Page 30 of Shadow Touched

“Why would I lie to you?”

“Because you’re afraid. Why are youafraid?”

“I … I don’t want to answer that.”

“Ah,” he murmured. “So, you areafraid. Did you have a love affair that went wrong orsomething?”

“I … I…” A crack appeared in her carefullybuilt wall. She tried to clear her throat, but a lump still formed.“I can’t have love affairs. Not when I can see when my p-partnerdies.”

He tilted his head, waiting. The roomsuddenly seemed far too small.

“Tell me,” he murmured.

She shook her head.

“Leia,” he said sternly. “You can’t eraseit. You can’t keep it hidden. It’s not healthy.”

“How dare you use my words against me,” shewhispered.

“You don’t get to live in your past if youwon’t let me live in mine.”

She stared at him as memories came floodingback. She had tried so hard to outrun them, but they found her. “Ithought, well, once I thought I could be a normal person. Have anormal job. Have normal friends. I thought I could ignore that Iwas different. And I almost had it. I almost had thatplan.”

“What happened?”

She hadn’t cried in years, yet suddenly,tears streamed down her face.

“One day, I saw the shadow on him. I triedto tell him, but he thought I was crazy. I could see it in his eyesthat he wanted to get far away from me. We argued and he steppedinto traffic. He wasn’t looking because I was nagging him … and hewas struck by a car.”

He pulled her into his arms and hugged herclose as she cried.

“You think he died because of you, don’tyou?”

“I know I was the cause. I don’t knowwhy I have this curse. I destroy everything I touch.”

“Hey,” he admonished, pulling back to lookdown at her. He wiped away her tears with his fingertips. “That’snot true. You saved me. You saved Piper.”

“I’m not going to second guess decisions Imade about Piper and her family, because if you really want to gettechnical, I traded their lives for other lives.” She extricatedherself from his arms. “Which makes me unable to function insociety. I am out of place everywhere and this … this … curse Ihave makes me a pariah. A harbinger of death. So, I’ll stay in yourguest bedroom.”

“Very well. You can stay there tonight.”

“Tonight … and tomorrow and the next—”

“No,” he said, interrupting her with a shakeof his head. “Tonight only.”

She wasn’t stupid. She knew what he wanted.Sex. Although she wasn’t opposed to that, in the back of her mindwas the thought that she’d soon be going back to her solitary life.It didn’t escape her that she could use the memory of her time withBrim to sustain her in the future.

“Tonight only,” she agreed softly.

He relaxed instantly, and his smile betrayednone of their emotionally charged conversation. “The guest bedroomand the bathroom are across the hallway. No doubt my men will throwa reunion party at my return, but then again, it doesn’t take muchto get them drinking. We’ll have to stay for a while, but like Isaid, I need my comfort. Come on.”

Brim turned on his heel and strode out ofthe room. It took her a few moments to follow because she needed afew seconds to gather her wits. She purposely lived a solitaryexistence because she wanted to forget, even thought she couldnever forgive herself. Part of her wanted to be mad at Brimfor breaking her shell. Taking a deep breath, she wiped theremainder of her tears away before marching after him.

She used the ride to his club to scrub hermind free of painful memories for the time being because she had tofocus on her job. The Death Riders MC compound was located justoutside the town limits. A tall fence kept out the prying eyes ofanyone driving by. The main gate was open so Brim rode in, right upto the brick single story building. Big, burly men stopped whatthey were doing to watch them. Once Brim came to a stop, Leia tookoff her helmet once more and got off the bike.

“Holy fucking hell!”

She glanced toward the front of theclubhouse and saw a man with his hands on his hips, shaking hishead. The leather vest he wore looked beat-up and the patch on thechest designated him as the V.P.

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