Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

Playlist: “Saturday Sun,” Vance Joy
I WOKE UP CONVINCED LAST NIGHT WAS A DREAM. BUT THEN I ROLLED OUT OF
bed and passed my laundry hamper on the way to the bathroom, freezing as I
noticed muddy paw prints and grass stains coloring the knees of my suit pants.
And it all came rushing back.
Forcefully.
I told her. I really told her. I listened to an overwhelming intuition, an
undeniable voice inside my head, telling me I should.
Because despite my brain-bruised fog the other night, I knew I remembered
that I didn’t just hold Frankie’s hand, Frankie held it back as she whispered
something that I couldn’t remember but whose sound I remember. She sounded
sad. Hopeful. Tender.
Knowing that she’d kissed me, the way we talked on the beach, the care in
her touch in the hotel. Then everything she said that night over takeout—my
brothers said if that wasn’t a woman who has feelings for you, they didn’t know
what was.
I couldn’t stand the thought that Frankie might feel something for me and be
in any doubt that I felt the exact same for her, too. The deception’s benefits no
longer outweighed its risks.
So I told her that I wanted her. That I’ve wanted her. For years. Her eyes
widened. And stupidly, I stood there for five eternal seconds, hoping maybe
she’d leap into my arms, laugh wildly as we kissed under the stars.
Instead she blinked. And swallowed. Slowly.
So I left and hyperventilated while I drove home. Then I took enough
Zzzquil to fell a horse and end the misery of consciousness for a few hours.
Now, as I walk into the practice facility, my stomach’s in knots. I barely
managed a protein bar for breakfast and forwent my normal iced coffee because