When he looks me in the eye, there’s a softness in his gaze. “You don’t quit, do you?”
“I overheard Dr. Harris talking with the nursing staff,” I say with a timid rattle to my tone. “Your body’s not as strong as you might think.” I gesture at the cigarette pack. “These things aren’t helping you.”
“I’m not stupid,” he says bluntly. “I realize they’re bad for me. But I have nothing else.”
I sit back. “What does that mean?”
“It’s not like I fell off my bike today and that’s when my life became crappy,” he replies. “I’ve had years of crap to get through.”
I wince at the cigarette still in his hand. “And you’ve been smoking those for years?”
“If you found something that made the days easier to get through,” he says in a gravelly tone, “wouldn’t you take it?”
“But there are other things that can help you,” I say with urgency. “Dr. Harris can identify what’s wrong with you and prescribe medication or other treatment.” I leave the rock and reach for my purse. I retrieve my phone and open a search browser. “I’ll look up what I remember him saying about your chart.”
“Forget it, Vanessa,” he says with irritation. “I don’t need medical treatment.”
“You don’t know that,” I say, sitting beside him, continuing to search the web. “Dr. Harris sounded serious when he talked about your white blood cells.”
“My what now?”
I scroll through a promising article and tilt my phone toward him. “See, there are options to fix a low blood cell count. It’d take away your fatigue and dizziness. It’s safer than…”
He interrupts me with a groan. “Vanessa.”
“No, Dax,” I insist. “You need to look into this stuff.”
“Will you stop?”
I lean in closer with the phone. “No, you stop. Why are you ignoring the issue?”
“I don’t want to deal with it.”
“But I can…”
I can’t finish my sentence because Dax rushes forward. In a sweeping movement, his lips press against mine. His pressure is hard, completely muting me. My thoughts go blank as his head tilts, using his mouth to keep me quiet.
With a jolt, my thoughts come back, and I push on his chest. I reef my head back and let out a faint squeal.
“What are you doing?” I yelp, getting off the rock and backing away.
Dax wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, smirking. “What’s the big deal?”
I gasp, horror-stricken by his casualness. “You can’t just kiss me!”
“Oh please,” Dax splutters. “Would you calm down?”
I press a hand on my chest above my thumping heart. “No, I won’t.” My eyes water with an itchy sensation. “How could you just do that?”
“It was easy.” He leans forward with a glint in his eye. “Want me to show you again?”
“Ugh. No!”
He pulls back, mumbling a laugh. “Why are you freaking out so much? I just did it to shut you up.”
My mouth hangs open as the magnitude of someone’s lips on mine swells inside my head. “It’s the fact that you just did it.” I squeeze my eyes closed, and gasp when they reopen. “No one just does that. That’s why I’ve never…”
“You’ve never what?”
