Who We Could Be - Chelsea M. Cameron Page 0,10

my god, Ford, what’s wrong?” I shared a terrified look with my aunts as all the possibilities chased each other through my brain. Car crash. Cancer. Fire. Kidnapping.

“Ford, you have to talk to me,” I said, pleading, and starting to cry myself.

“TJ cheated on me,” she finally got out through sobs.

“Holy shit. Holy shit, Ford.” I stood up and started pacing the room. “Okay, okay, I’ll be right there. Listen, I’m coming.” I set the phone to speaker, and Monty’s sobs filled the dining room.

“I have to go,” I said and gave my aunts quick hugs and told them I’d call later with updates and assured them that no one had died.

“I’m coming, Ford, I’m coming,” I said over and over as I raced to her place. She was still crying, and I was so scared and the drive took forever. Fortunately, I didn’t see many cars on the road and there was a spot right in front of her apartment. I slammed the car in park and raced up the stairs. The door was unlocked and I found her on the floor of the living room, curled up into a ball.

“Ford, Ford,” I said, touching her shoulder. She just cried and I wrapped myself around her. I needed to know what happened, but I needed to get her out of this part first. And then I’d get to decide exactly how much pain to inflict on TJ as I slowly murdered him.

“It’s okay, I’m here, I’m here.” This was peak best friend duty. I held the broken pieces of Monty together so she didn’t fly apart in a thousand pieces.

“I’m here and it’s going to be okay.” It wasn’t going to be okay, but that didn’t matter. It was just the thing I had to say. I rubbed her back and told her to breathe and held her tight as her body shook with tremors.

At last she started to quiet. My arms ached from holding her so tight, but I wasn’t letting go until she told me to. If it took the rest of our lives, I was going to hold her together if she needed me to.

“I’m okay,” she said in a soft voice that broke my heart a little bit. She moved to sit up and I let her, loosening my hold, but not letting go completely.

“Hey,” I said, when she raised her head. Her hair was all in her face, so I used one hand to push it out of her eyes. She had snot running out of her nose and her eyes were so puffed they were almost swollen shut.

“Listen, I’m going to get you a cloth for your face, but I’m coming right back.” If I’d been wearing a shirt with longer sleeves, I might have just used that, but today had been a scorcher, so I only had a tank on with no excess material.

Monty nodded and I rushed to the bathroom to grab a washcloth to wet with cool water. I wrung it out and brought it back to her. Monty sat still, a tear here or there still escaping her eyes to run down her cheek as I wiped each one away and cleaned the rest of her face.

“What do you need?” I asked. I hoped she would tell me that she needed me to end TJ’s life, because that would be my fucking pleasure.

“Just stay with me?” Another tear appeared and I wiped it away with my finger.

“No matter what, always,” I said. Monty fell into me and I put my arms around her as she burrowed into my shoulder, as if she was trying to hide.

We sat on the floor so long that my right leg went numb, but I would not fucking move until she told me to.

“He’s been fucking someone else,” she said, her voice muffled. I slammed my lips shut so I didn’t interrupt her or make any kind of comment. “I only found out because he left his phone on the table and I saw a text. A text that left nothing to the imagination. I knew I shouldn’t have picked up his phone, but that’s his fault for not having a better passcode. I just...I never thought he would do this to me. How could he do this to me? We’re getting married.”

Not anymore they weren’t. I’d known TJ was fucking trash, but I was standing by her side as long as he didn’t do anything like this. But now? No, he was as