The Haunted_Edit Copy 4-7-17
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“Stop.” I was surprised by the conviction that was embedded<br />
in my voice. Half of me still wanted him to keep going. But this<br />
wasn’t right.<br />
“Damn it, Chelsea, are you serious?” He whipped his hand<br />
back to his side of the car so fast it almost took my head off. “What’s<br />
your fucking problem?”<br />
His hand might as well have smacked me. His words were a<br />
swift kick in the chest that knocked the breath right out of me. Never,<br />
in all the time I’d known him, had I ever heard Tucker raise his<br />
voice. And definitely not at me. I barely had enough air left to muster<br />
the question, “Excuse me?”<br />
“You’re my girlfriend. I want you.” His eyes were as hard as<br />
his lips had been earlier. This “want” was nowhere to be found<br />
within them.<br />
My mouth hung open, but the words were lost before they<br />
even reached my tongue. I just stared at him for a few moments,<br />
disbelief strangling me, until finally I reached for the door and<br />
stepped out into the snow.<br />
“Wait, Chelsea.” I heard Tucker’s door open and slam shut<br />
again behind me. His sneakers crunched in the snow as he met me<br />
halfway up my front yard and came to stand in front of me. “I’m<br />
sorry. I didn’t mean it.”<br />
“<strong>The</strong>n why did you say it?” I demanded. <strong>The</strong> porch light was<br />
at his back so his face was cloaked in shadow. “You have never<br />
acted the way you’ve been acting tonight, Tucker.”<br />
“I don’t know. I just ... I got carried away.” He moved<br />
sideways and the light flooded his face, and I recognized his eyes<br />
again.<br />
My defenses cracked, but I didn’t let them crumble. “I think<br />
I deserve a little more respect than that. I don’t care how carried<br />
away you might get.”<br />
“You’re right. You’re completely right.” His chin was glued<br />
to his chest. Was he ashamed? Embarrassed? Funny, for the first<br />
time in almost a year, I couldn’t read what was going through my<br />
boyfriend’s head.<br />
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