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He looked at me. “Why do you think there’s a problem?”

“You’re quieter than normal. Not that you’re usually a chatterbox, but—”

“I heard you talking with Jackson,” he said.

I’d had a feeling he had. “What part?” I asked.

“A whole lot of it.” He raised his gray gaze to mine, stroking his fingers over his eye patch to adjust it back into its proper place.

I’d been so into the conversation with Jackson that I hadn’t noticed a car pull up only a dozen feet away. So annoying. “He came on to me,” I explained.

“I know,” Declan replied.

“And I told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off.”

His lips curved. “I know.”

But he still looked troubled. “Okay. So, what’s really wrong, Declan?” I asked, concerned now.

He leveled his gaze with mine. “If he’d forced himself on you any further, I would have ripped his head off. Luckily, he took a simple fuck off as an answer.”

I shrugged. “And that’s the beginning and the end of it.”

“Jackson’s very popular with women. Your rejection must have come as a shock considering his track record.”

I still didn’t see the problem here, the one that had caused the haunted look on Declan’s face.

“Do you think I was tempted?” I asked carefully.

He blinked. “Were you?”

“No. But I was surprised that your womanizing so-called friend made a move on me when it should have been clear to him that we’re together. Maybe he was just testing me. Testing my loyalty to you.”

“No, that’s a bit too deep for Jackson. He’s a hedonist, always has been. He goes after what he thinks will give him pleasure, that’s all.”

I searched his face. “Were you jealous? Is that what this is?”

Declan gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles whitening. “I don’t know. With the serum, all I feel is this emptiness inside of me. Where there should be emotion, there’s... nothing, just an empty black hole. I know that’s where all the shit I should be feeling belongs. I never felt it before—never noticed it, anyway—but I do now that I have something to compare it to.”

“Emptiness,” I repeated.

“Yeah.”

My throat tightened at the picture he presented to me. “I know how you feel. I have that too, sometimes.”

“You do?”

I nodded. “It’s hard to deal with that empty feeling, but sometimes we don’t have any choice in the matter.”

His expression darkened. “Jackson gave you a choice.”

For someone who claimed that he had a black hole of emptiness inside of him, he sure was doing a good impression of a jealous, hotheaded boyfriend.

I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at that. “Yeah, he sure did. He volunteered to serve as your replacement in filling up all my dark and empty places. Really big of him, right?”

Declan’s brows drew together. “Is that why you feel empty? Because we can’t be together like we were...before?”

We were treading into dangerous territory. It felt like trouble, and I already had enough of that to begin with. “Look, Declan, let’s just eat. It’s been a long day. Hopefully, tomorrow Dr. Reynolds will get back to us with some good news.”