Page 19
Story: Nightfall
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.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19 (Reading here)
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63