Running from His Claim (Beauty and the Beast #2)

Chapter 58

I nodded, dropping my eyes.

"So what's wrong? Shouldn't you be over the moon over this?"

"I lost Victor," I mumbled. "I know dating him could never work out but I can't help thinking that maybe if I'd tried, he'd have figured out we wouldn't work and he'd be okay with staying friends. I wish I found out sooner, then I could have handled it better."

She raised a brow, sitting back with crossed arms. "Wouldn't that be Connor all over again?"

I sighed and looked up at her. "It still hurts to lose him because he fell in love with me."

"You do seem to have that effect..."

I shot her a look.

Her lips twitched and she asked, "So you and Warren, huh? Is it back to being heaven again?"

I blushed, smiling dreamily, then I remembered something and frowned. "Uh, yeah."

"Wait, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That. You just paused. What's with the pause?"

I sighed and finally voiced my fears. "I actually don't know if I have him back yet."

"What do you mean?"

"He's holding back," I whispered. "When I'm with him... I don't know, something's not right. He insists that he loves me and he acts the same around me but he doesn't really... He avoids kissing me now, but before he jumped at every chance." I blushed but kept going. "And every time I tell him I love him he... It's like he winces, like my words hurt him." I looked up at her, wiping away the first tears. "I don't know what to do, how to get through to him. He's with me but...not, at the same time."

She thought about it for a short while as I sniffed and wiped away my tears. Finally she said quietly, "Sounds like you're both scared."

"What?"

"You guys haven't dealt with the breakup, have you? Like really dealt with it?"

"I mean, we've cleared the air."

"You got the misunderstanding cleared up, but did you deal with the lingering feelings?"

"Feelings?"

She sighed. "Belle, you spent the last few months with Victor while pining after Warren. Your feelings for both got all tangled up and when you found out how Victor feels about you, things shifted for both of you. On the heels of that was finding out Warren didn't betray you at all... That's a huge emotional mess."

"I know I love Warren," I jumped in defiantly.

"I know, dear, but that's not all you feel - towards Warren, towards Victor, towards the situation. It's not that clear cut. And Warren has emotions to deal with too. He was forced out of the relationship he wanted and into one he didn't, he's shouldering new responsibilities because his father said so, and he had to watch you with another guy for just as long as you had to watch him with another girl.

"I can't imagine that his relationship with his father is in a good place right now, and I'm sure he knows that you're heartbroken over Victor. He probably has no idea how to feel about that. You kids need to deal with all these emotions before your relationship can get back on track. And if you continue to ignore this, you'll poison your love and ruin a good thing."

My heart skipped a beat. That was the last thing I'd ever want. I fought down the rising panic. "What do we need to do? Do we -" I choked, my whole being rejecting the idea, but I'd suffer through anything to fix my relationship with Warren. "Do we need to be apart for a little while?"