Unthinkable (Unstoppable 2)

“Hey, you okay?” Genuine concern filled the voice of this near stranger.

I nodded, glancing away.

“I didn't even ask your name,” he murmured. “That was a dick move. Sorry.”

“Liss.”

“And what's the guy's name?”

My brows dipped as I took a slow breath in. “What makes you think there's a guy?”

“You were kissing me like you were trying to perform an exorcism on yourself.”

My head fell, lids with it. I turned and planted my ass on the twin bed closest to me. Evan exhaled then made his way over, the mattress dipping under his weight.

“Sorry, I'm not trying to be a dick. I just wouldn't want to take advantage.”

I huffed a quick laugh, shuffling back and dropping my head against the wall. “You couldn't just be a normal guy and use me for sex, huh?”

Settling beside me, he nudged his shoulder into mine. “Not my style, Liss. Not that I wouldn't want to,” he broke off and cleared his throat. “I've got five sisters, though. Two older, three younger. One goes here, too. And I swear I can feel them breathing down my neck constantly, making sure I’m not being a dick.”

“Ah.” My chin bobbed in silent understanding.

Trust me to stumble across the last remaining guy on campus attuned to a woman's feelings, and with a finely tuned moral compass to boot. Or maybe it was just the fact that he had five women ready to kick his ass if he disrespected someone from the sisterhood. Either way, I could tell he was a good guy.

“So, what'd he do? I've heard it all. Guys are idiots.”

My eyes clung to the wall opposite. What did Leon do?

Nothing.

Except somehow claim a part of me without even trying, which might have been the worst thing he could have done.

“He made me feel,” I murmured.

Evan gave his head a light shake. “That’s a bad thing?”

The worst. “It’s one-sided.”

Evan was quiet for a beat before he said, “Well, the guy’s an idiot.”

I gave a light snort. “I’m not a good person, Evan.”

“I don’t believe that.” His response was immediate, but he didn’t know me.

He didn’t know I was cold. That I ran from my problems. That I left my family when they needed me most because I was selfish and scared.

I portrayed the persona of someone tough, but I was a coward.

Leaving was the easy option. I saw that now. Leaving meant I didn’t have to face the pain that threatened to derail me. So much of the life I left back in Claremont had the power to hurt me, and I just… I didn’t want to hurt.

But ignoring everything wasn’t fucking working, either. Guilt clawed at me from the inside, gnawing away at my soul until it was all I could think about. The pain didn’t ease with distance. It didn’t ebb. It merely festered.

My gaze drifted out through the narrow window pane where a handful of twinkling stars lit a cloudless, indigo sky, and I only wished I could see anything so clearly.

Someone had swiped a hand through the still-wet canvas of my life.

Strangled words scraped up my throat. “Have you ever tried to leave something behind that wouldn’t let you go?”