There’s a pause, and then his voice, but not where it should be.
“Yeah?”
I nearly jump ten feet in the air when he pulls the covers off my head, and I stare back at him with wide eyes.
“Oh my god.” I clap a hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing too loudly. “You could have given me a little warning.”
“Maybe I just like to hear you scream.”
I bite back a smile as my eyes roam over his body. It’s crazy what a difference a few days can make. I feel desperate to have him close right now.
“Are you going to stay a while?”
In response, he reaches down, unlaces his boots, and climbs into the bed behind me. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he tugs me back against his warmth, tucking my head beneath his chin.
“We still have five more movies in the franchise to watch,” he says. “If you really want a marathon.”
“Sounds like an all-nighter.” I close my eyes and let out a contented little sigh. “That will be perfect since we both have tomorrow off.”
He nods, but doesn’t answer, which makes me wonder if he even knew about the Faculty Development Day. He’d only know if he was really a student.
Regardless, I don’t care right now. An entire night of watching horror movies with him pressed against me won’t be a hardship.
As it turns out, we only make it through two before I notice the time on the phone.
“Hey, it’s after midnight,” I tell him. “It’s officially Friday.”
“You have your three reasons?” he murmurs.
I bite my lip and nod.
“Let’s hear them then.”
A note of tension edges his voice, and it gives me the impression he’s dreading what I might say. That only adds to thepressure. But he asked me to be honest, so that’s what I’ll do. All I can hope is that the truth doesn’t scare him off.
“Okay, here we go.” I blow out a breath. “The first thing you should know is I’m bound to an arranged marriage, which will happen after I graduate. I don’t love him, and he isn’t who I would have chosen for myself, but I can’t change it. I want the time that I have left to be with someone I choose. I realize that might be too messy, so I understand if you don’t want to get involved.”
His arm tightens around me, and it feels almost…protective.
“And the other two reasons?” he asks.
I swallow hard, knowing we survived the first part, but I’m not sure about the second.
“You said you thought you were a placeholder for someone else. The truth is, I’ve had my heart broken before, and it was brutal. It took me years to get to a point where I finally accepted that loss. I won’t lie to you and say I’m over it. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever will be. But I also know that he and I will never be together. Things are complicated with him, but they are final. Something happened, and now he hates me.”
“What happened?” Eros asks, the words so low I barely hear them.
I close my eyes as the memory of that day comes roaring back. I don’t like to think about it, so I try to keep the details brief, leaving out the part about the lightning strike.
“We were at the fair, and there was a storm, so they shut it down. When we made it back to the parking lot, I realized I’d left my phone at one of the booths inside. He told me to stay in the car, and he’d get it for me, but they’d already closed the entry gate. I should have told him not to go, but I didn’t. He jumped over the fence and grabbed my phone, but when he was climbing back over, there was an incident. It ruined his life, and it was my fault.”
A long, heavy silence stretches between us before he finally says something.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t agree with that.”
I don’t have it in me to argue that point. People always tell me that, but the truth is Romeo has hated me ever since he came back to the island, and I can understand why.
“He almost didn’t make it.” My throat tightens around the words. “That day haunts me. Even now, when I feel a storm coming, it steals my breath. So I can’t tell you I’m over it, because I never will be. I’ll carry that pain forever.”
