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Regina had only taken a few bites of her cake, but now she was sick to her stomach She stared at him, speechless

"That’s why I swore off attachina re "Do you still?"

To her relief, he shook his head "I kno that, unlikevery deeply for soonna lie It makes me nervous to think maybe this won’t work out I made the exception to take a chance this one tiain"

Suddenly, that knot she’d felt earlier was back, but this time it was for a different reason She reached for his hand and kissed it as he so often did to her "Nothing’s gonna go wrong," she assured hi you promise me you’ll always be this honest with ht it before, but now she was sure of it Brandon was different frouy she’d everof his heartbreaking past, she understood why They weren’t so different froh some very dark tihter tiether

And those kisses Dear God those kisses thathe’d saved exclusively for her--the only girl he’d made an exception for Her heart felt swollen to twice its size

"What’s past is prologue," she whispered

His eyes brightened, ht," he said "That’s why I’m here with you now"

Chapter Seventeen

Brandon

The following two Sundays, Brandon had ht up the brunches that he had plans She had already told hiood reason to not make them she’d likely be there every time

Brandon kneas just a matter of time before he’d have to suck it up and meet her family He just needed a little e for hi her about his past and his dad had been less painless than he’d anticipated, he was still trying to get it right What he had agreed to was to irls’ night out on Fridays but had now turned into date night

This, of course, was another first for him Fortunately, Janecia’s boyfriend, Clay, was a cool dude He was a little on the foul- with and talk to while the girls caught up on their girl talk It helped that he seeina, because at this point, there was no hiding how he could barely keep his hands and lips off her It should have been e pretty much the same ith Janecia made Brandon’s behavior seem less offensive

This was the third Friday they’d done this, and Brandon was feeling way better about it than the first tihed a lot, but this ti between the couples, not just the girls having their own girl conversation while Brandon and Clay talkedhad been going fine until the girls came back from their third trip to the restroom They were both very quiet coina was noticeably upset Brandon had noticed they were gone a bit longer this ti ?" he asked, leaning in and clenching the arina shook her head, and Brandon stared at her for ahappen?"

Clay’s concerned expression went hard as he too noticed the change in the girls’ demeanor Janecia quickly took Clay’s hand with both of hers "Nothing happened, but Regina" She gave Clay a strange look Brandon didn’t understand "She’s not feeling too hot all of a sudden"

Brandon turned back to Regina, feeling more than alarina would do was shake her head, until she finally ad she’d eaten "Maybe we should just call it a night?"

Her words were barely audible, spiking Brandon’s concern into overdrive

"Yeah," he said, i waitress "Whatever you want" Both he and Clay pulled out their wallets, but Brandon told Clay he had it then turned back to Regina "Should we go to urgent care?"

She assured hiet hoood-byes to Clay and Janecia Brandon didn’t ina’s words to one another seeina was in tears Brandon held her against the door, his heart speeding up as he searched her eyes "What is it, baby? So hurt? Are you sure we shouldn’t stop at the ER?"

She shook her head again This tiet out of here, please Take ot worse on the ride ho out of her, but by the ti He started to pull out of the driveway "We’re going to the hospital," he said as he turned to look back