When I'm With You (Little Hollow Series, #2)(12)

We’re still moving to the beat of the music but I stop dead in my tracks at his comment, I can’t believe he just said that to me. “What’s that supposed to mean? Sam’s happiness is my main priority. She may not like him turning up, but I think she needs to hear what he has to say.”

He furrows his brows and nods at me, pulling me closer, and begins to sway again. I watch as Sam sits back at our table and I’m just about to tell Lewis I’m going to sit with her when I see her go bolt rigid as Connor walks over to her.

I freeze as I watch the scene play out in front of me. She doesn’t look happy but neither does he. He shakes his head and walks out, pushing his way through the crowd without so much as a backward glance. I don’t know whether to go to her or leave her be, but she makes the decision for me as she practically walks in his footsteps to get out the building.

I go to follow her but Lewis grabs my arm. “Leave her, she just needs some fresh air.”

I shrug his hand off my arm. “One; don’t ever grab me like that again. And two; she’s my best friend, what if she needs me?”

He shakes his head then points to the bar and I walk off toward it.

“She’s a big girl, I think you just need to give her a little bit of time.” He orders a beer and I order a water not feeling like drinking anymore, in fact, I really don’t even want to be here anymore but I don’t want to be rude so I follow him to the table Sam just got up from, and he sits beside me.

“I’m sorry for grabbing your arm, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

I smile at him. I know he didn’t, I just don’t like to feel like I’m being controlled. We spend the next hour talking about random things and again it feels so easy to be around him, I feel myself relaxing. It isn’t until Connor comes waltzing up to the table that I remember Sam, they must’ve been together. I raise my brow at him in question and he shakes his head.

“Sammy’s at the old oak tree in the park, she needs you.”

Needs me? I say a quick goodbye to Lewis and squeeze through all the sweaty bodies to get outside, and head toward the park. It’s so dark that I start to see shadows that aren’t even there. I even start to think someone is following me but every time I look behind me, no one is there. I pick up my pace as I enter the park, and hear Sam before I see her. She’s curled up under an old oak tree, sobbing.

I flop down beside her and cradle her in my arms. “Hey, you need to stop crying over him like this, he isn’t worth it.” I’m talking out my ass. That man is special to her and we both know it, whether she thinks she hates him or not. When she doesn’t reply, I sit her up, wiping her tears away. “Everything’s going to be alright-“

“No, everything’s not going to be alright. He kissed me,” she sobs out.

I sit up straighter as she tells me what happened, not quite believing he had the nerve to kiss her. I stupidly let slip that I knew about him coming and she’s not happy at all, I knew she wouldn’t be, yet I still did it.

“You knew he was coming tonight, didn’t you? That’s why I’m wearing this ridiculous outfit and why you made sure I had my hair all done?”

Okay, I fucked up, but I’m not letting her put all the blame on me. We go back and forth and finally she relents as I stand up and hold my hand out to her. “Let’s just go home and binge watch car crash TV, we can talk about this tomorrow.”

She shakes her head and says she wants alone time. I really don’t want to leave her by herself but I can see she needs it, but at the same time, I really don’t want to go back to the fundraiser. I’m torn.

I sigh and tell her I won’t be out long with a knot in my stomach, resigning myself to going back for one more drink.

We head in opposite directions and I don’t care how it looks, I run the whole way back to the community hall feeling as if someone is following me again. Lewis is just leaving as I get there, his eyes run down the length of my body.

“Everything alright?”

I try to catch my breath and nod. “Sure, she wanted to go back to the apartment to be alone. You may have been right, it didn’t go very well.”

He smirks and hooks his thumb over his shoulder, not commenting on him being right. “You wanting to go back in there? I was just leaving, I didn’t know whether you’d just gone home or not.”

I pull a face. “Well I wouldn’t shed a tear if I never stepped foot in there again.”

He throws his head back and laughs, holding his hand out for me. I eye his hand then shrug and wipe my sweaty palm that’s been holding tightly onto my purse, on my shorts, and take hold of it.

“You going to walk me back then?” It comes out flirtier than I intended it to sound and I inwardly cringe.

“Actually, I have a better idea. I’ve got something I want to show you.”

I raise my brows at him curiously and he taps his nose, leading the way to his garage.

I have to admit, I’m intrigued as to what he has to show me. He unlocks the side door and holds it open for me, nudging me inside as I hesitate to step into the darkness. I tense up as the door shuts behind us and I can hear my own breathing it’s that quiet. I hear a click and the lights flicker on, making me relax and turn to face him.

“So?”

His face lights up and he leads me over to a covered mound, I don’t even have to look under the sheet to see what it’s covering.