Page 192 of Only Be Mine

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“I mean,” I clarified lightly, “after John disappeared. Everything changed so fast.”

He set his fork down. Carefully.

“What are you asking?” he said.

“Nothing.” I smiled faintly. “Just thinking out loud.”

He watched me longer than he should have.

“You’re not… second-guessing us, are you?” he asked.

The vulnerability in his voice was convincing.

Convincing enough that, if I didn’t have the weight in my pocket, I might have believed it.

“No,” I said.

That, too, wasn’t entirely a lie.

He leaned back slightly, studying me.

“I stepped in because you were drowning,” he said quietly. “Do you remember that?”

I did.

All too well.

“You weren’t sleeping. You weren’t eating. You couldn’t walk into a room without looking for him.”

My throat tightened.

“I wasn’t trying to replace him,” Trevor continued. “I was trying to keep you alive.”

Alive.

The word hit something deep.

I swallowed and nodded. “I know.”

He reached across the table and covered my hand with his.

“You don’t owe anyone your suffering,” he said. “Not Seth. Not the detective. Not some memory that refuses to stay buried.”

My pulse stuttered.

He didn’t notice.

Or maybe he did.

I withdrew my hand gently.

“I’m going to get some water,” I said.

I stood, moving to the kitchen.

My heart was beating too loudly.