Someone was lying, and God help me; I knew it wasn’t the man sitting in front of me.
‘I don’t need to ask you that. I know you aren’t.’
Oliver’s jaw ticked. ‘How?’ he demanded firmly. ‘How do you know that, huh? You don’t know me.’
And then, it clicked—a smile formed on my face.
‘Actually, I think I’m beginning to, and that’s what scares you, isn’t it?’
He sat back, tearing his gaze away from me, shoulders tensing.
‘You’re not the person portrayed in those magazines.’
He huffed out a laugh. ‘You sure about that?’ He turned his head away from me.
‘Yeah, I’m sure.’
I was about to scoot forward in my chair and tell him exactlywhyI was sure when the light above us flickered a few times. My head snapped up to it. My heart slammed against my rib cage. It did it again, on and off.
‘Fallon? What’s going on? Are you ok?’
My fingers dug into the armrest. Palms going slick withsweat. I shut my eyes, needing a moment to calm the rising panic, but that darkness behind my lids made me want to scream. My eyes pinged open.
No.No. I wouldn’t panic. It was just the light flickering. Nothing was going to happen; nothingbadwas going to happen. I repeated the phrase over and over again as the light continued to flicker.
A warm hand settled over mine. ‘Fallon?’ Oliver’s concerned voice broke through the pounding in my head. I wasn’t sure when, but Oliver had moved from the sofa and now crouched before me. His eyes narrowed, lips thinning in concern.
‘It’s just-‘ I started to explain the childhood fear that had plagued me my entire life when the light above us gave a loud pop and plunged the entire flat into darkness.
I couldn’t stop the scream that fled my lips.
29
OLIVER
Fallon let out a shrill scream when darkness fell around us.
I’d watched her for the past five minutes grow restless and twitchy. At first, I thought it had to do with our conversation, but as her gaze kept flicking up to the light seconds away from giving up, I knew I was wrong.
The only light illuminating her flat came from the street light below. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to make out the features of her face. She’d clamped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide, chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. Crouching before her, I reached up to pull her hand away from her mouth.
Ice-cold skin met mine as I grasped it.
‘Hey, hey, it’s okay, the lights just blown, I can fix it for you. Do you have another bulb somewhere?’
Her body started shaking.Fuck.She was scared of the dark. This wasn’t some childish fear that parents tease their kids about. This was pure crippling fear. My heart squeezed at how helpless she looked. The strong, smart-mouthed woman I’d grown accustomed to, vanished.
I tried rubbing some warmth into her frozen fingers. Her eyes kept darting around, seeing some hidden dangers Iknewweren’t real, but they were extremely real in her head. She tried opening her mouth. No sound came out. I couldn’t watch her tremble any longer. I stood up, lifted her under her arms and hauled her into my chest—letting our bodies tumble back into the sofa.
She made no protest, and that fact alone made my heart break.
She wrapped her legs around my waist and straddled me, burrowing her face into my neck.
This close, I could hear her sobs rattling through her body and feel the tears dripping down her cheeks onto the collar of my shirt in tiny droplets.
I rubbed a hand down her back in soothing circles.
‘It’s okay. I promise.’
