Page 3 of The Heart You Kept

Fuck.

No, it’s a hard no.

EDWARD

Paul looks over the top of his glasses across his desk at me. “Hello, Edward.” He smiles.

I run my tongue over my teeth, this guy pisses me off. “Hello.”

“How are you today?”

I flick my hands up. “I’m here.”

“And have you had a chance for any reflection on our last visit?”

“Yes.” I glance at my watch. “I don’t have long today.”

He smiles calmly as he folds his hands on his lap. “Let’s recap, shall we?”

I exhale heavily. “Do you have to say the same thing every visit? Don’t you get fucking bored?”

Paul smiles and I imagine myself punching him out of his chair.

He reads his notes. “You are here because you have control issues.”

“No.”

Paul looks up at me. “Why are you here, Edward?”

“Because I promised my sister, Charlotte, that I would see a psychologist.”

He runs his finger up his temple as he watches me. “Charlotte is important to you?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “This is a waste of time, this is my sixth visit and I’m not getting anywhere with you. Of course she’s fucking important to me, why else would I be here?”

“You can’t fix a problem until you admit it, Edward.”

I sit forward in my chair. “I don’t have a problem. I like control, I like to take it from people…I like to assert mine. That’s not a problem…it’s an asset.”

His eyes hold mine. “How is that working out for you relationship wise?”

I run my hand through my hair.

He keeps reading his notes. “Take your time.”

Fuck off.

I glance at my watch.

“On our second visit you told me that you have had a string of broken relationships. That you like strong women but they can only take your need to control for so long before they leave.”

“I leave them,” I reply, angered.

“Do you leave them because you want to, or do you leave them because you begin to feel out of control yourself?”

I roll my lips.

“You see, I think that you know you have an issue, and that you hide behind Charlotte making you come here. That deep down you want to see me and you want to correct this.”