Their name.
An echo of the past
Screaming into the future.”
Ethan is silent when I finish, his heartbeat thumping a steady rhythm against my back. It’s a stark contrast to my own, which is competing in an Olympic sprint. The soft murmur of his voice repeating my words as he rereads my poem causes my stomach to clench. I squeeze my eyes closed, desperately holding back the tears threatening to spill as I wait for him to finish.
“Why do I feel like you’re trying to tell me something?” His voice is steady, though there’s a slight wariness in his tone.
“Because I am,” I whisper, staring at the blur of words through watery eyes.
He tenses around me but doesn’t make any move topull away, giving me a small spark of hope. “Does this have anything to do with your creative writing piece?”
I nod, a tear slipping down my cheek.
Ethan mutters a curse and tightens his hold on me. “Leni, who did that to you?”
Unable to voice what I think he’s piecing together, I shake my head.
“Leni.” His voice holds a gentle warning.
“Please don’t make me say it,” I beg him.
“Fuck.”
The pain in that single word tears my heart to shreds and the tears fall heavier now.
“I’m sorry,” I choke out, trying to squirm out of his embrace.
He doesn’t let me go.
“Dylan did that.”
“Ethan, I’m sorry,” I sob, burying my head in my hands. “Please don’t hate me.”
He sucks in a sharp breath, finally releasing me, but when I scramble off the bed, he follows, grabbing me by the waist and turning me to face him, only I can’t bring myself to meet his gaze.
“Why would I hate you?” he asks, cupping my cheek and forcing me to look at him. Pain reflects in his whiskey eyes. “Leni, what he did…” He swallows. “This isn’t your fault.”
I shake my head. “I should have told you from the start.”
He winces, but he doesn’t pull away. “Yeah, you should have. Why didn’t you?”
That’s the million-dollar question.
“I was going to. That’s why I came to your house that night.”
He shakes his head. “I never stopped to think how you knew where I live.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again. “When you told me you were leaving, I didn’t want to hurt you. But when I tried to walk away… I already felt this connection to you that I’ve never felt with anyone before. You made me feel safe and seen. My whole life, I’ve put on this persona, trying to be who I think people want me to be, but with you, I don’t feel like I have to do that anymore.”
“You shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”
“I don’t want to,” I sniff. “But when I wasn’t good enough for even my own father to want to stay…”
Ethan pulls me into his embrace, and I break down, nine years of pent-up emotional trauma pouring out of me. I don’t know how long he holds me for, but my eyes are swollen and puffy when I pull away and swipe at my face.
“I’m sorry I ruined our weekend.”
