Because It's You (Carolina Rebels 2)

“Elizabeth,” Marc snaps sternly, squeezing my hand. Those blue eyes are full of concern and worry. “You okay?” he asks quietly.

I flick my gaze across the table at Noah and Meredith who are both watching me. A large lump settles in my throat. What am I doing here? My life with Roger wasn’t perfect by any means, but we were perfect for one another. How do I let that go, even a little bit to be around Marc? How can anything else ever compare? Sure, there’s chemistry with Marc, but I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know how to let it stand on its own, away from what I had with Roger.

“Excuse us.” Marc slides out of the booth. My hand is still in his, so he pulls me with him. He drags me toward the back of the restaurant where there’s a hallway around a corner, leading to the bathrooms. He cups my face. My eyes flutter close as my lungs struggle to breathe. His forehead rests against mine. “Listen to me. Don’t overthink this. It’s dinner with my friends. Nothing more. Don’t get lost in that pretty head of yours or I’ll have to drag you back to the trampoline park.”

“They probably think I’m crazy now,” I mutter, opening my eyes. God, his eyes are so freaking blue. They’re a bright blue that makes me think of the sky. It’s almost overwhelming to have them so close.

His eyes soften. “They won’t judge you. They’ve lived through their own hell and dealt with it in their own ways. They won’t think you’re crazy for doing the same thing.”

“They know?” I squeak.

“They only know you have a hard past, nothing specific.”

I relax a little at that. I don’t like everyone knowing about Roger. He’s mine and I share him with people fit to know about him.

“You okay now?”

I nod in his hands, glancing down just to avoid looking at him. “Sorry. The high school sweethearts thing just shipped my mind elsewhere.”

He presses a firm kiss to my forehead. “Don’t apologize.”

With that, he leads me back to the table where our food is now waiting for us.

Meredith starts talking a little about tennis and then her dog, Leo, and it’s as if my mishap never happened. I learn the couple is supposed to get married next August in Pittsburgh and Marc is going to be Noah’s best man. Meredith seems as nice as I thought she’d be. Her and Noah are adorable together. It’s easy to see the love between them.

“Are you from Raleigh?” she asks.

I nod, hating that the conversation had to come to me. “I’ve lived here my entire life.”

“Have you ever thought about moving away to someplace new?”

I twirl some of the delicious pasta and take a bite to buy myself some time. Of course it makes sense to the athletes who travel all the time for their jobs to think other people would want to leave and see the world, too. The one time I wanted to leave was after Roger died, but I just couldn’t leave him behind. Swallowing the food, I shake my head. “This is all I know, and I love it here. Why change?”

“What did you do on your first date?”

A stupid smile appears. “We went to a trampoline park.”

“And it was obviously fun,” Marc adds, bumping his shoulder with mine with a matching smile.

“A trampoline park?” Noah questions.

“Yeah,” Marc sa

ys. “There’s a bunch of trampolines and you jump around on them. There’s a ball pit, a place to play dodge ball, and some other stuff, but we stuck to the trampolines.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun! Is he treating you well?”

I’m surprised that Meredith cares. I mean, I’d assumed she would care how I’m treating him.

“Of course he is, especially after Scott talked to him,” Noah answers.

My muscles lock. Scott talked to him? I turn to face Marc, trying to ask without asking what he said to him and what Marc said back.

“Don’t blow it out of proportion,” Marc says easily.

“What did he say?” The words force themselves out of my mouth.

“Just to be good to you.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal.