Page 21 of Girl Like Me

A knock at the door startles me, the sound is sharp and almost urgent. “Come in.” Rory calls out. Mac walks in and takes in the way I’m sitting in Rory’s lap.

“Is Chloe okay?” He nods at me.

“She threw up and told me I was beautiful, then passed out again. Um anyway, so her phone kept ringing, I ignored it but whoever it was didn’t give up, so I answered.”

I hear a faint ‘Chev’ come from his hand.

“The dude is furious and wants to talk to you.” I hold my hand out for the phone, I can hear Chev cursing before I place it to my ear.

“Hello.” I say innocently as if I don’t know why he is calling.

“Where is Chloe and who the hell answered her phone?” He demands, his voice full of venom and a slight hint of worry.

“I don’t know if that is any of your business.” He curses again causing me to smile. Rory and Mac share a look, then turn back to me.

“It is my business.” He states.

“Why don’t you just leave her alone, Chev? You’re the reason she got drunk and acted like this in the first place. You’re not good enough for her, just let her move on. She is safe, my friend Mac is taking care of her and we will be home when she sobers up. Goodbye.” I hang up before he can say anything else. I giggle as I hand the phone back to Mac.

“Ex-boyfriend?” He asks, taking the phone from my hand.

“Nope. Step brother who thinks he owns her.” Mac nods and says he will leave us alone, he wants to check on Chloe.

“Let’s go put the guys out of their misery before Rocky comes barrelling through the door.” Rory suggests. I take the opportunity to ask what is going on with him, he didn’t seem right.

“Is Rocky doing okay?”

“Not really, he’s gone back on his medicine and is dropping his training. We think he’s depressed, but he won’t let us in enough to figure it out.”

“It’s all my fault, I left.” He wraps his arms tightly around me, kissing the top of my head.

“It’s not your fault, we all love you and it hit us all hard. Mercer has been fighting, Rocky on his meds, Maximus has been quiet and withdrawn, Levi has been training himself hard…”

“And you?” I ask afraid of what he will say, it’s hard to hear about the guys but Rory closes himself off from the others and is good at hiding his pain.

“Drinking,” he says, swallowing audibly. “I can’t feel the pain of losing you again if I can’t even feel my legs.” I take his hands in mine, rubbing my thumb over his.

“Please Rory, you mean the world to me, I would never leave you, I need you to know that. This is only temporary. As soon as I know what happened, I will be back here, and you will have to kick me to the curb if you don’t want me anymore.”

“Move in with me.” I open my mouth and close it, my lips pulled in a line. “All of us, move in here.”

“Um, I’m not sure your mum will like that idea.” I know when you miss people you say crazy things, but I think this takes the cake.

“My father is divorcing her; this house belongs to my father’s side of the family and mum signed a prenup before they got married. The house is legally mine when I turn eighteen. When mum gets out of the hospital, she is moving into a new house my father purchased for her. It’s already settled, and my father doesn’t plan to come visit very often so he will stay somewhere else.”

“Without my memories Rory, I’m legally bound to stay with my parents. Even if I were to get married, it wouldn’t matter because they can argue I’m not in my right mind.” I overheard my mother and father talking about it. My father got angry about it and told my mother to drop it.

“So, what do we do?”

“We’ll find a way to see each other until I can figure out what happened.”

He leans in and presses his lips to mine in a tender kiss. “I will find a way for you to be here with us, even if I have to hire the world’s best private detective to find your memories for you.” I laugh against his lips.

“I love you.” He doesn’t say it back, words are not needed to know he loves me too. He flips me onto my back and hovers above me, his hair falling partially out of the bun and to one side of his face. His body rocks into mine as our lips move together. My hands exploring his body under his shirt. His body breaks out in goosebumps with my soft touch and he moans into my mouth.

“Okay times up.” Rocky announces flinging the door open. “See I told you. No dry humping JD until we all get to hold her, you’re being selfish Rory.”

“Jealous, much?” Rory teases. We both sit up and I straighten my dress and hair.

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