I walk back towards the bed and press my fingers into the plushness of the comforter.
Who are you, Echo?And why did you bring me here?
I’m just about to take a seat on his bed when I hear voices. Faint but animated. Coming from somewhere down the hall. They’re not yelling, but they’re not quiet either. There’s an unmistakable edge to both of their voices.
I move toward the door and press my ear closer, straining to hear.
“You brought someone home.”
The voice isn’t familiar. It’s male, deep, and authoritative in a way that puts me a little on edge.
“I did.” Echo replies, and even through the door I can hear the defensiveness in his tone.
“You’ve never done that before.”
I should stop listening. I should give them privacy. I should focus on literally anything else. Instead, I find myself inching the door open a hair.
“There’s a first time for everything.” Echo says.
“Who is she?”
There’s a pause, then.
“No one.”
Echo’s answer lands like a punch to the gut, but it shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be anything to him. In fact, everything I’ve been doing up until this point was designed to make sure I stayed just that.So why the hell does hearing him say that sting so much?
Before I can fully process my thoughts, the other man speaks again.
“You don’t bring ‘no one’ into our home, Echo. You don’t miss work for ‘no one.’ And you sure as hell don’t look like you’ve been put through hell for ‘no one’.”
I press closer to the crack in the door, my heart hammering.
“I’m worried about you.” The man continues. “You’ve been different for weeks now. Distracted. Making mistakes. Briggs told me about the interrogation. Said you weren’t focused. Said the guy almost got away because you were in your head.”
My stomach drops because he’s talking about me, about how I’m affecting Echo, about how I’m making him mess up at work, making him lose focus on things that are probably life-or-death in whatever world he operates in.
“That’s not you, Echo. You don’t make mistakes. You don’t lose focus.” He pauses. “This girl, she’s got you twisted up in a way I’ve never seen before.”
“I’m handling it.” Echo says, but his voice sounds strained.
“Are you? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re barely holding it together. And that scares the shit out of me.”
Another pause. Then.
“Look, if you care about her-”
“I do.” Echo’s voice cuts through, sharp and certain. “I care about her more than I should. More than is smart. More than-” He stops, and I can hear the frustration in the pause. “Fuck.”
This is exactly what I was afraid of. Exactly what I’ve been running from since the night we met, and hearing it spoken out loud makes it real in a way I can’t ignore.
“How bad is it?” The other man asks quietly.
“Bad enough that I can’t think straight when she’s around. Bad enough that I haven’t slept in weeks because I’m too busy making sure she’s safe. Bad enough that-”
He doesn’t finish, but I can hear what he’s not saying, can feel it in the weight of the silence that follows.
“Someone who can make you lose focus like this?” The other man says, his voice taking on more gentle tone. “That’s someone who can destroy you if you’re not careful.”
