His eyes search mine as I get closer, and then his expression shifts.
I don’t smile back.
I force my feet forward.
Don’t cry.
Don’t hesitate.
Don’t look back.
For Mason.
“Hey,” Dex says, his voice low, searching. His hand lifts automatically to reach for mine.
I step back. The movement is small.
But it lands like a gunshot.
His hand freezes.
“What’s wrong?” he asks quietly.
I shake my head, staring past him.
“I… I made a mistake.”
The words taste like poison.
Dex goes still.
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have… last night. This.” I point between us. “Us.”
“Tinker,” he says slowly, stepping closer, “look at me.”
I can’t.
“I said… look at me.”
I force my gaze up and almost break.
“Say it again,” he says quietly. “And mean it this time.”
Panic grips me because Dex knows me too well. He knows I love him. He knows something’s wrong.
If he doesn’t believe me… if he keeps pushing, Mason dies.
I don’t have a choice.
I need him to stop.
The only way to do that is to hurt him badly enough that he won’t come after me. That he’ll let me go.
The thought of what I’m about to say kills something inside me. The words taste wrong, like they don’t belong to me, like saying them will rip something out of my chest that I’ll never get back.
For Mason.
