Page 43 of The Forever After Bet

“And Ryker Baldwin thinks Hannah is his ticket to high school popularity.” Leah rolls her eyes and makes a disgusting face.

“Bree and Ryker should get together,” I say.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’ve been there and done that. I heard a rumor that they were hooking up about a month ago.” Leah shrugs.

I shake my head. “That doesn’t surprise me. They’ll both use somebody without a second thought if they think it would get them something.”

“I don’t understand, Bree.” Ty scratches his chin. “Ford, you’ve made it clear you’re not interested in anything with her, but she keeps pushing the issue.”

“I guess I need to be rude and tell her nothing is ever going to happen between us, but I don’t want to be a complete jerk.” Ford scrubs his hand along his neck.

“Nobody does,” I say, pushing wayward strains of hair behind his ear. “But sometimes that's what it takes to get your point across.”

“I had to do that,” Jack says. “I gave Alison an ultimatum. Either she started being nice to Hannah, stopped calling her names and making rude comments, or we had to break up. She lasted for two days. It was hard to break up with her. I felt like a jerk, but she’d made her choice. Being a jerk to Clark was more important than our relationship. I know it’s not the same, but sometimes you’ve got to be an asshole to get your point across.”

“Thanks for telling me that, Jack.” Ford nods.

“I think no matter the choice we make about our relationship. We’re going to have trials. Shit happens, and we deal with it together the best way we can, and move on,” I say. “We're going to take things a day at a time for now. We’re not breaking up, and we’re figuring out how to move forward after our failed elopement.” I look at Ford, and he brushes his fingers along my cheek, smiling at me.

“I wholeheartedly agree,” Ford says.

My cell phone beeps with a text message, and I roll my eyes. It’s the chime I assigned to Beth’s number. Her text asks if I’ve left yet. “I’ve got to head home.”

“We’ll come with you.” June smiles at me.

“We’ll go pick up lunch and then meet you at the house,” Jack says.

“Sounds like a plan.” I try to smile, but it’s pathetic. I wanted more time with Ford, but I need to be grateful for all the time I got with him. Being able to spend the entire night with him, just the two of us, was a miracle.

20. Bad Dreams

Hannah stands up, holding her hand out for me. “Let me help you up, tough guy.” She winks. I smirk and take her hand to stand. She wraps her arms around my neck and back. “Let’s say goodbye here,” she whispers, taking a breath.

I cup a hand around her cheek. “It’s not goodbye. It’s see you later.” I lean in, pressing my lips to hers, then trail kisses along her cheek to her ear. “Thank you for one of the most incredible nights of my life,” I whisper.

“I’ll never forget it.” Hannah’s breath tickles my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.

“We got a glimpse of our future. If that’s what we want.” I lean my forehead against hers.

“I want that so much.” Her voice trembles, but she doesn’t shed any tears.

“Me too, Hannah. Me too.” I give her one more soft kiss on the lips. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be interesting.” Hannah laughs. She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and goes off to find June.

Ty and I walk out of Leah’s house together. “Hey, are you doing all right with everything?” I ask him.

He scrubs a hand through his hair. “I’m hanging in there.”

“No news on the June front?”

“Not really. I asked June if we could talk, and she asked about what. I said I wanted to talk about us. She told me there wasn’t anything to discuss and that it would be easier in the long run to just be friends.”

“Dude, that sucks.” I pat him on the back.

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s right. Long-distance relationships rarely work.”

I wish I knew the right words to tell Ty to help him feel better, but I can’t think of anything.

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