Page 18 of Crash

The way he said it—it sounded to me like maybe he was the one who broke up with her. What kind of a moron would let someone like Tessa go? Then again, who was I to judge? I’d preemptively done the same thing, albeit for different reasons. The reasons that kept me awake at night.

“If you’ll excuse us,” I cut in, my doctor voice sharp enough to slice, “I was about to complete an exam.”And find out what the hell has been going on this past year.

“Doctor,” Eli began, “you have to help her.” His voice cracked with an edge of fear as he snapped his focus to me. If his fear wasn’t about Tessa’s health, I’d have rather enjoyed it.

“Eli—”

“I thought you were getting better,” he added.

The words choked me with their implications. Better? Just how sick had she been?

“I was.” Her voice was small, defeated in a way I’d never heard before. The sound made my ribs threaten to splinter.

When I watched him pull up a chair to her bedside, his palm settling on her arm with casual possession, the room became an inferno.

This was the arm of a girl who used to be the epicenter of my own personal snow globe, the two of us warm and safe inside our bubble while the world spun outside. I knew her favorite food—mac and cheese with extra breadcrumbs—how she liked to sprinkle cinnamon across the whipped cream on her hot chocolate, and the way her eyes lit up when she found a new romance novel. I knew she hummed when she was happy and went quiet when she was truly upset. I knew her.

Or I had. Now, with absolute crushing, heartbreaking clarity, I stood on the outside of her snow globe, watching this stranger occupy the space I’d willingly abandoned.

The irony wasn’t lost on me. I’d stepped away to protect her, only to leave her unprotected when she needed someone most. If I hadn’t pushed her away … I could have helped her.

What if it’s too late?

“Please,” Eli pleaded. “Someone has to get to the bottom of this. She can’t go on like this.”

“Eli …” Her voice wavered. Another tell I logged away. Fatigue? Fear? Both?

“No, you have to keep fighting, Tess.”

Tess. I wanted to shock his heart for using that term of endearment.

“I need to examine her.” I moved to the bed, removing my stethoscope with an edge that made Eli finally seem to get the message, assessing me, then Tessa.

“Oh, right …” Standing up, he added, “I’ll be just outside, okay?”

His lips pressed to her forehead again, lingering a moment too long.

I wanted to cut his lips off with a ten blade. And something about the gesture set my teeth on edge too. A nagging sense of unease that I couldn’t quite shake. Was he having trouble letting her go? Was she afraid of him?

Once he finally left, I turned my attention back to her, and that’s when I saw it.

A jagged line on her skin that would change everything.

12

TESSA

“Where’d you get this scar?”

Blake’s thumb trailed over the white line on my collarbone. The one so faint that I’d managed to hide it from my brother and family for years. But today wasn’t a casual family gathering with the blessing of distraction. Today, I was being examined.

Closely and intensely.

Not ideal for someone harboring a secret since nineteen. Yes, a different secret. A bigger one really. God, could I catch ONE break? Managing my medical mystery was draining enough brain power without Blake excavating that buried chapter of my past.

“I forget.”

The moment those words left my lips, his expression darkened.