Page 88 of Firefly Effect

My hand moves to cup the back of her head. “Be mad at me all you want. You have every right. But I still love you.”

“You took over for J.D. so you could interview his clients,” she accuses.

My nod comes slowly, the fear of her pushing me right back out that door a definite possibility. “Yes.”

“But I wouldn’t take the consultation, so you sought me out.”

Again, I nod.

This time, the pain in her expression is accompanied by tears. “I opened up to you.”

A force strangles my heart at just the sight of her misery. My hands instinctively reach up to cradle her cheek. “Exactly, Evie. You opened up to me. We weren’t in a session. You weren’t under my care. You opened up to me as a friend, and I listened. That day tubing with you is one of the reasons I started falling in love with you.”

She squeezes her eyes shut again like she’s trying to stop more tears from falling, but they seep out anyway. “How can you say that when your reasons for getting to know me were all based on a lie?”

I growl and lean my forehead on hers. “This is so much more complicated than that. I came here for my sister, but I’m staying for you. You, Lucy, Francine—you’re my fucking world, and I refuse to let you think anything else. I never stopped thinking about you after Carley died, and not just because of her death.”

I pause, thinking back. “I remember how scared you were to go against Patrick’s rules. I remember how you giggled all day long with my sister. I remember the joy that lit up your face every time we watched the fireflies. I never stopped thinking about the way you looked at me. And even though it was so fucking wrong, considering how young you were back then, I was looking at you too.”

She grips my shirt as new streams of tears slip down her cheeks. “Stop,” she whispers. “You’re making it impossible for me to hate you.”

Hope ignites in my belly, illuminating the darkness we share like the single flash of a firefly's light. “Because you don’t hate me. You can’t hate me, Evie. We’re connected, you and me. We’ll get through this, okay?” I brush her cheeks with the pads of my thumb, drying her tears. “I promise I’ll tell you everything I can.”

She opens her watery eyes. “Is Jenkins a suspect?”

I frown. “Everyone is a suspect at this point, but he’s been complying.”

“How?”

“By allowing me to take over his practice and disappearing to make it all believable.” My hands move from her face to her hips. “If my suspicions are accurate, then whoever we’re dealing with isn’t a stranger. In fact, it might even be someone very close to you. We think the killer is one of Jenkins’s patients and was at Deep Creek with us during Carley’s murder. Most of the campers there that trip lived in Bryson City. My family—the Pruitts,” I correct myself, “were the only out-of-towners. None of the Firefly Man’s victims live in the same town where they were killed.”

Her shoulders sag. “But you have leads?”

I nod. “Yes.”

“Who?”

“I can’t tell you that, Evie. I’m sorry.”

She searches my eyes again. “Does Francine know about your job? About your past?”

“No.” I swallow the quickly forming lump in my throat. “She knows nothing.”

Evie’s eyes widen. “Does Lucy know about Carley?”

I shake my head, and my reply comes out in a guilty whisper. “No.” I squeeze my eyelids shut then open them again. “One day, I’ll tell Lucy about her Aunt Carley, but the undercover work I’m doing needs to stay between us for now.”

She blinks at me a few times, seeming to process everything I’ve just told her. “So, now what?”

My entire body softens, wanting nothing more than to wrap her in my arms until this whole mess is over. “We can try to jog your memory.”

She shudders. “I’m scared, Lincoln.”

My heart swells. “I know, but I’m here, and I’m not letting anything happen to you.”

She waits a few beats like she’s trying to psych herself up, then she pushes back with a nod and a lifted chin. “Okay. I think I’m ready.”

Relief blows out of me in a rush of air, relaxing my shoulders. I reach my hand out to hers. “Why don’t you lie down and get comfortable? Then we’ll get started.”

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