Chapter 4: Shaking in the Back Seat

I still can’t stop trembling when Ethan walks into a room.

Even after three weeks of sharing his bed.

No one ever stood up for me. When my mom found out Ethan Callahan wanted to marry me, she was so over the moon she’d have driven to church just to say thank you. She’d posted the engagement photo to Facebook before I’d even said yes, tagging every cousin from Dallas to Dayton.

Ethan switched cars again—this one with a back seat you could stretch out in. I hated cars like that.

The partition was up, the world on the other side. No one would know what happened in the back.

Today, Ethan was quieter than usual.

Maybe it was the way I shook, even with the AC blowing warm. My hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

He didn’t comment, just pulled me into his lap.

"Aubrey, you really this scared?"

His voice was a whisper at my ear, low and knowing. He knew damn well who made me this way.

"I’ll take you to pick out a wedding dress later, okay?"

I forced a laugh, brittle as glass.

Imagine: the guy who pushed me into the dirt now promising to buy me a dress. The words sounded sweet, but coming from Ethan, they felt like another lock on the door.

I told myself I was safe, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Not with Ethan sitting right beside me.