Page 9 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

My mind instantly went to Mom. Even though I’d like to believe she didn’t mean it when she said not to come home if I couldn’t get Ryan back, deep down, I knew she meant every word.

Stopping beside my car, I took a few deep breaths, determined not to let the tears fall.

These were supposed to be people who cared about me. They were supposed to consider my feelings as well as their own. They were supposed to want to make me happy, not push me to do things that made me uncomfortable.

Why couldn’t they do that? Why wasn’t I good enough for them?

“Amy?”

I turned at the sound of the deep voice. A voice so familiar to me, yet I’d only heard it for the first time ten minutes ago.

I watched Daniel walk toward me. Slowly. Like he was frightened of scaring me. Or upsetting me more than I already was.

Goddamn it. He looked so much like Ryan it was seriously hurting my heart.

I studied him, trying to find something that would allow my mind to break the link between them.

He was only wearing a pair of sweats, leaving his chest and feet bare. He was actually quite a bit bigger than Ryan, muscle wise. And his hair was shorter. Not by a lot, but it was definitely noticeable. He also had a tiny little mole on his left cheek.

But the most noticeable difference was the fact that Daniel looked worried. He looked genuinely concerned. There was no cocky smirk, no swagger that spoke of self-importance or excess of confidence. There was only honesty. Loud and clear. That was his tell.

And I liked it.

“Are you okay?” he said, moving even slower still.

The honesty in his voice made me want to give it back to him. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really expecting that.”

He nodded, his gaze never leaving mine. “You were going out with Ryan?”

I let out a humorless laugh that sounded a little crazy, even to me. “Stupid, huh?”

Daniel smiled a little. The same crooked little smile Ryan used to give me that made my insides melt. It looked even better on Daniel. Probably because it was accompanied by the honesty in his eyes.

“Nah,” he said softly. “He’s a good-looking guy.”

It took me two seconds to process his words before I laughed. I actually laughed. How the hell could he make me laugh right now?

“Seriously, though,” he said. “Did he really break up with you yesterday? Because you said no . . . ?”

I sighed and looked up at the night sky. “We’d been going out for over four months. I probably should’ve—”

“Don’t.”

My gaze snapped back to his at the firm sound of his voice. He’d moved even closer while I’d been staring at the stars. Now he was only standing a few feet from me.

“Don’t even finish that sentence, Amy. My brother’s a self-righteous douchebag who thinks the world owes him everything because our parents got a divorce. I only got here this morning, and I’ve already felt like smacking him at least three times.” He moved even closer, making my breath catch. “I’ve got a pretty darned good idea what your intention was here tonight, and all I can say is, I’m real happy you ended up in my bed instead. Not because of what happened, but because of what could’ve happened. My brother doesn’t respect a damn thing, Amy. Not even himself.”

I swallowed. Somehow, I didn’t think my mother would see it that way.

Looking down at my clenched hands, I tried to draw in a steadying breath. “I better go,” I mumbled.

When I was only met with silence, I looked up. Daniel’s gaze was intense, but he had that crooked little smile on his lips. “It was nice to meet you,” he said.

My thoughts instantly went to his body pressed against mine, his tongue softly lapping at my nipple, his hands moving over my body, and I flushed, my pulse skipping strangely.

I’m not sure what he saw on my face, but his eyes darkened, and the smile I loved disappeared.

Holy hell.

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