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20
Eloise
“You didn’t tell me you were still seeing Marc.” Shane’s voice held a bite to it that Eloise had been expecting, and yet she still grimaced when she heard it.
She took a moment to gather her thoughts as their horses plodded along the trail that led to the only natural pond on their property. Her saving grace was that he hadn’t yelled at her about it when Marc was there. And from the sound of it, he didn’t even do anything to his cousin. Eloise swallowed at the thick lump in her throat. It probably wouldn’t help him to know that her guilt had been eating at her far more than anything he could say or do to her.
“Well? Did you just figure I wouldn’t care?”
Her head whipped around and she glanced at him. “Of course not.”
“Of course you thought I would care?”
She groaned. “I knew you would care, but I figured it would be better for our relationship if you didn’t know how close Marc and I have become.”
“Close?”
She grimaced. “That’s not what I meant. I mean that we’refriends. He confides in me, and I talk to him about things that are bothering me.” She could feel Shane’s eyes drilling into her, but she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “What was I supposed to say when he asked if we could still be friends.”
“Tell himno,” Shane bit out.
This time Eloise did look at him. She shot him a dirty look that he never thought he’d see coming from her. “You’re not my father. You can’t tell me what to do. And he gave that up a long time ago.”
Shane worked his jaw from side to side. He was clearly struggling with this news a lot more than she thought he would. And yet he wasn’t demanding anything besides making sure Marc didn’t come around anymore. At least that was how it sounded.
She heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t know why you dislike him so much, but he’s done nothing to hurt me, and I’ve enjoyed the talks we’ve been able to have. I’m not going to stop being friends with him.”
“What if I had a good reason?”
“Well, do you?” She gave him a pointed look.
He met her leveled stare with one of his own, and for a moment she thought he wouldn’t back down. But then he dropped his gaze. “I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he said quietly.
“Marc isn’t going to hurt me.”
“You don’t know that. He’s… capable of doing a lot of harm.”
She let out a laugh. “You sound like you’ve been through the wringer or something. He’s a good guy—”
“No, he isn’t. Eloise, listen to me.”
She clamped her mouth shut, her eyes finding his. The seriousness of his voice sent a shiver down her spine, and she didn’t know what to do with it.
“Marc and Madeline have one common goal. They want what they want, and if they don’t get it, they’ll step on anyone they have to in order to make that happen.”
Eloise shook her head. “He said you might say something like that. He says you’ve always been jealous of them and a little selfish.”
Shane let out a bark of laughter that seemed to echo through the trees they wandered between. A few birds took to flight and the sound of a few furry animals scurrying through the underbrush followed. He shook his head. “Of course he would say that. There’s a lot more going on than you could ever know.”
“Thentellme,” she pleaded. “We’re dating. You should feel comfortable sharing these things with me.”
He stared ahead at the trail. His silence was more painful than she expected. This was what triggered her anxiety. Every time he changed the subject and went quiet, she got that feeling again.
“Fine. You don’t have to tell me. But I want you to know that if you chose to talk to me, I’d believe you.”
Still nothing.
She pushed aside the ache that had grown in her chest. Shane wasn’t intentionally trying to be hurtful. For all she knew, he thought being quiet would help her—keep her safe somehow. She wished she could tell him that he was being ridiculous.
