Page 30 of Psychopath

“But you don’t want to do either of those things, so you leave it as it is. You let it continue ticking away, broken, much like your relationship…”

Quinn gawped, then snapped his jaw shut and glared. Red-hot embers rose in his chest, and he balled his hands into fists.

“You know nothing about my relationship,” Quinn snapped.

Zane didn’t even flinch. He watched as Quinn got himself back under control.

“I’m sorry,” Quinn whispered. “I didn’t mean to speak to you like that.”

Zane shook his head. “You don’t need to apologise. I upset you. It wasn’t my intention. Sometimes I just say what I see without thinking, and with you, it’s obvious.”

“What is?”

“The heartbreak. You wear it on your face like my dad sometimes did, and your watch.”

Quinn tucked his arm to his chest and covered it with his hand so Zane couldn’t see. “What about it?”

“It told me about your relationship.”

“You think my watch spoke to you?”

Zane rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it sprouted a mouth and told me all your secrets. Of course not. I learned from it.”

Quinn unpeeled his fingers. “What’s to learn? It’s just a watch.”

“It’s the wrong colour for a start…”

“How is it the wrong colour?”

“It’s olive green.”

Quinn glared at his watch. “So?”

Zane smirked and leaned over the table. “Accessories can bring out our best features. You have the biggest, bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, but instead of complementing them, your watch is green.”

“It’s my favourite colour—”

“Really? I see you come in each morning. You wear maroon shirts, grey shirts, blue shirts, but never green. Bit strange if it’s your favourite colour.”

“You remember the colours of my shirts?”

“Course I do. The point is, you didn’t buy that watch. He did. That brown leather strap, it doesn’t match your hair or any of the shoes you’ve worn here. It’s too dark. The watch is broken. You don’t want to fix it. You can’t part with it, and you won’t dare replace it… You’re stuck at a crossroads in your relationship and don’t know which way to go, but what interests me is why you’re at that crossroads. What happened?”

“Does the position of my hair not somehow give you that information?”

Zane hugged his stomach and laughed. “No, it doesn’t, but I can guess the most likely reason.”

“Which is?”

“He was unfaithful.”

Quinn dropped his gaze to the table and released a slow breath. “I found out he’d cheated on me. He wants to try again and has given me some time to think, but I don’t know if I can trust him.”

Zane clicked his fingers, then pointed at the watch. “Can I see?”

Quinn unclipped his watch and slid it across the table. A look of pure concentration descended on Zane’s features, and he studied the face of the watch, then the reverse.

“It reminds me of happier times,” Quinn whispered. “Reminds me he can be loving and spontaneous.”

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