Reclaimed Hearts: A second chance, forced proximity romance

Charting New Paths

Reid’s arm didn’t leave my shoulder until we got to his car and he opened the door for me. I let him stew all the way back to the parking lot, but once we pulled out on the main road, I had to know.

“What do you know about Declan? Who’s Gabrielle?” I blurted out.

He didn’t even bother looking at me before turning at the light. His breaths were still labored and his shoulders remained tight.

“Nothing that needs to be discussed,” he answered curtly, like it physically pained him to be talking right now.

My face fell. Reid was pissed. Rightfully so, but still, it worried me. He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t hurt a spider in the corner, and yet he just punched Declan Storms in the face so hard, he broke his nose.

Reid hadn’t even blinked when Declan threatened him. Whatever he had on Declan was enough for him to not worry about getting in any trouble.

And he did it all for me.

I couldn’t tear my eyes off of him the entire drive back to his house. He clenched his jaw so tight, I worried for his teeth. Occasionally, he snarled, like he was thinking about something and didn’t like it.

My heart sank with every block we passed, realizing what was happening.

If I had left the Bennett’s house when Reid arrived, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We wouldn’t have gone to the pier. I wouldn’t have had Reid stay with me while I cried my eyes dry last night.

And I probably wouldn’t have gone to the beach with Declan. The only reason I did was because I was angry with Reid and my friends.

If we had separated on the night of the Masquerade, Reid and I wouldn’t be so closely intertwined. He wouldn’t be dragged into my drama, into my personal life.

We would have stayed strangers, just like we had been the past year.

In short—once again, it was all my fault. All Reid had wanted to do was lie low this summer, and this was the opposite of that.

“Why are you so mad right now, Reid?” I whispered, as he pushed the button to open the garage door. He didn’t pull in; instead, he parked on the driveway and turned off the car.

We both sat and stared out the windshield for a moment. Every time I had been in this position lately, it ended in confusion. With Reid outside the mansion—confusion. With Grace, right here—even more confusion.

Nothing was going right this summer. Everything was upside down and so far out of my control, I didn’t know what to do about it. I either caused it, or I was the problem behind it.

Yet, I felt like I had done nothing at the same time. Sure, I crashed into Declan Storms and set off that entire situation. But, looking back, it appeared as if he already had something planned. I just happened to be the moron who got sucked in first.

Reid shook his head and leaned back, shoving both hands into his curls and tugging. Then, he slammed a fist onto the steering wheel, making me jump.

“He hurt you, Marlowe. He’s a jerk who deserved what he got.”

I stared at him, watching as his face changed from outright anger to concern and worry. I reached out, placing my hand over his on the steering wheel. He didn’t flinch at the contact, which gave me hope. Finally, he turned and looked at me, his dark eyes full of fire.

“He hurt you,” he repeated, in a low whisper this time, like it strained him to even say.

I frowned and tucked my lips in, thinking. “Physically, I’m fine. He didn’t do anything except embarrass me. All that’s hurt really is my pride…”

Reid laid his other hand over mine, grasping tight, like I was a life raft that could save him from drowning. “What did he do, exactly? From the first moment.”

The pure desperation in his voice twisted the knife in my heart. The one that wedged itself there the second he ended things last summer, that dug deeper when I saw him in the kitchen with the baseball bat.

The one that edged close to making me break.

The knife that knew I was still in love with Reid. No matter what happened.

It was when the knife got removed that I would fall apart completely.

“Let’s just say, I didn’t have crashing my bike into someone like Declan Storms on my bucket list this summer,” I started, trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood. It didn’t work, and the mention of Declan’s name made Reid grimace.

I told him what happened when I crashed. How Declan brought flowers and came to dinner for my birthday. About the parties. The texts. The beach.

Every minute I continued the story, Reid’s face grew more and more strained. His hands clenched over mine.

“You told him the clue?” he asked when I finished. It wasn’t so much of a question as it was a statement, like he already knew I had, but couldn’t believe it himself.

