AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We barely know each other,” she argued. “Who knows how you’re going to feel in a month’s time? A year if that’s how long it takes to get all of this behind us?”
“You’re gonna stand there and question my loyalty now, after everything that’s happened? I broke his nose in front of witnesses and risked my job for you.”
“You did that because you were angry.”
“You’re damn right, I was. And I’d do worse if he ever laid another hand on you.”
“I just—” She choked up, tears brimming in her eyes. “I don’t want to make a mistake with you.”
“A mistake?”
“I mean, I don’t want to risk losing you—losing this—by trying to build something good when there’s so much bad trying to pollute it. Everything is already such a mess thanks to him.” She took a moment to gather herself, then cupped his face in her hands. They were soft and cold. “I want this. I want you. But if we’re going to make this work, shouldn’t we at least give ourselves the chance to start fresh, at the right time?”
“And when will that be?”
“I don’t know, just”—Lexie hung her head—“not now.”
Nico felt like she’d punched him in the gut. His whole body began to tremble with rage, with denial. He felt cheated. Wronged. Problem was, the person responsible was also the one he couldn’t stand the thought of hurting. Her baby blues shone with sorrow as he took the blow.
When he’d regained the ability to speak calmly, he grasped her forearms, slid them down so her hands were no longer touching him and looked her dead in the eye. “You know what I think? I think you’re lying to yourself. I think you’re just trying to push me away, not because you’re afraid that I won’t fight for you—you know I will—but because you’re afraid of what this fight might require of you.”
Lexie’s brows drew together. She blinked in rapid succession. “What?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of running?” he asked, knowing he was about to cross a line but couldn’t stop himself. “You’re so good at it now, you don’t even realize you’re doing it. Trying to feed me some bullshit about this being the best option for us—the best option for you, you mean. You cut me loose, you’re off the hook, right? Everything goes back to the fucked up that you call normal.”
Lexie snatched herself out of his grasp and looked at him as if she was seeing a whole different person. “You don’t know anything about me, what I’ve been through,” she said, her voice like ice.
“I know that you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. I know that you’ve got friends who would do anything for you, people who would protect you, and yet you keep backing down from the one thing you need to do to gain your freedom. You just keep hiding, hoping that he’ll go away. He’s not going away, Lex. You know that. It’s time to face this thing.”
“You’re one to talk,” she scoffed.
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you even here? On this island?” she asked. “What is it that you’re hiding from, Nico?”
“Who says I’m hiding from anything?”
“Come on. Nobody packs up their entire lives to move here. You’re either born here, married to someone born here, or on vacation.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there was such a strict criteria to call this place home.”
“Does it have something to do with Sara?” she pushed. “Your name is in her case file. You’re telling me that’s just some crazy coincidence?”
Nico broke eye contact. “That’s my business.”
“When I found you in that wreck, you said ‘she’s dead.’ You told me it was your fault.” Lexie searched his face. “You said you were sorry.”
Her words caught Nico off guard enough to render him temporarily mute. He’d lost the moral high ground. He knew it. So did she. Now, she was trying to save face by turning the whole thing around and make him out to be the bad guy. But he wasn’t the bad guy, and this wasn’t about him. Why should he have to rip open old wounds just to prove a point?
“Maybe you’re right,” he said bitterly. “Maybe we shouldn’t see each other anymore. I can’t catch a killer and deal with your personal drama at the same time. It’s the best thing for both of us.”
“You are such a hypocrite,” she spat. “You talk about trust, wanting me to be open and honest with you, but the minute I ask you something personal, you just shut down. How many skeletons are in your closet that I don’t know about, huh?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he all but shouted. “My skeletons aren’t throwing rocks through my goddamn window!”
“Are you saying that this was my fault?!”
“Your words, not mine.”
