Breaking and Entering (Reece Bibby)

Chapter 24

Reece and I stayed on the couch watching movies for what felt like hours, neither one of us wanting to leave. It had been a while since we had hung out alone.

"You know what we should do?"

I turned my eyes away from the movie to look at him. "What?"
"Go get dinner, just the two of us."

"Like a date?" I chuckled softly.

"Yeah. We haven't been on a proper dinner date in so long. I miss spending time with just you." He smiled brightly, squeezing me against him and kissing the side of my head.

"We could do that," I smirked. "Or, we could do something else." I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. He smiled into the kiss before I started to deepen it. He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around so I was on my back and he was on top of me. He moved his lips from my mouth and slowly started to kiss my jawline, making his way down to my neck.

A knock on the door rang out through the apartment, making Reece groan in annoyance. "Who the fuck is at the door."

I giggled, finding his frustration hilarious.

"Can we just ignore it?" He asked, leaning down to kiss my neck again.

"We can't just ignore it. What if it's Leah?" I pulled his head back up so he was looking at me.

"Then she can just go back to hanging out with Blake." He kissed my lips again. I kissed back, also not really wanting to get up.

"Ava?" A voice called out from the hall, making Reece immediately tense up.

"Why the fuck is George here." He sat up, moving off the couch and over to the door.

"Reece, let me answer the door." I raced up after him, but unfortunately, he had already swung open the door when I got there.

"George," Reece muttered coldly.

"Oh, uh, hi," George replied awkwardly. He looked from Reece to me, a panicked look on his face. "Can I talk to Ava?"

"Sure. Go ahead. She's standing right there." Reece stood slightly in front of me, as if he was worried George was about to step forward and try and strangle me.

"I think he meant alone Reece." I stepped around him, turning to face him. "It's okay, Reece. I'm okay."

"It's not you that I'm worried about." He refused to take his eyes off of George.

"Reece." I put a hand on his arm. "Look at me." He slowly moved his eyes down to me. "It's okay. He's not going to hurt me."

Reece didn't say anything, but he stepped out of the way, giving George room to walk into my apartment. Just as George was almost completely inside Reece grabbed his wrist. "If you lay one finger on her—"

"Reece!" I yelled, slapping his arm away from George. "Look at who you're talking to!"

George remained silent, most likely worried anything he said would set Reece off more. Reece gave George one last glare before he walked out of my apartment and across the hall to his own. I shut the door to my apartment, turning to find George pacing back and forth.

"What's wrong, George?" I took a cautious step forward, feeling an eerie familiarity to the situation.

He turned to look at me, tears in his eyes. I hadn't realized before how bloodshot his eyes were, but it looked like he had been crying for a while. He leaned against my counter, running his hands through his hair. "Ava. I fucked up."

"What happened? George? Talk to me." I walked towards him, putting a hand on his back. He flinched away. I stepped back, watching as he crumpled to the floor, sliding his back down the front of my cabinets until he was sitting on the floor. He let out a loud sob, so loud it broke my heart.

I sat down in front of him, crossing my legs. I had never seen him so broken. I had never seen anyone so broken. He slowly raised his head until it was leaning against the cabinet behind him. Tears poured from his eyes.

He took a shaky breath. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry. But I wasn't expecting him to be here."

"Who? Reece?"

He nodded.

"I'm sorry he's acting like that. He's just upset and—"

George cut me off. "He has a right. He has every right. You don't have to defend him. I'm the one that fucked up. It's my fault." He ran his hands through his hair again, shaking his head back and forth. He started crying again, his whole body quaking.

"George. You can't blame yourself." I wanted to pull him into a hug but knew I couldn't.

"But it is." He croaked out in between sobs. He took a deep breath again, looking up at me. "I wanted this to happen."

I gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head back. "You were right," he mumbled. "I don't like you. I never did like you, at least not like that."

I was taken aback, surprised that I had actually been right. "So why did you kiss me?"