Page 74

Still, I try to play stupid.
“For what?”
The only answer he gives me is the arch of his brow.
Tossing up my hands, I give up that tactic and turn to walk away.
My back is to him when I ask, “What do you want from me, Ezra?”
At first I think he’s not going to answer, the silence dragging on for so long that I have to fight to keep from looking at him. I wrap my arms around my body instead, close my eyes and remind myself to breathe.
“Six weeks.”
The words hit me like a runaway train, a flashback of high school shining way too bright at the end of a dark tunnel. I’m being run down by the memory of a shadowed room and an agreement that led to disaster.
“Six weeks of what?”
I can hear his footsteps approaching me, but I refuse to turn, refuse to meet a beguiling stare I know will trap me in place while stealing my ability to think.
When he traces the scar on my shoulder with the tip of his finger, my eyes clench tight as a shiver runs beneath my skin.
He doesn’t make this any easier when he kisses the scar, his soft lips like a brand against my flesh, hot and searing.
I pull my shoulder away, but he grabs my waist to hold me in place, his lips running down the length of the scar to kiss every inch of it, the tip of his tongue flicking out to tease my body.
He stops, but I can feel his breath against my shoulder blade.
“Six weeks of friendship only. You, Damon and me. Six weeks that Damon needs so that he doesn’t feel so empty anymore.”
Tears sting my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.
“Kissing me isn’t friendship.”
His voice is a deep note, a purr that is as frightening as it is seductive.
“You used to kiss my wounds a long time ago. It only seems fair I return the favor. Especially since I’m the reason you have this scar.”
In that case, he needs to rip me apart and keep going. There’s a wound on my heart he left, and a hundred scars on my soul that are all because of him.
If he were to kiss them all, he’d be trapped here for hours until every last one is found.
“It’s not a good idea,” I warn him, just like I warned about their present. “Both of you have been back for three years. Why, now, is this such a problem?”
Seconds pass, silent and pregnant with every possible answer he could give. It’s just like him to choose one that hurts me more than all the others.
“Because we were near you again. We remembered what this used to be. Even if you didn’t.”
I spin to face him then. “You told me we’re done. You said I broke my promise and -“
He presses a finger against my lips to shut me up and dips his head so we’re eye level.
I swear to God, that amber gaze of his is going to kill me one of these days. Just split me open right down the middle to leave me hollow and broken.
“This isn’t for me. It’s for Damon. As far as I’m concerned you can keep running away without a damn word. You can keep pretending that you don’t care. I thought Damon was full of shit this morning when he said we’re still in your head, but that’s not true, is it? Not that it matters to me. I’m doing this for him. I’d doanythingfor him.”
Fuck Ezra, I think. He says this is only for his brother, but I know him better than that.
Love doesn’t fade with pain and distance. If anything, it only makes the emotion stronger.