“Fairly certain that’s not legal.”
“Fairly certain neither is me murdering him. So, you can choose how the law gets broken and by who, Olivia.” He pulls off his sweats and replaces them with jeans. It’s then I see another suitcase in the room and I wonder if Caroline also brought him more clothes. “Go change.”
“I’m going too?” I squeak.
“Someone has to tell me where he lives. Besides, I’ve seen enough scary movies to know, I go after him and all the while he’s camped out here, waiting for me to leave and then he moves in. No. You go where I go.”
“You’re insane, you know that? Stop with the scary movies. He’s not even dangerous! I’m sorry I even told you. You’re overreacting.” I roll my eyes as I leave his room. I don’t make it two steps before I’m pressed against the wall and his lips are on mine. The kiss is warm and wanting and before I can deepen it, he pulls back. My eyes flutter open and meet his piercing gaze and I can see the worry and fear in his eyes. “I just got you back,” he whispers. “I’m not letting anyone take you from me. He’s unstable and I don’t fucking like it.”
“He’s not unstable, he’s hurt. You were too when I left you. You showed up everywhere I went for six straight weeks.” He presses off the wall and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Bennett, look at me,” I tell him and he does so reluctantly, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” He chuckles.
“Like you’re irritated with me. I just don’t think it’s fair for you to go over there and flaunt that you’re…back in the picture.” I stand in front of him, running my hands up his chest and to his shoulders which used to be my signal that I wanted to be picked up. He remembers and instantly I’m in his arms with my legs wrapped around his broad waist as he carries me to my bedroom.
“I’ll let this go…for now,” he says as he sits on the bed with me in his lap. “But if he keeps reaching out, I’m going over there to have a little chat.”
I roll my eyes and move out of his arms, pulling off my skirt and pulling on a pair of jeans. Bennett sits on the bed, watching me carefully before he speaks again. “Why are you changing?”
“Did you still want to go to your apartment at least?”
He nods, recalling our conversation from earlier. “If I remember correctly, I have a work phone, I can at least use that for now. Until we get my phone open. You sure we can’t just go to Apple?”
“Not without them completely wiping your phone clean.”
His eyes widen in shock before his expression switches to confusion. “That is wild, what if a scorned lover changes your code or you do it when you’re drunk?”
“Then you’re fucked, and just pray you’ve got everything backed up to the cloud.” I shrug.
“The what?”
“The cloud. It’s like a virtual storage or something,” I say pointing to the sky. “I have no idea what the fuck it is, but I pay like five dollars a month for extra space.”
“Apple is literally garbage. I’m going back to a Samsung after this.”
I cringe, and scrunch my nose in disgust. “I will never text you with green bubbles.”
“Snob,” he jokes. “But seriously, I can also grab my laptop, I haven’t checked in on the market. I have no idea how it’s doing or even where it is after two years. I feel like I’ve been off the grid for an eternity.”
“Yes, I definitely think you should get some of your things. And who knows, maybe something at your apartment will trigger your memory.”
“I’m not trying to overreact, Livi. And maybe this is partly due to my own jealousy that there’s been someone else.” He lets me go and he grabs my hand as we walk down the block towards the corner to hail a cab. “It makes me crazy that he touched you and I know—I know I set all of this in motion with my choices, I just…”
I squeeze his hand not exactly knowing what to say as he raises his hand towards the street. “You need to tell me if he bothers you again, alright? I know you want to let this go, but if he keeps bothering you, we’re escalating this.”
I nod, knowing that he’s right. He ushers me into a cab and I give the driver the address to Bennett’s apartment. It takes us about twenty minutes to get there, and I’m grateful for the virtual silence we’re riding in as I mentally prepare for entering Bennett’s apartment. I know where it is, but I’d never been inside, and I’m honestly afraid of what I might find.
Amanda’s clothes hanging in the closet?
Her panties in his bed?
Or maybe Amanda hadn’t meant as much to him as I thought, and he had a slew of women in and out of his apartment. I bite my bottom lip as we come to a stop in front of Bennett’s building. He helps me out and I stare up at it, a knot in my stomach that I wasn’t expecting.
“Hey, you alright?”
I let out a breath and nod once. “It’ll be weird being in your house. One that’s not going to have any signs of…me.”
He crosses his arms and follows my gaze towards the door where a doorman stands staring at us warily. I don’t recognize him, and I’ll admit to driving by once or twice…a week…early on in our separation. “Do you want to wait in the lobby, and I’ll just run up?”