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“You’ll probably get hurt”

I gulp I know it’s true, but hearing the words, out loud, acknowledging the else entirely “I know,” I admit

“Then you can’t say I didn’t warn you”

“I know,” I say again, wondering if I’ve lost my mind as well as my vocabulary

After a few erly onto his unwounded side “Roll over,” he says gruffly

I’ questions It makes me pretty certain that yes, I have lost my mind

Onaway from him, I fold my hands under my cheek My es that haunt me from the darkness Just as a sense of panic starts to creep up froe inrudgingly I don’t get the feeling that he’s givingsoh he resists the help, the emotion of other people He’s a loner, stranded on an island of anger and bitterness He needs rescuing He just doesn’t know it yet

Regardless of his ht that he ht need me as much as I feel like I need him intensifies it Instantly, my mind stills and the panic quiets That’s the moment I realize that yes, he is trouble And that no, it won’t keepwill

And I don’t knohy

When next I open e of my curtains I listen to the sounds around me

Nash’s breathing is deep and even where it fans the side of h ainst my back

I don’t knohat has gotten into me I’ve never reacted to a man this way Not even close And I dated his brother, for God’s sake! But it was nothing like this This is sodifferent

I hear the click of a door shutting It sounded like it came from Olivia’s room One of them must be up

Olivia

Guilt washes through me when I think of her How in the world she could be so kind to me, to risk so much to save me when I’ve treated her so badly, is truly beyond enerosity and sincerity, although I doubt I ever could be

An idea strikes me, so Iquietly to the kitchen I’e stocked while I was gone Pulling eggs fro out sausage patties and hash browns and laying it all on the counter I grab a bowl and three skillets of varying sizes fro proudly atin and reat breakfast for everyone I jump, startled, when I hear a throat clear behind me

I turn around, a big s in the doorway The voltage of the gesture, as well as the sincerity, dims considerably when I see Cash poised there instead

“What are you doing?”

“Making breakfast,” I respond, trying hard to rid my tone of sarcasm as I turn back to the food “What’s it look like?”

“You don’t cook,” Cash says flatly

“It’s never too late to start” I don’t bother to look at hi into abowl

“You can drop the act, Marissa It’s just us You don’t have to pretend for et, I know you”

“Maybe you used to know me, as much as two people like us could’ve known each other, but that’s in the past Things are different now”

“Oh really?” There’s no doubt he feels that’s cory

I whirl to face hi weapon “Don’t act like you were any better than me You lied to everyone in your life, everyone you called a friend or coworker You used et close to my father, to keep your job at the firm You were oals Don’t you dare get all pious and spit your righteous indignation at et that I know you, too”

It only rier that he looks completely unflustered “True But that wasn’t the real me You never knew the real me Only the person I let you see, the act I put on for everyone else’s benefit”

“Judge all you want Justify your actions all you want I don’t really care what you think, and I don’t have to prove anything to you I owe Olivia As long as I can prove ive a damn what you think”

With that, I turn back tothe crap out of them

The thing that ht I don’t deserve a second chance I don’t deserve anybody’s trust or confidence They’ve all seen what I was like I’ve made an impression that I may well never be able to live down

But that doesn’tAt this point, there are few opinions I actually care about I’ll just have to focus on those and put the rest out of my mind

I hear the shuffle of Cash’s bare feet as he leaves the kitchen They stop at the lastto listen

“I’m sorry for what happened, Marissa Not even soed into the shitstorm of my life”

I say nothing, just listen to the quiet as he waits for a response, gets none, and then walks away I try to ignore how his obvious distaste for s I don’t really care what he thinks, but it’s disturbing to think anyone feels that way about me Was I really that bad?

Before I can start down the horrible road of self-loathing, I hear another voice

“Ignore hi in the doorhen I turn She looks tousled and sleepy and sweet, as always I’m a little embarrassed that she heard what he said “He’s like a bear with a thorn in his paw this rin is kind I know she’s trying to excuse his behavior, but somehow that just makes me feel worse Has she always come toof it?

My stomach curls into a sick knot I know the answer to that question

Yes

“You don’t have to cover for hiine how hard it would be to believe soht”

She eases on into the kitchen and perches on one of the bar stools at the island “Thatsodrastic weren’t involved But Marissa, you were kidnapped Ion, that you were even in danger None of us did No one thought you e anyone’s perspective”