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Damn, I have to be really bad off if Hailey can keep me pinned down like this.
“Don’t. Go.” My throat burns, raw as if I’ve been yelling in my sleep.
Maybe I have. I remember yelling for her.
She sits on the bed, her pretty mouth downturned, her eyes red. Has she been crying? “I have to go, Kade.”
“But why? Go where?” I don’t understand. My head really fucking hurts and my heart is booming so hard I might break a rib. “Hay. Talk to me, dammit.”
She flinches and turns her face away from me.
Shit, I didn’t mean it to come out like that, but hell, I’m at my wits’ end here. “Just… talk to me? Please?”
I fucking hate how miserable she looks. I put my hand on her leg and she sighs, her chestnut hair falling in her dark eyes. I itch to stroke it back, tuck it behind her ears, like I did before…
Before what?
“It’s… never mind.” She rubs a hand over her mouth and I remember its taste. “I, uh. I’ll come by again tomorrow, okay? Let you rest.”
“I don’t need to fucking—” I grind my teeth and swallow my anger. She’s not the cause of it. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing, I… Nothing you can do about it, Kade.” She glances at me, a quick look from under her long lashes, as if checking that I’m accepting what she says. “Everything will be fine.”
Not that everything is fine. But that it will be. What does she mean?
But I don’t ask again, and I don’t curse, because I don’t want that scared look in her eyes again, and I don’t want her to go.
I don’t want her to leave. I need her here, with me. My nightmare still has a chokehold on me, and I can’t breathe unless I can see her and touch her and know she’s okay.
And if that doesn’t classify me as a certifiable crazy person, then I don’t know what does.
Chapter Ten
Hailey
This guy will be the death of me. He’s breaking my heart all over again, and he has barely spoken a few sentences since I arrived. But the way he says my name, the way he holds on to me and asks me to stay, the way he asks what’s wrong… That’s the Kaden I knew and loved. The man I fell in love with, head over heels.
The guy I’ve been trying to forget.
How long can this charade last? How long can I pretend I’m fine, that we are fine?
Remember he’s not well, I remind myself. This isn’t about you, Hailey, it’s about him. No matter what, I’d never want any harm coming to him, and if being here is what it takes…
Though I still don’t know how long it will take. I have my life back in Chicago.
You mean Mags? A treacherous little voice whispers in the back of my mind. Or Trent who’s been harassing you day and night?
Or… did you mean your photography? Because you have your camera right here, and the guy who’s been starring in all the photos you picked. You could make new photos. The ones you’re missing for your exhibition.
And get his consent to use them.
Sounds like a plan.
Fine, then. I look at him again, fighting against the magnetic pull of his gaze with all I have, and nod. “I’ll stay.”
The relief washing over his face is real. The smile tugging at his full mouth is real. He’s real, solid and warm beside me, and what I feel for him sure is real. It wouldn’t hurt so much otherwise.
It’s killing me that everything else is fake.
