“Molly?”

“Yeah, she called when you were . . . um, in my old room.” I can’t keep the panic from my voice.

“Oh . . .” She looks past me, focusing on some distant space, her eyebrows drawn together in concentration.

Does she remember that I was here? Do I want her to?

Yes, of course I do. “You’re okay, though?”

“Yes.”

Noah steps to where we’re standing, and with alarm clear in his voice asks, “Tessa, what happened?”

Looking back at Tessa, I can tell she doesn’t want him to know about everything. I like the idea of that more than I should.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” I answer him so she doesn’t have to.

“Was it serious?” he presses.

“I said, don’t worry about it,” I growl, and he gulps. I turn back to Tessa. “I brought your car,” I tell her.

“You did?” she says. “Thanks, I thought Steph would have busted the windshield or something.” She sighs, her shoulders slouching further with every word. Her attempt at a joke didn’t work for anyone, herself included.

“Why did you go to her, anyway? Out of all people, why her?” I ask her.

She looks at Noah, then back to me. “Noah, can you give us a minute?” she sweetly requests.

He nods and gives me what I assume is supposed to be some kind of warning glare before leaving us alone in the small living room.

“Why her? Tell me, please,” I repeat.

“I don’t know. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, Hardin.”

“You could have gone to Landon; you practically have your own bedroom at that house,” I point out.

“I don’t want to keep dragging your family into it. I’ve done it enough, and it’s not fair to them.”

“And you knew I would go there?” When she looks down at her hands, I say, “I wouldn’t have.”

“Okay,” she says sadly.

Fuck, that’s not what I meant. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant I was going to give you space.”

“Oh,” she whispers while picking at her fingernails.

“You’re being really quiet.”

“I’m just . . . I don’t know. It’s been a long night and morning.” She frowns. I want to walk over and smooth the line between her brows and kiss her pain away.

“No Hardin, Zed,” she called out in her barely conscious state.

“I know, do you remember it?” I ask her, not sure if I can bear to listen to her response.

I expect her to tell me to go away or cuss me out even, but she doesn’t. Instead she nods and sits down on the couch, gesturing for me to sit on the other side.

chapter

sixty-six

HARDIN

I want to move closer to her, to reach for her shaking hand and find a way to erase her memories. I hate that she went through such an ordeal, and I’m once again blown away by her strength. She’s sitting up, her back as straight as a board, and ready to talk to me.

“Why did you come here?” she asks quietly.

By way of answer, I ask, “Why is he here?” and nod my head toward the kitchen. I just know Noah is perched against the wall, listening in to our conversation. I really can’t fucking stand him, but given the circumstances, I should probably shut up about it.

Playing with her hands, she says, “He’s here to check on me.”

“He doesn’t need to check on you.” That’s why I’m here.

“Hardin”—she frowns—“not today. Please.”

“Sorry . . .” I inch back, feeling like an even bigger asshole than I did seconds ago.

“Why did you come here?” Tessa asks again.

“To bring your car. You don’t want me here, do you?” I haven’t once, until now, even considered that possibility. And it burns through me like acid. My being here might only be making things worse for her. The days of her finding solace in me are no longer.

“It’s not that . . . I’m just confused.”

“About what?”

Her eyes shine under the dim lights of her mum’s living room. “You, last night, Steph, everything. Did you know that it was all a game to her, and she really has hated me all this time.”

“No, of course I didn’t know,” I tell her.

“You had no idea that she had any bad feelings toward me?”

Dammit. But I want to be honest, so I say, “Maybe a little, I guess. Molly had mentioned it once or twice, but she didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t think it was something to this extent—or that Molly even knew what she was talking about.”

“Molly? Since when does Molly care about me?”

So black and white. Tessa always wants things to be so black and white, and it makes me shake my head, a little sad that things just can never be so simple. “She doesn’t, she hates you still,” I tell her and look down. “But she called me after that Applebee’s shit, and I was mad. I didn’t want her or Steph to ruin things between me and you. I thought Steph was trying to meddle just to be a nosy bitch. I didn’t think she was a fucking psycho.”

When I look over at Tessa, she’s wiping tears from her eyes. I move across the couch to close the space between us, and she recoils. “Hey, it’s okay,” I say and grab her arm to pull her to my chest. “Shhh . . .” My hand rests over her hair, and after a few seconds of trying to pull away, she gives in.

“I just want to start over. I want to forget about everything that’s happened in the last six months,” she sobs.

My chest tightens as I nod along, agreeing with her even though I don’t want to. I don’t want her to want to forget me.

“I hate college. I always looked forward to it, but it’s been one mistake after another for me.” She pulls at my shirt, bringing herself closer to me. I stay silent, not wanting to make her feel any worse than she’s already feeling. I didn’t have a fucking clue of what I was walking into when I knocked on the door, but I sure as hell didn’t expect to have a crying Tessa in my arms.

“I’m being so dramatic.” She pulls away too soon, and for a moment I consider pulling her back to me.

“No. No, you’re not. You’re being really calm, considering what happened. Tell me what you remember, don’t make me ask again. Please.”

“It’s all a blur really, it was so . . . strange. I was aware of everything but nothing made any sense. I don’t know how to explain it. I couldn’t move, but I could feel things.” She shudders.

“Feel things? Where did he touch you?” I don’t want to know.

“My legs . . . they undressed me.”

“Only your legs?” Please say yes.

“Yes, I think so. It could have been so much worse, but Zed—” She stops. Takes a breath. “Anyway, the pills made my body so heavy . . . I don’t know how to explain it.”

I nod. “I know what you mean.”

“What?”

Broken memoires of blacking out in bars and stumbling down the streets of London race through my mind. The idea of fun that I once had is completely different from what I consider to be fun now. “I used to take them now and then for fun.”

“You did?” Her mouth falls open, and I don’t like how her look makes me feel.

“I guess ‘fun’ isn’t really the word,” I backtrack. “Not anymore.”

She nods and gives me a sweet, relieved smile. She adjusts the collar of her sweater, which I see now is pretty tight on her.

“Where did that come from?” I ask.

“The sweater?” She gives me a wry smile. “It’s my mother’s . . . can’t you tell?” Her fingers tug at the thick fabric.

“I don’t know. Noah was at the door, and you’re dressed like that . . . I thought I had stepped into a time machine,” I tease. Her eyes light up with humor, all sadness momentarily washed away, and she bites down on her lip in an attempt to stop from laughing.

She sniffles and reaches over to the small table to pull a tissue from the floral box. “No. There are no time machines.” Tessa shakes her head back and forth slowly while wiping at her nose.

Fuck, even after crying she’s so damned beautiful. ’ “I was worried about you,” I tell her.