Too close.
“Don’t,” I say, stepping back.
“Don’t what?” he says. “Don’t make you face the truth?”
I shake my head. “No, it’s not right.”
Rain pours from the sky, but it doesn’t even seem to faze him. “I am not your enemy, Jas.”
“Yes, you are!” I rebuke, my body shaking vigorously, but I don’t know if it’s from the cold or because of … him. “You’re the reason for all my misery!”
“Misery?” His nostrils flare.
“I wanted to protect her, but I only ended up hurting myself.”
The look in his eyes is almost too much to bear.
But I can’t do this anymore.
I can’t quench the flames burning my heart, no matter how hard I try.
“And you didn’t do anything to stop it all from happening.”
He frowns. “Stop what from happening?”
How could he be so oblivious?
He really does hate me, doesn’t he?
I roar out loud the feelings I’ve kept tucked away for years. “Your engagement to Jill!”
Three years ago, before the accident
* * *
“Can we talk?” I ask, standing in the doorway to Liam’s house.
He seems surprised I’m even here as he frowns. “Yeah, of course.”
I look over his shoulder to see if the maid who opened the door is gone before I say anything. “It’s about the marriage thing.”
His pupils dilate, and he immediately walks out and closes the door behind him. “Let’s go somewhere more private.” He points at the tree house in the garden.
I follow him up the makeshift ladder and sit beside him inside the cozy little hut that can barely fit two grown people. I sit down on a soft green blanket lying on the wooden floor. We’re opposite each other, and I have to draw my knees up to my chest to fit inside with him.
“What’s going on?” Liam asks.
“My mother finally told me who they’ve picked.” I swallow back the nerves as he’s hanging on my lips. “It isn’t me.”
Liam doesn’t even look the least bit surprised, and I don’t understand why.
But then it hits me.
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
He nods. “Mom told me.”
I frown, feeling a little hurt he didn’t even tell me. Then again, I understand why he had to keep it a secret. Our family doesn’t do well with news.