What She's Worth (Reylo)

Chapter 27

The hallway seemed to spin into a tunnel with no end in sight. Her knees and ankles felt like they were made of jelly, and it took all of her willpower to continue running—away from Ben, away from Lennett, away from everything.

A sob caught in Rey's throat when she finally saw the door to her room, and she made a mad dash for it before closing the door and backing away, her shoulders heaving with wheezing breaths. She tried to shake off the memory of what she had seen earlier but couldn't, and if she hadn't made it to her bed, she very well may have collapsed on the floor.

She was going to be sick.

Sobs wracked her whole body, yet no tears fell. The shock of it all had kept her eyes dry—Ben, in Lennett's room; Ben, with his clothes damp, muddy and rumpled; Lennett in nothing but a sheet. Smiling.

The tears finally burst forth at the memory of Lennett's triumphant smile. Whatever it was that woke her in the dead of night and compelled her to follow Ben's Force signature, Rey would never know, but she regretted it now. She may be young, but she was old enough to know exactly what went on behind Lennett's closed doors, and she felt as though her heart had shattered into a million pieces, every sliver of painful memories so sharp that there was just no picking herself up together again.

The buzz on her door was expected. "Rey, open the door."

"Go away!"

"Rey, please."

"I said, go away!"

Silence. Then a jiggle, followed by the opening of the door, and Rey sighed. She should have known Ben would use the Force.

"Rey, let's talk about this," Ben pleaded after he had closed the door, approaching her on the bed.

Rey quickly sat up and angrily wiped her tears away. "What's there to talk about Ben?"

"Us. We need to talk about us."

"You mean about you and Lennett?"

"No. You and me."

She paused for a moment, then shook her head. Her eyes were dry now. Ben Solo—the man she loved the most in the world—had just broken her heart but she wasn't about to let him see how much. "What's there to talk about? You lied to me. You said you and Lennett weren't together. Well, clearly you are."

Anger was her only shield now, and it ripped into her voice like lightning through a storm cloud. Ben was clearly taken aback for a moment before his own temper flared.

"What is it to you, anyway?" he seethed, slapping his chest with a palm. "I'm an adult! You're just a kid."

"I'm not a child anymore, Ben!"

"Yes, you are, Rey! You're only thirteen. And you shouldn't have feelings for me."

Thunder roared from outside, though it may as well have exploded within Rey, and she felt a chilling sensation move down her spine. She knew without looking that she was white as sheet, and she scrambled for an excuse, a retort, anything, but her mind drew a blank. "...I...I didn't...I don't..."

"Stop lying, Rey," Ben cut in and drew himself taller. "I saw your holos."

That was it. That was how he knew, and the numbing cold spread through her for a few more tense seconds before anger rose forth to give her the strength she was so desperate for.

"How could you!" She ran up to him and physically pushed him away, her palms hot against his damp shirt. "Those are my private records!"

She continued to beat him, to pummel his chest with closed fists until he held her wrists in the air, forcing her to look up at him. She could almost feel electricity from where they touched. "It was an accident. I thought it was more holos of us. I wanted to watch more memories of our times together and found those instead." She watched him bite a quivering lip, his dark eyes moving to where his large hands held her wrists before he slowly let her go. "Rey, I'm so sorry if I led you on, but you and I...what you feel for me is infatuation. It's not your fault. I made you think that I...felt more for you."