Page 8 of To Hate You

Andrew kissed me. His lips pressed firmly against mine. I was so shocked by what was happening that I didn’t have time to pull away.

I could feel the desperation in his kiss, the way he was willing panic and fear to go away. And it did.

My panic attack was instantly gone, replaced by the shock of having Andrew’s lips against mine. And at that moment, I forgot about everything.

The pain.

The trauma.

The baby.

Everything.

I was numb. Free of heartache, the uncertainty; free of everything that managed to tip me over the edge.

All the pain.

All the fear.

All the panic.

It was all gone. And it felt...good. But it was wrong. His lips pressed against mine were wrong. It was warm and soft, yet my spine turned to ice, the cold spreading down my body.

I managed to worm my arms in between us and pushed against his chest, severing the kiss, and slapped him across the face without fucking thinking. “What the fuck are you doing?”

He touched his cheek before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry. It’s just...I needed you to snap out of it so you can breathe.”

“So you kissed me? What the hell were you thinking?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Well...” Shit. He was right. The panic was gone, and my lungs expanded as I breathed in deeply. It did work.

I ran my tongue over my lips and tasted the bitter aftertaste of beer his kiss left behind. “You shouldn’t have done that.” It felt like the most profound betrayal having another man’s taste linger on my lips.

“Sienna, you had a panic attack. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t mean for you to think that I—”

“It’s okay.” I held up my hands and took a few steps back. “It’s fine.”

“Sienna. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just...I want to go home.” The panic was gone, but something heavier had taken its place. The thought of another man kissing me made my blood run cold. It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t fucking right.

“I, um...” I wiped at a rogue tear that slipped down my cheek. “I’m going to go find Silas.”

“Sienna, don’t—”

I turned around and wrapped my arms around my waist. I could feel his eyes on me, burning into my back as I walked into the house.

I knew this damn party was a bad idea, and I needed to leave so I could go back to the world I got catapulted in between the four walls of my bedroom.

I was safe there. Alone...but safe.

Chapter4

Sienna

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