Page 47 of Fragile Lives

I shoot him a look, scared he read my mind. He notices and lets out a laugh. It’s coarse and low and so damn sexy. The place between my legs tingles, making my eyes widen—I just got turned on by thetoneof his laugh.

“If you talked to him, he wouldn’t let you anywhere near me. He’d be warning you away from this place,” he explains.

“Why do you say that?” I tilt my head curiously.

He lets out a gloomy chuckle. “Because he knows me, and he was the one who sold me this place.”

“Are you, like, a sex addict or something?”

He chokes on his coffee and starts coughing, trying to stop his laughter. “Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Why else would he warn me off?”

He stops laughing and turns to me. “Leila, I’m not the guy you think I am. I’m really not. And you can’t save me. I don’t need saving.”

“Why do you think I want to save you?”

“Because Alex told me about you.” He smiles dispiritedly and turns back to the flames as if he can find the truth in them.

“Right,” I snort. “He talked about me so much that you didn’t even know my name.”

“He called you Squirrel,” he says quickly before adding with a chuckle, “Among other things. Now I can see why.”

I hate the childhood nickname that Kenneth gave me when I was little, but that’s not the point. Kenneth called me that, and Aiden did too. But never Alex. In fact, throughout our whole childhood, he purposely ignored me.

“He told me,” Archie continues, “that you like to bring home broken projects and fix them. People like you have a big thing here,” he taps the left side of my chest, right under my collarbone, “and they want to help everyone. But you need to understand that some people don’t want to be saved. You’ll just end up hurting yourself. Do you understand?”

I keep quiet, so he adds, “I’m one of those people. I don’t need to be saved. I know you see me as one of your projects, but you shouldn’t. Put your energy somewhere else.”

With that, he turns away again, sipping his coffee.

Is he wrong, though? I love fixing broken things, and he is that—broken. Is that why I’m so drawn to him?

“Why did you kiss me?”

He whips his head toward me, looking offended. “You kissed me.”

“No, on the bridge when we first met. Why did you kiss me?”

“You’re not beating around the bush, huh,” he murmurs with a chuckle, but I don’t return the humor.

It’s been a question bothering me ever since that night, so I wait for him to respond.

He stops laughing when he notices my stare. I guess he expected me to drop it, but I don’t.

“Because you were too bright, and I wanted to dim you.” His eyes are trained on my face. He said it for a reason, we both know.

He wants me terrified and running for the hills. Or at least to the opposite wall under current circumstances. He tells me he’s a monster, and as the smart girl my mom claims me to be, I should listen to him and make our interactions minimal. His words tell me to run away, but his whole being tells me to stay. I can’t understand why, yet.

It’s definitely not for my good looks and charming demeanor considering I don’t have much of those. Well, I’m not ugly per se, but I’ve heard about Archie’s escapades from Kayla while she was living at his place, plus Alex’s remarks about him being a man who could get any woman—I’d have to be an idiot to think he wants to get in my pants because I’m justso irresistible.

Then what?

Maybe he’s telling the truth about his desire to dim my light. But why does he need that? It’s an unnatural reaction for a human. Is he so used to being alone in a room full of people that when someone sees him, he becomes uncomfortable?

I hate my love for analyzing absolutely everything, but I can’t help myself when the biggest enigma is stuck with me for the time being.

“Why are you like this?”