Chapter 60
NOW
Paloma
Bennett is holding my arm, loose but firm. Tethering me to this moment.
“Slow down, Paloma.”
I can’t.
“I want to leave,” I say, my voice a hateful whisper. But never directed at him, only myself.
Bennett’s eyes are searing sapphires as he looks at me, nostrils flaring and hand tightening on my bicep.
“Fine,” he says, his voice raspy, like he’s actively fighting to stay completely calm. “But I’m driving, and you’re coming to the house. We need to talk.”
A maniacal laugh spills from my painted lips. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“You said things were different this time,” he says, pulling me closer. “You made me a promise. This is your chance to prove it.”
Don’t leave me, a small voice cries out in my head, my hand latching onto his forearm as I manage a nod.
“Okay.”
He takes the lead immediately, staying steady and constant while the ebb and flow of my internal turmoil threatens to drown me.
My head pounds, enough that when the valet brings Bennett’s car around, I barely remember getting in; I have just the slight memory of hands around my waist, buckling me in.
I try to focus, but my mind is caught up in the past, tangling and twisting me into knots.
“Loving you hurts—”
“Pathetic, Polly, honestly—”
“You look just like your mother—”
“P, please, don’t do this—”
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
“You need me to pull over?” I don’t say anything, eyes glazed as rain starts to fall, making the streetlight glassy against the wet pavement. “Paloma,” he snaps, louder. “Tell me if you need me to pull over.”
“I—no, I’m okay.”
I’m not okay. And I can tell from the near growl of breath and the slam of a hand on the steering wheel that Bennett knows it, too.
“You gotta let me help you, P,” he says almost softly as he pulls up to the darkened Hockey House. “Please—”
The second the car is in park, I hop out. My heart is thundering in my ears as I sprint through the garage and into the house, taking the steps so fast I slip. A door slams, but it sounds distant enough that I’m unsure if it’s happening now or if it’s an echo of the past torturing my brain.
Every memory is spilling out around me like broken glass from a mirror I shattered. Bennett tries to reach for me again—