Page 64 of Edge of Desire

“Is that why your hand is broken?”

“You might say.”

“Can you walk?” he asked as he pulled into the doctors’ parking lot.

Why’d he ask me that? It was my hand, not my leg. And my heart, but that wouldn’t prevent me from walking. “Yeah.” I got out and followed him inside. He led me straight to X-ray where they confirmed that my hand was crunched up.

They were going to do surgery to repair all the damage.

“You gonna do it?” I asked him.

“Nope, I’m sitting this one out. We don’t operate on family. You’ll have one of my team though.”

It all happened so fast. One minute we were talking and the next I was being wheeled into surgery. It was a relatively quick repair and nothing too dramatic, or so they said.

My hand hurt like hell for a couple of weeks, but then it began to ease up. The thing about it was the pain in my hand temporarily kept my mind off the anguish in my heart. As soon as it started getting better, that crushing misery hit again, and I wanted to fucking die.

We were sitting at the bar in the kitchen when she popped the question I’d been dreading. “So, are you ever gonna tell us what happened?” Caroline asked me.

For whatever reason, ever since Avery left, my legs couldn’t stop pumping up and down whenever I sat. It was constant motion. “I can’t talk about it yet.” Up and down, up and down, up and down.

Caroline reached out a hand and put it on my leg. “Preston, I’ve never seen you like this.”

“That’s because I’ve never been like this. I’m so fucking empty inside. Do you remember when you died as Terri? And you thought you’d never see Justin again?”

She blew out her breath and said, “How can I ever forget that?”

“That’s how I must feel now.”

“Oh, God, Preston. What the hell happened? Let me help you.”

“I lied to her for weeks. Never told her we were safe. I led her to believe we were still in danger. She knows everything about us, that you’re my sister and the truth about what happened back in Charleston.But I fell in love with her, and I was so afraid of losing her that I lied and lived that lie for so long. And then it became nearly impossible to tell her the truth. I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t think, I don’t know. Ugh!” I grabbed a handful of my hair and just yanked it.

“So now she knows the truth and has lost all trust in you.”

“Yes! I hurt her. Caroline, you should’ve seen her face when I told her the truth. It was like I turned off all the lights in her soul. Everything dimmed. That sparkle in her eyes died. It kills me to even think about it.”

“Have you tried to talk to her?”

I gave her a look that spoke a hell of a lot more than anything I could’ve said.

“Yeah, right. Okay, stupid question.”

“I’ve lost her and now I don’t give a fuck about what happens to me. She meant everything to me. She accepted me for all that I was and all that I am. And what did I do? I lied and destroyed her trust in me.”

Caroline was silent for a few minutes. “Then, you’ll have to earn it back.”

“Seriously. You did not see her face. Ain’t gonna happen.”

“So, where did she go?”

I actually chuckled a little. “She pulled a fast one on me at the airport and hopped out of the car at a red light so I couldn’t follow her. I don’t know where she is now.”

“Oh, come on, Preston. How hard would it be for you to find her?”

“Not very.”

“Then do it.”

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