[h3] Duke [/h3]

Oh no…There was that feeling in Duke’s gut again.

As Esme threw her hands up and turned her back on him, Duke’s stomach dipped and it was as if he was watching himself hurt her all over again. Though, he wasn’t sure why she was so hurt by him leaving in the first place. They had shared a moment…a moment that ruined Duke’s ability to keep away from her, knowing she was just right there. He could touch her any time he wanted, but at the same time, he couldn’t. She was trouble…

“Esme wait…” Duke muttered, dropping his chin almost to his chest as she stepped away from him, clearly frustrated and finished trying to fix whatever it was she could see as broken between them. He couldn’t place it either. But when she called back to him, telling him to forget she even came outside, Duke’s shoulders fell and he dropped his bag next to the RV, stepping off from his planted place in the gravel. “Wait wait wait.”

He had broke into a run, until he heard her cry out in what he could only assume was pain. He broke into a light run, and skidded to a stop beside her, wrapping his hand around her upper arm before he even realized what he was doing. He turned her quickly to face him and caught her eyes with a worried look on his face. He realized pretty quickly that she had just stepped on something barefoot and she would live, but also that she was genuinely upset with him for leaving.

“Hey.” He started, his bright blue eyes scanning hers for a moment before he swallowed thickly and then wrapped her up in his arms. He tilted his hat back onto the back of his head. It was a mistake to hug her. He knew that. Any touch was a mistake, after the weird intense emotions he had felt last time she was in his arms. But he held her there for a while, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “I’m sorry. I’m…I’m a little nervous to be back is all. I mean it when I say that I can’t explain why I left. There’s no way you would understand in a way that wouldn’t make me look horrible.”

Duke pulled away from the hug, his hands lingering against her body a clear indicator that it took everything he had to let her go, and then he placed both hands on her upper arms, holding her in front of him so he could lean down with wide eyes and talk to her on her level, “You promise to at least let me buy you a drink and me and you will sit on that tailgate out there…and I’ll…I’ll do the best I can to explain everything. When I’m done, if you want me gone…I’m gone.”