Page 45 of Banter & Blushes

The truth was, I didn’t know what to do anymore. I didn’t know if I could trust myself to make the right decision about Luca. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to face the possibility of getting hurt again.

And now, all I could feel was this sinking feeling in my stomach, the overwhelming knowledge that, no matter how I tried to convince myself otherwise, I was running out of time to figure it all out.

I regretted calling her. I regretted listening to her cynical words. I regretted all of it.

Maybe I wasn’t ready for anything at all.

THE STORM INSIDE

LUCA

I’d spent the entire day trying to distract myself. After that disastrous run-in with the flirtatious woman at the restaurant (which, by the way, I’m still cringing about), I needed something more important to focus on. Like stalking Rebecca and figuring out how to make things right.

I’ve probably been hanging around Joe too long.

So, when I saw her leaving the hotel that afternoon, my heart skipped a beat. There she was, stepping out into the rain like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was coming down in sheets, the kind of rain that made it impossible to stay dry no matter how hard you tried.

I watched her for a moment from the window of my café across the street. She didn’t have an umbrella. She wasn’t wearing a raincoat. She was just walking, her head down, looking like she was carrying the weight of the world.

And I was instantly worried.

Why was she walking in the rain? What was going on in her head? My stomach twisted, the instinct to go to her flaring up almost immediately.

I grabbed my jacket, leaving the restaurant in the hands of one of my staff, and stepped into the downpour, following her at a distance. I didn’t want to be obvious, but I couldn’t just let her wander out there alone, especially looking so… lost.

She walked slowly, her pace uneven, like she was deep in thought. Shedidn’t even seem to notice the rain soaking through her clothes, or the fact that it was a miserable day to be out walking. She was lost in herself, and it felt like I was the only one who could see it.

I crossed the street and followed her, staying just far enough back that she wouldn’t notice me right away. My heart beat harder in my chest as I watched her, wondering if she was thinking aboutus, or if she was just caught up in her own thoughts—thoughts I had no access to, no understanding of.

When she looked over her shoulder, I froze. But it was too late. She’d seen me.

For a moment, her eyes locked onto mine, and something passed between us—something heavy, full of unspoken words and emotions neither of us could seem to understand. And then, she did what I should’ve expected—she turned and ran.

I felt my chest tighten. My instincts kicked in. I wasn’t about to let her run away from me like this—not when I had no idea what was really going on with her.

I chased after her, my feet splashing through puddles as I tried to close the gap.

"Rebecca!" I called out, my voice cutting through the rain, but she didn’t slow down. She was running, her face turned away from me, like she didn’t want me to see the expression on it.

I couldn’t stand it. This wasn’t just some casual sprint—I could feel the urgency in the way she moved, like she was trying to outrun something deep inside her. It hit me like a punch in the gut.

"Rebecca, wait!" I shouted, my voice getting louder, but she didn’t even look back.

She turned a corner into an alley, and I followed her, my heart hammering. I was closer now, a few feet behind her, and I could see her shoulders shaking with every breath, her pace faltering just a little. It didn’t matter. I was there, right behind her, and I wasn’t going to let her slip away.

Finally, she came to a stop in front of a brick wall, turning to face me, her chest rising and falling rapidly with her shallow breaths. She was drenched, the rain pouring down her face, but it wasn’t the rain that made her eyes shine—it was something else.

Tears.

"Why are you running?" I asked, my voice softer now, trying to break through the barrier she’d put up. "What’s going on, Rebecca?"

She stepped back, shaking her head as if she were trying to fight off the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"You don’t understand," she said, her voice quiet but sharp with an edge of pain I couldn’t ignore.

I moved closer, desperate to get through to her. "I want to understand. Please, just talk to me."

She pulled away, her hands shaking as she wiped her face, trying to hide the tears she was clearly struggling to hold back. "I can’t do this. I just… I can’t. I don’t want to keep feeling like this." Her voice wavered, and she sucked in a breath, like she was trying to hold it all together. "I can’t be the one toruineverything. It’s… it’s just too much."

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