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I reached for her hand before I could think it through, grabbing her toward me.
“How?” I demanded. “When—”
Baffled, she pulled back, falling out of the chair, her pupils dilating.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I’m not falling for it!” she cried, her voice rising an octave.
Now it was me who didn’t believe her.
“No, wait! Please!” I insisted, also standing. “Don’t go!”
“Is he bothering you, Abby?” The bartender reappeared, his face twisted.
Abigail scowled at him. Anger replaced her confusion, eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Do I look like I need to be rescued, Wade?” she snapped. “Mind your goddamn business and stop eavesdropping.”
Wade held up his hands and backed away immediately, causing my eyebrows to rise. She was a force to be reckoned with—especially for a female. Maybe I was out of the loop in these parts, but her display of power was grandiose and hot. And somehow, I’d gotten on her bad side without even trying.
Ensuring that the bartender was out of earshot, she closed the space between us again and lowered her voice, her lips twisting.
“Don’t go?” she sneered. “Really? That’s rich coming from you.”
I tensed defenselessly. “I wish I could understand why,” I replied. “But I’ve got nothing.”
She snorted. “How fucking convenient for you, Elijah.”
At least I know that’s really my name,I mused without amusement.
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you,” I growled. “If you don’t want to help me, I can’t force you, but I really have no idea who you are.”
“How?” she barked. “How can you say that?”
The hurt pierced me, and I stared at her, wishing I could give her another answer.
Maybe I could lie to her,I thought, wanting to say something, anything, to alleviate her clear anguish. But I wouldn’t even know where to start. I didn’t know who I was. How could I put her mind at ease?
“Where did you come from, Elijah?” she demanded. “Where have you been since the war?”
“The war?” I echoed, slowly falling back to sit on my stool. “What war would that be?”
I wracked my mind for any history I’d picked up in Seven Rock over the past two hundred years, but my education beyond botany had been slim. My focus had been on agriculture, not history. I’d been so sure I was better off not knowing. I’d grown complacent being a shadow.
Maybe she mixed me up with someone else?
That didn’t make sense, either—unless this someone else was named Elijah and looked like me, too. My head was starting to pound with all the overthinking. I asked her point blank to spell it all out for me.
“Who am I to you?”
She appeared taken aback by the question and scoffed again.
“Who do you think?” she challenged, her luminous eyes trailing down along the front of my plaid button down, toward my collarbone. They rested directly on the throbbing place over my pecs, and I followed her gaze uncomprehendingly.
A glow radiated beneath the fabric of my t-shirt, and my mouth gaped open at the sight of it.
“What the hell…?” I leapt out of my seat again and patted my chest, feeling the warmth of the glow against my skin. It was strange and pleasant.
“Holy shit!” Abigail whispered, the anger dissipating as she lowered herself to my eye level. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