I cocked my head, not sure why that was the one item he jumped to. Reid had walked in on the situation in the cafe, surely overhearing enough to understand the context.

But that wasn’t what he was upset about. Being with him at the pool party was clearly the issue, not what I said.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, silently begging him to look at me instead of out the window.

He shifted and caught my eye. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Mars. I’m the one who should apologize. For everything.”

He dropped my hands and reached up, pushing a curl away from my face. His hand skimmed against my cheek.

And he left it there. His dark brown eyes held all the words he couldn’t say as he cradled my face in his hand.

I leaned into it, the warmth comforting.

This. This right here was home for me. Where I felt the most loved. The safest. Where I knew that, no matter what, someone had my back. I knew Reid would go to the moon and back for me if he needed to, without hesitation.

This is where I loved him. Where I knew he loved me.

Or, at least, he used to.

“I missed your birthday,” he breathed, the sadness overtaking everything else in his voice.

“Everyone forgot,” I replied, not meaning to make it sound like he should pity me, but more to comfort him that it wasn’t just him. I tried to brush it off like it didn’t matter, but he saw right through me.

He shook his head just once, just an inch. “I didn’t forget, Mars. I had a million messages ready to send, but I deleted them all. I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me. So I didn’t send them.”

My heart felt like someone had just ripped it out of my chest. I could picture him sitting on his bed at home, typing and deleting over and over again. In the end, he probably ended up chucking his phone into the beanbag chair on the opposite side of his bedroom.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t want him to be upset. Not about me. I wasn’t worth his sadness. He deserved all the happiness life could give him, not me bringing him down time after time.

He shook his head again, never breaking eye contact with me. “It’s not. But I’ll make it up to you.”

He leaned in closer, so close our foreheads were almost touching. I breathed in his scent, one so uniquely Reid that it instantly brought me back to every summer we spent together. A mixture of coconut sunscreen and his cologne—green apple with water lotus and cedarwood, he once told me.

I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand, tipping my head forward slightly. I waited, my heart pounding, my soul wanting.

Just when I thought his lips would meet mine, I let out a tiny little gasp, a breath of excitement, of need, of yearning.

But then, my eyes flew open as his hand fell and he let out a long, frustrated breath. He scrubbed his face, then opened his door and got out, slamming it behind him.

I sat stunned for a moment, then scrambled to follow, chasing him into the garage, where he stopped next to the door to the adjoined gym.

“I’ll be in here for a while if you need me.” But his tone said ‘don’t need me.’

I waited until the gym door closed before heading into the house.

There was no doubt in my mind that he was about to kiss me. If I had been braver, I would have grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer, and kissed him.

But I wasn’t brave like that. Not anymore. Not when my heart and my mind were at war, not sure what to do about Reid.

Half of the problem wasn’t even his problem. He had gotten so worked up about Declan, about what he did, even though he didn’t know what it was. He punched Declan in the face for crying out loud.

Although that seemed to be a long time coming, and I wasn’t entirely sure it was all because of me. There were other underlying reasons behind it.

I dropped my half-full candy bag on the kitchen counter, then joined the dogs on the couch.

“What do you think, Noodle? Is Reid overreacting? Do you think this entire summer is ridiculous? Do you, by chance, have a time machine?”

He didn’t answer, but jumped up and licked my face instead. Marshmallow leaped on the couch, settling on top of my feet.

“Gee, thanks, guys. You give such great advice.” I laughed as Noodle licked me again. “Here I was, thinking that staying here might have been a mistake. Being this close to Reid… it seems to cause problems. He’s getting involved with my drama, and it’s not what he wants. That much I know for sure. He broke up with me, remember?”

Noodle nudged my arm. I lifted it, and he wedged himself next to me, snuggling up between the back pillows and my side. It was a tight fit, but he didn’t seem to care.

“You’re both making it difficult to want to leave, do you know that? You and the money, I guess. As shallow as it seems, it’s still good money…” I trailed off, staring outside at the water. “One more question—I should have kissed him, right?”