Page 44 of The Beat of My Heart
Dexter: Who is she, Trev?
Trevor: No one.
The biggest fucking lie I have ever told. No one. She’s everyone, I want to scream. She’s everything I can’t have because my father went to work for the mob and allowed them to kill my mother.
“Fuck,” I scream, throwing my phone against the tiled wall of the bathroom and watch as it shatters into a thousand pieces.
* * *
Julia
“Knock-knock,”I say as I tap on the door to Charlie’s room. Entering, I find him asleep on the bed. I stand there for a few minutes, unsure of what to do.
“Don’t just stand there thinking, Angel. Always, always come to me if that’s what you want,” I hear his sleep-filled voice fill the space.
Crossing the room, I ask, “Tough day?”
“You could say that,” he says, reaching for me.
“Anything I can do?”
“You’re doing it, come here,” he says, pulling me onto the bed with him.
Resting my head on his chest, I breathe him in. He smells like teakwood and summer, it’s something I’ve never noticed on anyone before. It’s so distinctly him, I commit it to memory. He rubs his hand up and down my back lazily.
“You okay?” I ask, looking up at him.
“I am now,” he says, smiling.
We lay there for a long time, just enjoying the closeness. I’m drifting off when he speaks.
“I spent all day debating entering your room to snoop around. I didn’t, but fuck if I didn’t want to.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I go back and forth, wanting to know everything about you and knowing that’s a selfish fucking thing for me to want.”
I stay silent, waiting for him to explain. He doesn’t.
“How long do you need to get ready tonight, sweetheart?” he asks.
“It depends on if that stinking dress tries to kill me again,” I say.
Kissing my head, he says, “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”
I know he is talking about more than dresses. I feel unsettled, and Charlie is lost in thought again.
“Hey,” I say. “I’m going to go get ready, but if you… if you need someone to talk to, I’m here, okay?”
He nods but lets me go.
O-kay then.
Chapter 15
-Break Things, Kylie Morgan
Trevor
