Free Only Between Us by Mila Ferrera

a moment, I could have sworn Jude was right. Shaking my head, I dry my hands and promise myself I’ll stop thinking about it tonight.
    I push open the door to the ladies’ room and enter the hallway, nearly colliding with a guy coming out of the men’s. He catches my shoulders and mumbles a quick apology, but then he pulls up short. “Romy.”
    I twist around as I hear his voice, and my stomach drops. “Alex.” It comes out broken. A whisper.
    He looks the same, curly blond hair, only a few inches taller than me, but muscular and fit. A hard, possessive grip. “Oh my God,” he says. “You cut your hair.”
    I try to shrug his hands away, but he moves with me. “Let me go,” I mouth, but my heart is beating too fast to allow any sound.
    “You look good.” His thumbs stroke over my shoulders, and he smiles. I used to love that smile. So confident, so powerful, so unafraid. “How have you been?”
    It’s like he doesn’t remember what happened. Or maybe he does, because he hasn’t let me go. It’s what he used to do—he said I was always trying to run away, and that I needed to face things. “I’m fine. My friends are waiting.”
    He edges a little closer. “Mine are, too. Listen, I’ve missed you. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. A year ago, we were here together.”
    My eyes burn. I’m stuck in this hallway, and people are walking by all around us, and none of them are looking at me. No one is noticing what’s happening. “That was a long time ago. I’ve moved on.”
    “I remember it perfectly,” he says in a low voice, like he didn’t even hear me—or doesn’t care what I said anyway. “We were so good together. Don’t you think about me sometimes?”
    “Let me go, Alex.” He hears me this time. I can tell by the change in his expression, the flicker of heat in his eyes.
    But he doesn’t take his hands off me. “My number is the same. Call me and we’ll talk. You never gave me a chance to apologize, and I wanted to. I tried, but it was like you’d disappeared.”
    With Eric’s guidance, I’d changed my number, my email, everything. “You hit me.”
    He closes his eyes. “I felt so bad, Romy. I’ve never lost it like that before. I felt so much for you, and you brought it out of me. I’d like to make it up to you—”
    “Did you just blame her for your abusiveness?” a familiar voice snaps. Jude is standing right behind me.
    Alex’s hands fall away from me as he glares at Jude. “I was apologizing,” he growls. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
    I step back and Jude slips his hand into mine. He’s shaking. Furious. “It is my business,” he says to Alex. “She’s my friend and I care about her.”
    “I care about her, too, and you’re probably one of the reasons we broke up.” He glances at me. “I told you he was nosy. I told you to stay away from him.”
    My mouth drops open, but I have no voice. It’s like it’s last fall, and I’m hearing him say it to me. Don’t call him. I don’t trust him. You spend too much time with him.
    Jude tugs on my hand and gives Alex a cold, humorless smile. “We’re going back to our table now, and you’re not going to talk to us anymore,” he says in this fake-chipper voice. “I hope you have a fabulously shitty night. Come on, Romy.”
    Alex’s jaw clenches. He looks like he wants to slam his fist into Jude’s face. Every part of me tenses up, and I shrink back quickly. Alex’s gaze shifts to me, and his features go smooth. “Think about what I said, Romy,” he says softly.
    Jude puts his arm around me and guides me out of the hallway.
    And like a voiceless, weak little girl, I let him. I don’t know what I’m more upset about—running into Alex or being completely unable to stand up to him. I thought I was getting stronger. Better. Over it. I sink into the seat and put my hands over my face. Jude scoots close and tries to hug me, but I shrug him off. I don’t want anyone to touch me right