Had To Be You (Romance/Drama) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 11 - Drink

Naomi did not bother with going inside of the cottage, but rounded the corner and walked straight down to the beach.

There was a sharp downward slope in the sand where her foot stumbled, and she made herself stand still as she regained her balance and shook off the sharp pain reverberating throughout her ankle.

It was then that she noticed just how hastily she had been moving, for she had to catch up to her own breath. A flush of heat had crept into her body and atop of her skin, where a thin coat of perspiration was beginning to shine.

She would have to calm herself if she was to be coherent on the phone, and coherent she would have to be.

"Goddammit," she swore, "I'm going to fucking call him and this is going to be the end of it. No bloody hole in the ground will stop me."

Her steps to the shore were brisk, and she held the cellphone in her hand with a death-grip. It wouldn't do her any good if she dropped it in this darkness, or close enough to the water where it could become damaged.

She had to call.

She couldn't see the water. It was all a vast blackness that hinted at nothing. She was only sure the ocean hadn't been swallowed by the world because of it's volume; those lovely waves sweeping over the shore and brushing over the tips of her toes.

She moved a step closer so the seawater could soak her feet.

Then she breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of salt for comfort; for familiarity.

She should have been scared, on her own and hardly able to see her surroundings, but she couldn't bring herself to have the sense to be afraid.

All she cared about was this phone call, and why she had to make it.

She had to make it.

Because when Xavier answered, she would prove to herself that her heart still warmed at the sound of him. She would see that she loved him enough to forget about the past few days and continue on as if they had never happened.

She would forget her doubt and worry about their relationship upon hearing him. She would. His voice, that sweet, caring voice, would assure her of what was right for her. And when he asked her to go to him, she would book the next flight to Madrid within seconds.

And just like that, upon hearing him speak, she would erase from her memory every thought of Lucas Forrester.

Every bit of feeling that had reawakened since they had met again would be forgotten.

She just could not let herself love the man again.

She could not let her heart be broken once more by the only person who had the power to damage or fix her.

God, he had that power. And that power left her frightened and weak.

She would have to find the strength to put down every thought of him that entered her head as she had intended, and failed, to do in these past two years. But this time she would get it right, and she would erase him from her memory so that the sight of him wouldn't send rivulets of longing and pleasure to course through her with the strength of storms.

She would protect herself from him, and she would protect herself from no one else but herself, because she knew that whenever the moment concerned him, she lost all reasoning and became ruled only by the power of her impulses; of her heart.

That could only lead her to two things; pain and disappointment.

Pain when she finally let herself accept that Lucas was only using her to satiate his craving of the moment. Pain when she realized, once more in her lifetime, that every feeling of love and need she had felt was not reciprocated by him.