Page 221 of Only Be Mine

Terrifyingly normal.

I stayed where I was until he looked at me.

“You should ice that,” he said, nodding toward my wrist.

“I’m fine,” I replied.

He studied me for a second too long.

“I know,” he said softly.

He walked into the kitchen, to the freezer anyway. I heard the crackle of ice, the methodical rhythm of it.

He returned with a towel wrapped neatly around a handful of cubes and held it out.

I hesitated for a moment, then took it.

He didn’t sit beside me this time. He chose the chair across from me instead, elbows on his knees, fingers laced loosely together.

Watching.

“I need clarity,” he said calmly. “And I need honesty.”

My throat tightened.

“Who all have you talked to?”

I kept my breathing even. “Seth.”

He nodded once. That wasn’t new.

“Anyone else?”

“No.”

Not technically a lie.

I hadn’t told Seth everything, and I hadn’t told Marshal about the ring.

Yet.

Trevor leaned back slightly.

Silence stretched between us, thin and humming.

Then he stood.

He walked toward me slowly.

Not rushed or angry.

Deliberate.

He reached down and lifted my hand, gently this time, and turned my wrist upward.

His fingers brushed the faint red imprint he’d left behind. “I hate that it came to that,” he said quietly.

His thumb traced the mark and my body went rigid.