Page 72 of When Fate Breaks
“Please stop thinking so hard and just talk to me.”
No matter how badly I want to, I don’t allow myself to tear my eyes from his. “Who says I’m thinking anything?”
“I do,” Blake says, unwavering. “C’mon. Use your words.”
I blow a breath out of my nose, trying to formulate an answer. I realize after a few seconds, when I feel Blake’s gaze burning a hole in me, that I’m defeating the whole purpose of just using my words by thinking so hard about what words I want to use. So I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “I think you’re wrong.” Blake tilts his head. “That I haven’t changed. I don’t think I agree with you.”
“Well, you’re not under any obligation to agree with me, Evangeline.”
“I– But, why did you say it?” I ask. It’s Blake’s turn to go silent now, apparently. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but just ends up closing it again. “I mean, do you really believe that?” I push. Still no answer.
So much for using our words, huh?
I take Blake’s lack of response as an indication that I probably don’t want to hear whatever said response was going to be. I decide to take a different route, no longer being able to hold in my inner thoughts now that I’ve opened the floodgates.
“Can I ask you a different question?”
“You don’t need to ask permission, Evangeline.”
I ignore the rush of heat that answer sends to my cheeks, carrying on. “Do you…do you think people ever change? Evercanchange?Really?”
Blake glances upwards thoughtfully, his lips rolling into his mouth. “Yes. And No,” he finally says, meeting my gaze again.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Yes, I think people can change what they do and how they act. I think people’s circumstances can change, causing their emotional responses and life priorities to shift.” Blake pauses and I swallow hard. I catch him surveying me and quickly blink away the burning sensation suddenly present in my eyes, nodding and urging him to continue. “But I think we’re all hard wired to a certain extent,” he says. “That no one trulychanges. It’s just a matter of if someone chooses to ignore who they really are in an attempt to be something that they’re not.”
I let out a scoff, shaking my head. “You make it sound so simple.”
“Well, it is, isn’t it? It all comes down to choice.”
“No, it really isn’t,” I reply, running my hands over my mud-caked ponytail in frustration. “What if someone has to make a choice that affects other people? What if they can’t always be selfish?”
Blake’s lips press together, deep frown lines etching into his forehead. He looks away, and slowly back at me. “Human life is so short and non-guaranteed, Evangeline. Why on Earth would you live it any other way but selfishly?”
My lips fall apart, a reservoir instantly forming in my eyes.Fuck.“I–”
The piercing sound of my phone ringing makes me shoot to my feet. I quickly brush my hands off on my pants, nonchalantly wiping at the moisture in my eyes with my shirt sleeve during the process. I fish my cell phone from my back packet, thankful it survived the mud dive, and answer right away when I see Remy’s name flash on the screen.
“Hey, babe,” I mutter sweetly, a feeling of guilt twisting in my stomach.
“Hey, Apple Jacks. So, uh…”
I can already tell by Remy’s tone of voice that I’m not going to be happy with whatever he’s about to say. “What is it?”
He lets out an exhausted sigh. “So, about tomorrow–”
My spine steels. “Remy, you promised.”Very reluctantly, after nearly fifteen minutes of pleading, I don’t add. “You’ve known about this for months. Dad hasn’t had time to expand or refresh inventory in forever and hardware trade shows practically never come to this area. You said you’d come help me.”
“Annie, I know, but I just can’t. Chuck needs me.”
“You know that I’m not going to be able to accomplish anything worth the time and cost to attend without an extra set of eyes and your help to load and transport things home. I don’t want to let Dad down. I get Chuck needs you, but, Remy,Ineed you–”
“I’ll go with you.”
I spin around, startling at the sound of Blake’s voice and the sudden heat of him right behind me.
“What?” I ask, covering the bottom half of my cell phone where the microphone is.
