Page 165 of Fractured Future

“Now… You care about me too.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I always cared about you.”

“Then what?” I ask breathlessly.

Cradled in his arms, mere inches of air separating us, Warner’s mouth opens and closes. Neck bobbing, his facial lines pull into stressed ropes as he struggles to vocalize whatever he wants to say.

I don’t know what he feels for me. What he’s thinking. Or what this charged feeling bouncing between us like two misfiring power lines is. All I know is that I need something to give.

“Help me to understand this. Please.”

“This is… Us.” He grimaces at his own clunky words. “We’re us, Em. We’ve always been us.”

“And what is us? What are we?”

“That’s it. We’re us.”

“We’re colleagues?” I push him, hoping for something unknown. “Childhood friends? Acquaintances?”

“Why does it matter?” Warner bites his lip.

Unwilling to reveal my own confusion, I drop my eyes before I’m drawn into something we can’t ever come back from. Something that would implode the bond we created through our shared childhood.

The act of pulling my soul back from the edge of a dangerous precipice unlatches something inside me. A collapsing, taped-together box of youthful lust and repressed emotion.

I’d blame it on the fatigue and stress from what we just endured, but I know it’s far more. Putting words to what it really is won’t help anyone, though.

“Forget it. I want to go home.”

“Look at me, Em,” he pleads.

Shaking my head, I ignore the way my eyes sear with more tears. “Let’s just move on.”

“Please, love. Look at me.”

“No. I’m fine. It’s fine. We’re…”

“Fine?” Warner volunteers.

“Exactly.”

Sliding his rough fingertips beneath my chin, Warner lifts it so I have no choice but to look at him. A confusing sheen rides the waves that undulate in his gaze.

He strokes my falling tears aside, mouth twisted and nose scrunched like the sight of me crying causes him physical pain.

“You test every last ounce of patience I have, Ember Lawson.”

“I don’t mean to?—”

“Let me finish,” he interrupts with a teasing smile.

Lips sealed, I hold myself back.

“You drive me insane. You infuriate me. You make me question my choices, my loyalties and my goddamn priorities.”

Warner tenderly brushes his knuckles against my wet cheek. The slight touch creates tingles that raise the fine hairs on the back of my neck.

“You make me want to do things that I’ve only ever dreamed of. Forbidden things, Em. Things that would destroy the family who took me in when I needed it. You and Tom.”