Page 30 of What He Never Knew

“Why?”

Oh my God, stop fucking talking.

Sarah shook her head, face twisted up like she was as uncomfortable as I was. I didn’t know why I was being weird. I was her teacher, but if anyone had seen us in that moment, they’d have thought I was a protective older brother. I didn’t have any right to be so invested in her safety, and judging by the look on her face, she felt the same.

“I don’t know,” she finally said. “Because I don’t want to.”

I waited for her to explain more.Did she already have a boyfriend? Was Danny not her type? Did he creep her out?

My jaw ticked.

Did he make an unwanted move on her?

Frustration seeped through me as I reminded myself, yet again, that I didn’t have a right to ask any of those questions. I sucked on my cigarette, instead.

“Are you okay?” Sarah asked, searching my face. “You seem… irritable.”

Great. And nowIwas creeping her out.

I blew out a breath, snuffing what was left on my cigarette and tucking the bud in my pocket to throw away inside. “Sorry,” I said. “Just been a weird week. I should get back inside. I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

Sarah frowned. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

I gave her one last curt nod before ducking back inside, tossing Ronaldo his lighter and making a beeline for the piano. I needed to play, needed to work my muscles in a way that felt familiar and safe. I felt like an animal, triggered by the need to protect a girl who I knew without adoubtdid not need my protection.

Maybe it was that I’d opened up to her, that I’d let her in. Maybe that vulnerability had caused me to feel some sort of unnecessary connection, some strange need to ensure she was okay. Either way, judging by the smile she had when Danny left, she was just fine.

I didn’t have an explanation for my sudden awareness of her, or my bizarre behavior. All I knew was that by the time she showed up to my house for our next lesson tomorrow night, I needed to box away whatever the hell that just was and be professional.

As I sat down at the piano, hands moving on autopilot over the keys, I repeated that sentiment over and over until I slipped away into the music, into the night, into another dimension.

I needed to get out of my head.

And that’s exactly what I’d do.

Sarah

“Relax.”

Reese’s voice was soft, gentle, mixing with the notes I played on his piano. He didn’t yell and there wasn’t an ounce of attitude laced under his request.

Still, I had to force a stiff inhale to keep from screaming at him.

I playedSentimentby Robert Gafforelli, each note strong and romantic, dripping with emotion. My wrists felt good that day, and I was doing everything I could to lay myself bare at his piano. That’s what he had requested I do that night he took me up the Incline, and that’s what I had promised him.

It had been nearly two weeks since that night, and every lesson with him, every night I went home to practice on my own, I felt myself getting stronger. Still, he watched me each lesson with a quirk in his brow that unnerved me, like he was disappointed, like there was something missing.

It was maddening.

I saw him every Tuesday, and Thursday night for lessons, and starting next week after school let out, we’d add Sunday and Monday, too. When we weren’t at his house, at his piano, I saw him mesmerizing the crowd at The Kinky Starfish.

It seemed every facet of my life was tied up in Reese Walker in some way.

When we were on top of that mountain, I’d seen a side of Reese I knew for a fact he didn’t show anyone. And ever since then, that version of him had been put under lock and key again. The first couple of lessons we’d had after that felt heavier, like by asking me to be vulnerable, he’d agreed to do the same. But just as quickly as that wall had come down, it was up again, and we were back to only talking about piano and music and tension and technique.

We didn’t talk about the Incline, or that night, or the woman he loved who was married to someone else.

And even though that was normal, and that was what our relationship as teacher and student should have been, I couldn’t get theotherversion of Reese out of my mind.