Page 61 of Fracture
Vinnie swallowed roughly. He hadn’t lost his memory and still didn’t have any like what she described. “That sounds nice.”
“It was. But…”
“But?”
“That’s not my life now. Before I lost my memory.”
“How do you know?”
She scoffed. “The person who found me was a stranger. The person who took me knew if they left me in my own apartment, no one would find me until it was too late. My cousin has Cade. My partner is married. My friends are paired off. Everyone in my life has someone else. I’m alone.”
“You’re the least alone person I’ve ever known,” Vinnie grunted.
“It doesn’t feel that way to me. I feel like… I feel like everyone is just checking in. But none of them are my person. No one knows what my shorthand means, which says I never let them into my mind. I didn’t have a significant other, or at least not one who wants to admit we were together. And the one person who came looking for me doesn’t want to be around me.”
“Why do you think that?” Vinnie asked.
The darkness of the room hid her from him, but he could feel her reaction to his question. Not being able to see each other meant Vinnie could ask a question like that and not worry about her seeing the longing on his face. The longing he knew he sucked at hiding.
Her friends probably laughed at the poor sap he was, begging for scraps from her. Sitting in his apartment and feeling sorry for himself while she was out with them. Enjoying life and kicking ass and surrounded by people.
“I wanted you to go to dinner with us tonight. I wanted to be close to you. I slept on the damn floor of your apartment because being in the other room was too far from you and you pretended to be asleep when I got home so you didn’t have to talk to me.”
“I…”
“Don’t lie to me, Vinnie. If nothing else, don’t lie to me.”
He drew a breath and let it out slowly. “You’re going to leave.”
“What?”
“You’re going to leave me. You’re going to go back to your life and your world and I’m not going to be a part of it. I wasn’t before this, and once all your memories come back, I won’t be a part of your life. I know that. And I’m… I don’t want to stand in your way of rebuilding that life.”
“That’s fucking bullshit.”
“What?”
“Why… You’re the one and only person I feel safe around right now. You’re in my life whether you like it or not. I want to be around you. I want… to be with you. I wanted to spend time with you tonight.”
“You just didn’t want to share your files with me,” he said, sounding like a petulant child even to his own ears.
She let out a breath that sounded half like a laugh. “That’s what all this is about? Because I didn’t show you the files? I’ll show them to you right now.” She made a move like she was going to get up.
“Don’t. I don’t want your pity or whatever. You…”
“I what?”
“You didn’t feel like you could share that with me. I’m not going to force you to.”
She laughed. “Do you know why I looked at those files when you were gone?”
He shook his head, then remembered she couldn’t see him in the dark. “No.”
“I was afraid I would uncover something horrible about myself. That you would see something that changed your mind about me.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I care what you think about me. I want you to…”