Page 111 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

‘Come on!’ I yell, causing her to jump to the side. I get through just in time to see Hollyn slip into the elevator as the doors close.

‘I thought you were better than him. But you’re just another asshole,’ she says, her voice wavering as the doors slide closed too quickly for me to stop them.

No.

I run through the next stairwell door and down the stairs as fast as possible. There’s no way I can make it to the ground before her. I’m seven floors up, and I’ve got no way in to the building from here besides the ground floor. How the fuck did I let this happen?

Finally, I get to the ground level, slamming the door open and checking the elevators. No Hollyn.

‘Did you see a blonde woman run through here?’ I bark at security.

‘What is going on?’ Mercy asks as she and River step out of the second elevator.

‘Fucking Celeste,’ I growl. ‘She’s been emailing me about hooking up, and she cornered me by the bathrooms and kissed me. Hollyn walked up on it. I stopped itimmediately, but of course, she didn’t see that part.’

Everything around me seems to move a hundred miles a minute, but I’m going in slow motion.

Mercy’s face drops. She calls Hollyn on speaker, but it goes straight to voicemail. ‘She was trying to find you to tell you she’s in love with you!’ she says, trying her phone again.

‘What?’ I lace my hands on my head, my heart feeling as though it’s free-falling through me to the concrete below, imploding upon impact. ‘I made her cry. She called me an asshole. She’s probably somewhere, making this into something it isn’t, panicking. What do I do?’ I ask River. His face is pinched. ‘Ididn’tkiss, Celeste. I’d never do that to Hollyn. Youknowthat,’ I remind him. ‘Youhaveto help me.’

I can barely breathe, and I doubt it’s all from sprinting down seven flights of stairs. The growing lump in my throat feels like it may put me out of my misery and suffocate me at any moment.

‘Mercy, get security to help you check every floor. Maybe she got off when someone else got on.’ River taps the alarm on his keys, his car beeping to life along the curb just outside the building. ‘We’ll go look for her. Call me if you find her.’

I stand in front of Mercy. ‘Please, Merc. I know you don’t trust me, but I love her. I can’t lose her. Make sure she knows the truth.Please?’

She nods.

I grab River’s keys from his hand, running to his car and jumping into the driver’s seat as he scrambles for the passenger side.

‘I never said you could drive,’ he says, strapping on his seatbelt.

‘I never asked.’ I start his car, pulling out a little recklessly. ‘This will crush her, Riv. After Tristan’s bullshit.’

‘You’re not like Tristan; she knows that.’

‘She just said I was like him.’

Those words felt like a sword through my heart. I don’t want to be anything like him, and now she thinks I am.

I slam through the gears as I drive a couple of blocks from the building, River grimacing with each grind. This car is his baby, and I’m abusing the hell out of it.

‘Maybe I should drive?’ he asks, holding onto the dash as I turn a corner. ‘Come on, Dax. You’re freaked out you’re gonna lose her, but ya won’t.’

‘You don’t know what she’s been through.’ I slow at every alley, every doorway. ‘She can’t handle this right now.Howdid she just disappear?’

‘There’s no way she got this far. She’s got to be in the building. Pull over,’ he commands.

I pull over at the next open spot, slowing the car to a stop along the curb, dropping my head against the steering wheel until River practically yanks me from the car to take a breather. I’ve destroyed her. She’ll never trust me again. This is easily the worst thing that could have happened. It’s why I was so quick to cut things off with Sydney. I know what Hollyn’s been through, and she thinks I’ve just let her down in the same way he did.

30

HOLLYN

Moments Later…

‘Hollyn?’

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