Chapter 6- Make a Choice

Before I could react, Eric told the clerk to take off the tag and swiped his card like it was nothing.

But the moment my eyes landed on the price tag I felt my breath leave my lungs. It was freaking expensive!

And he just…just paid for it like he was paying for a candy!

I just stood there, frozen. My mind was still spinning from what he’d said, what he’d seen.

He handed me a paper bag. “Let’s go,” he said casually, like he hadn’t just flipped my whole world upside down.

I followed him out of the shop in silence, the sunlight hitting me so hard it almost stung. My body still felt strange in the bikini beneath my dress—exposed, raw, like I was walking around in someone else’s skin.

I had never once been told I had a good figure. Not once. Back in school, they used to call me names—ugly, fat, monster. Even Frank had said I was too plain, too ordinary.

And yet, Eric had looked at me like I was the only thing worth looking at.

Before I could make sense of it, he was already leading me down the wooden path back toward the beach. My heart started pounding harder with every step. I could see them now—Frank and Tina—standing by the waves, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world.

Just a few more steps and they’d see me.

It hit me all at once—what I was wearing, what I’d done, what I was about to walk into. I stopped dead in my tracks.

What the hell was I doing?

I suddenly felt like I’d woken up from a dream. A stupid, dangerous dream.

I tried to pull my hand from Eric’s, but his grip tightened.

“Let go,” I hissed.

He didn’t. Instead, he tugged me toward a small wooden hut near the rocks, half-hidden from view.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, jerking my arm free as soon as we were inside. My heart was still racing, part from anger, part from something I didn’t want to name. “Why do you keep doing this? Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

He looked down at me, his jaw tight, eyes burning with something I couldn’t read. “Because you keep pretending,” he said quietly.

“Pretending what?”

“That you don’t care,” he said. “That you’re not hurting.”

I went still.

His words hit the parts of me I didn’t want anyone to touch.

He stepped closer, his voice low and steady. “Don’t you want to see Frank's face when he sees you like this?”

“That’s none of your business,” I shot back.

He ignored me. “Maybe he’d look at you differently. Maybe, for once, he’d realize what he’s been missing.”

“Stop it, Eric.” My throat felt tight. “You don’t know anything.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Or maybe he wouldn’t care at all. Maybe he’d still look right past you, like you were invisible.”

Something inside me cracked. I blinked fast, trying not to let him see how much it hurt.

He leaned down until his lips brushed the air beside my ear. “And you’d still love him,” he whispered. “You’d still chase him like he was worth it.”

My breath caught.

“Why do you care?” I whispered back, my voice shaking.

His hand came up, his fingers brushing against my chin—gentle, almost tender. “Because maybe you could like someone else instead,” he said softly. “Someone like me.”

My heart started to race so fast I thought it might burst. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, to say something, anything—

—but before I could, he kissed me.

The world tilted. My mind went blank. His mouth was warm, sure, and rough in the gentlest way.

Then—

The door slammed open.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?”

Frank’s voice. Sharp. Angry.

I jumped back like I’d been burned.

Frank stood in the doorway, eyes blazing, jaw clenched so tight I thought it might break. “Sabrina?” he demanded. “What are you doing?”

Before I could find words, Eric’s arm slid casually around my shoulders. His tone was calm, almost bored. “What it look like? We’re on a date.”

Frank’s expression twisted. “A date? With you? Don’t make me laugh. Sabrina would never agree to that.”

I flinched.

Eric’s grip on me tightened slightly, his breath brushing my ear. “Guess you don’t know her as well as you thought,” he murmured.

Frank took a step forward. “Sabrina, come here.”

The air between the three of us crackled. The sound of the waves outside was faint, drowned by the pounding in my chest.

Eric leaned in just enough for only me to hear. “He doesn’t like you,” he whispered. “You know that, right? Are you really going to keep being his obedient little dog?”

I froze.

“Stay here,” he said softly. “This is your first step in defying him.”

Both of them stared at me now—Frank, angry and possessive; Eric, calm but intense, waiting.

My heart thundered. My hands trembled.

Two pairs of eyes. Two different men.

One choice.

And I didn't know who I was supposed to choose.

Stay beside Eric or walk to Frank's side?