Page 46 of Uncharted

“For work,” I repeat. “Right, for work. Well, I’ve thought long and hard about that decision. And I made it from fear.” I push a chunk of hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear, and I leave my hand on her cheek.

“Fear? Oh, I... You were afraid?” Her eyes flutter to mine.

My thumb rests on the inside of her neck, and the thud of her pulse races into my hand. “Very much so. Things are different now. When I started yachting, you couldn’t date anyone on your crew. And those who did were usually doing it for not great reasons. My logic was stuck in the past. But I could have told Rocky—followed protocol. I’m sorry I didn’t. I’ve thought about you a lot, Haley. I’ve never met anyone like you. When this is all over— Fuck, no, before then... I want... I want something with you.”

Her eyes are dilated, and her pulse races faster. When I brush my pinky over her lips, she swallows hard.

Then she jumps backwards. “I need to tell you something.”

Chapter21

Come About

Haley

This must be what a heart attack feels like. My fingers are numb, and my breath catches with each rise of my chest. I’ve never blacked out before—maybe that’s it. I’m blacking out. No, I’m not. How do I tell him?

“Are you okay?” He reaches for me.

I close my eyes and put my hand up. “Give me a second.”

“Of course, take all the time you need.” The heat from his body radiates into me; it cocoons me with his musk. I want to cling to him, snuggle against his chest. Breathe him in. Every time I’ve thought about this conversation, I’ve pushed it out of my head. It’s too painful.

“I like you a lot.” I need to open my eyes.

“I like you too.”

“Right, so...” Rip it off like a Band-Aid. “Over the last months, I’ve developed a relationship with the guys.”

“I see.”

“No, no, you don’t. Like, I’m having sex with all of them. But not sex—it’s more than sex. Well, it is for me and... no, it is for them too.” I think of Dante’s rough whisper to me last night. I open my eyes and look right at Sam. He’s not... well, he’s not reacting, and somehow that makes it worse. I don’t know what I expected him to do. Scream and yell. Throw something like my dad used to do in the last years of my parents’ marriage. But his face is calm and his hands are loose at his sides, no balled fists. And it hits me. “You already knew.”

Now his brow furrows. “Yes.”

My gut hardens. “You could have?—”

“How? How and not make it about them instead of about me and you?”

“You and me?”

“That’s what I said, Haley.”

“You... you’re not mad?”

“Didn’t say that.” He puts his hand back on my face, and I lean into it.

“Oh, right.” And then it hits me. “I’m not choosing.” I try to back out of his touch, but I can’t.

“Life is full of many choices, Haley.”

“I know. But I’m not going to stop being with them. I... I care about them.” I almost said love.

“You can care about a lot of people, Haley. Doesn’t mean you have to sleep with them.” He closes his eyes.

“You think I’m a whore?”

“What? No!” His brow ridge thickens, and his touch goes firm. “I would never think that of you, and I hate that it came out of your mouth. You went through something—something unthinkable—and you made what you will of it. And I would never think less of you. You didn’t make any vow to me. What we had was the start of something—something fantastic—but it was just that, the start. No, Haley, I don’t ever want to hear that word out of your mouth again.” His tone drops deep, teetering on threatening. “And if you think that about yourself, you need to scrub it out of your brain altogether. Understood?”

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