…” I say, but heat fills my cheeks, and I drop my face.