“You don’t need to worry about me,” I whispered into the passing night.
“I don’t think I could stop. It’s getting harder and harder to stay away from you.”
“Don’t you think it’s for the best?” My argument felt weak. “You’re the one who’s been tellin’ me from the beginning that we are nothing but conflict.”
“Maybe it’s a war I want to fight.”
A sizzle of need blistered the air. The song still playing through my mind. This man standing across the space and still touching my soul.
I gripped my guitar like a security blanket.
“I don’t want you to go down for me,” I told him.
His nostrils flared, his body rigid as he took a step forward. “You are everything that is good in this world, Emily Ramsey. Everything that is right. Going down for you would be a fucking honor. But you aren’t the only person I owe a debt to. The only one I’m fighting for.”
The words inscribed on his chest blazed through my mind.
The name he begged in his dreams.
My heart shuttered and flailed.
Maybe ending this now was for the best, because I had to wonder right then if he could ever love me.
The way I could feel myself falling for him.
“Your heart isn’t yours to give away,” I murmured, a soft admission.
His big body moved across the tiny room. Filling it full. Overpowering.
Blood crashed through my veins, my heart hitting a jagged boom, boom, boom.
He planted his hands on the back of the couch on either side of my head.
Hovering.
Towering.
Making me squirm in my seat.
He angled his head, his nose brushing mine. “And somehow you managed to steal a piece of it, anyway.”
His gaze wandered to the scraps of paper I had laid out in order on the cushion.
Could feel the energy rumble from his spirit.
“Do you hear it, Emily? Do you feel it yet?”
“It’s right there, waiting for me to grab it, just out of reach.”
Just like him.
He traced his fingertips over the scraps without looking down. As if the lyrics might seep into his bones.
Liquid.
“Sing it to me,” he murmured.
Emotion knotted my throat. So tight I was sure I was choking. The feeling trying to break free.
He angled closer, his face caught in the blinking, glittering light. Those full lips moved, barely brushing mine.
Inviting.
Coaxing.
“Hum it,” he demanded.
Our eyes locked.
I thought maybe I could feel it crawling out of my spirit. The broken melody vibrated up my throat and spilled out of my mouth.
The words began to bleed free.
Come to me
I’ve been waiting for a break
Looking for something to save me from myselfI swore, he inhaled them.
Lived them.
His jaw clenched, those eyes fierce, but he began to sing the part of the first verse he’d left for me, voice raw and filled with that same mournful intonation.
Have you been looking for someone
To fill up what you’re missing
Who is it who’s gonna stop you
From the circle that keeps going ’roundHe touched my cheek.
My phone went off in a slew of blips.
I jerked back, blinking off the stupor, the spell the man had me under.
My phone blipped again.
Royce swore under his breath. Frustrated, he raked his fingers through his hair. “Seems someone has something important to tell you.”
Flustered, I dug into my pocket to pull it out, and I thumbed into the screen.
I wished I hadn’t.
Wished I would have just changed my number.
Erase who he was and who he’d been.
Nile: I heard you’re coming back to Dalton.Nile: I can’t wait to see you.Nile: Things aren’t right without you in my life.Nile: I’m going to fix this, baby. You’re going to see why you’re making a huge mistake.Nile: I promise you.I cringed as I read through his messages.
As if he had a right or a say.
Royce’s expression flashed possession.
I wondered what he saw written on me. I was beginning to think the man had his own special view. A vantage no one else possessed.
“Who is that?” This time, the demand resounded with a low undercurrent of anger.
I blinked through the annoyance. “My ex,” I said, futility oozing out with it.
Lost dreams and lost causes.
How was it possible Royce’s expression darkened?
An eclipse.
“I take it you didn’t like what he had to say?”
I fiddled with my phone, glancing down at it. “Not so much.” I peeked up at Royce. “It’s funny how someone can be the one to let you down, and they suddenly think you’re the one who’s holdin’ them back. That you’re the one who ruined things. Convenient, isn’t it?”
“That’s what cheaters do, Emily. They make excuses. Pin you with the blame.”
“Unfair, isn’t it?”
Royce gave a tight nod. “What did he say?”
Bitterness tumbled out in a rush of words. “He thinks he’s gonna win me back. Like I could possibly forgive him for what he did.”
Royce angled down, getting in my line of sight. “Do you want to? To find a reason to forgive him?”