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“What?”
“Hale. My last name is Hale.”
“Oh…” I smiled slowly. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“No,” she admitted, frowning.
“And the scar?”
Her head snapped towards me. She didn’t appear to be angry anymore. Just tired.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes,” I reached for her hand once more, guiding my hand over the ridge of the scar. I sat up, and bent forward, placing a soft kiss against it. “I really want to know.”
Her body shuddered. “I got it when I was a baby. There…there was a fire. My family didn’t make it. I escaped with only this,” she nodded down at the scar. “They died,” tears pooled in her eyes, “and I escaped with a minor burn.”
I didn’t know what to do with that information. The fact that we had such similar pasts scared me. Maybe Sutton really did understand more about me than anyone else ever had, or ever could.
“I don’t even remember them,” she whispered, lying down once more and clasping her hands under her head. “I was too little.” Breathing deeply, as if to calm herself, she said, “I have a picture of them. That’s it. If I didn’t have that I wouldn’t even know what they looked like.”
“What happened to you after the fire?” I asked. For the first time in five years, I was more worried about someone else’s pain than my own. I didn’t know what to make of this development. It was strange, to say the least.
“I was adopted by friends of the family. My grandparent’s were too old to take on a baby and I guess no one else wanted me.”
Her voice and eyes were full of sadness and I knew there was more she wasn’t telling me. But I knew how much I hated it when people pushed me and I refused to do the same to her. One day, we’d both have to come to terms with the fact that the horrors that haunted us were never going to go away, and therefore we had to find a way to live with them instead of only coping.
CHAPTER 14
Sutton
“Not so fast, Sunshine.”
Emery cornered me in the backroom. I tried to get by him but he crossed his arms over his chest and refused to let me pass.
“Emery!” I stomped my foot like a child, the stress of everything catching up with me, and therefore making me lash out.
“You’ve called in sick for four days, and after the way you fled our dinner the other night, I know something is going on with you. Spit it out.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said in a calm, reassuring tone. “I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Something tells me this has to do with Memphis and your mystery lover,” he continued, still blocking my path.
“Why are you so obsessed with my love life?!” I shouted. “It’s none of your business! Stay out of it!”
Hurt flashed on his face and I instantly felt bad.
“I’m sorry,” my voice lowered, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”
“But you did,” he glared, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “I’m just trying to be your friend, but you make it really damn hard.” He turned sharply, then stopped abruptly and spun around to face me. “By the way, Memphis is a good guy. I’ve known him for a long time and he’d never hurt you. Whoever this guy you’re currently wrapped up in is, I can tell he’s bad news. You’ve been together barely anytime and he’s already turned you into a different person.”
“Maybe it’s just my true colors showing!” I spread my arms wide.
He shook his head, a smile that was hardly pleasant graced his face. “If that’s the case, then I’m glad you cut Memphis loose.”
“Why do you want us together so bad? What does it matter to you?” I hated that Emery’s words were cutting me so deeply, like he’d plunged a knife in my chest and wiggled it around.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he thrust his fingers through his dark hair and it stuck up in every direction, “but I can see that you’re perfect for each other and it’s fucking ridiculous that you’re blind to it.”
