The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories Read Online Free

off the sun.
    Sun? I thought we were inside.
    I look around. Flowers and wheat surround us. We weren’t here before.
    Mason wraps his arm around me, pressing his lips to my ear. I hold him there, afraid to let go.
    “It’s time, Katelyn.”
    I’m afraid to know the answer, so I don’t ask. “Stay.”
    Mason pulls back and smiles. I’ve missed him so much. The girls will be so happy to know he’s back. That he’s come back to us and everything has just been a nightmare.
    He pulls my hand to his mouth and kisses my wedding band and engagement ring.
    “I’ll love you no matter what.”
    He’s gone just like that.
    “Mason, come back.”
    “Please. I can’t do this without you.”
    I run, looking for wherever he went. I look down. Everything is black. I’m barefoot and bleeding.
    “Katelyn?”
    I jump when he shakes my arm. I know who it is by his voice. I sit up, adjusting the book I was reading in my lap. I move my matted hair away from my face. I can’t believe he’s standing next to me, staring. I’m a mess.
    He hands me a tissue. I look at him questioningly.
    “You were crying.”
    I take the tissue from his hand and wipe my eyes. I haven’t dreamt of Mason in months and never like this. They’ve always been about the accident and how it plays out in my mind. This dream... it means something else, but what?
    “Thank you,” I say, clearing my throat. He stands and nods, heading back to the chair he was sitting in until he woke me. I look out of the window, the passing fields flying by as we travel down the highway. I don’t know where we are, but all I can see is a random farmhouse every now and again.
    Harrison clears his throat loudly. My kneejerk reaction is to look over. He rubs his hand over his black beanie. It slides back and forth slightly. I watch intently, waiting for the tiniest hint of his hair. I wish he’d take the hat off, but he never does. If I had any nerve, I’d rip the sucker from his head and run. Burn the thing when he’s not looking.
    The beanie moves only inches, nothing telling. He glances over, catching me staring. I can’t look away, even though I should. I look over my shoulder for anyone to rescue me. There’s no one. I’m alone with him.
    I’ve known this man for months. We’ve had dinner. Work together almost daily. When we aren’t working, we are around each other, so why for the love of God can I not sit in the same general vicinity without needing someone else in the room? I’m a professional. He’s a professional. We can be adults.
    Right?
    I turn back, catching his eye. He shakes his head, turns and looks out the window. I open my mouth to say something... anything, but nothing comes out. I don’t understand why I can’t talk to him. It makes no sense, this way I’m acting toward him. I’m sure he’s a decent human being, regardless of the tattoos on his arms. It’s not just his arms though, his leg too. He has something on his calf, but unless I bend down to look or ask him, I’ll never know what it is.
    I could drop a pen the next time I’m standing near him and get a good look. How long does it take to pick-up a pen and mentally take a picture? Longer than I have, because he’s always aware of me. It’s like he’s a magnet and I’m the piece of metal he wants to attach to, which is just silly because magnets are attracted to other magnets and I’m not a magnet.
    When he gets up I jump, dropping the book I have resting in my lap. My gaze follows him down the aisle. He enters the girls’ room, and before I can get up and find out what the hell he’s doing in there, he’s out and holding Elle in his hands. She’s clinging to him, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Her face squished into the front of his shirt.
    He stops in front of me. “She was crying.”
    I look from him to my daughter and down the aisle. He heard her crying, but I didn’t? What does that make me?
    I reach for her, but she clings to him. She whimpers lightly,