Page 56 of Fearless

We shouldn’t work.

She should hate me. And when she straight-up refused to be reasonable, rejected me again… I guess it hurt because it gave me my answer clearer than the kick in the balls she provided for good measure. Shedidhate me. She knew deep down we wouldn’t work.

So I came here, and I told myself it wouldn’t matter if she looked at Cole the same way she looks at me. Like she’s scared but intrigued. Like she doesn’t know if she wants to fuck me or run away from me.

I told myself I wouldn’t care.

But she’s not looking at Cole like that.

Not at all.

She’s looking at Cole like she’s seeing him, clearly, for what he is.

And that’s the first time I’ve ever witnessed anyone looking at him like that.

How can I refuse to care when she’s the first girl, ever, to look at Cole and not just see a better, less-empty, version of me?

“Cole.” I glance at his hand.

It takes him too long to tear his eyes away from Meisie’s face. I don’t like that either.

When he finally sets his eyes back on me, I can see there are a thousand things running through his mind. Cole has too many feelings and he’s not good at keeping them from showing on his face, especially from me.

He knows.

I watch him fitting the pieces together in his mind like a jigsaw puzzle. There have only ever been two pieces. Two identical pieces, except they’re mirrors, and they fit together perfectly. But there’s another piece now. He can probably sense it better than me, because even now I’m still trying to deny it even exists. But it does. It’s standing beside me and clutching little fingers onto the back of my thigh.

There’s a third piece, and this one doesn’t fit into our puzzle.

The look in each of our eyes says we both know it.

It’s what he’ll do with that knowledge that I can’t begin to figure out.

For now, he moves his hand away and steps back. He looks from me, to Meisie, and back to me again, before spinning on his heels and going back to the desk.

I want to get her away from this. From him. Take her back to her fort. Tell her that this was a mistake. But I’m too far into it now. If I take her away now, whatever suspicions he has about the aforementioned puzzle pieces will just be confirmed.

He flips open the MacBook and spins it around.

“Exhibit fucking A.”

I glance down at her and try to read Meisie’s expression. She’s watching Cole like he’s a venomous snake and she’s a little mouse. Good girl.

Cole continues. “Recognize the car? This was where we made it look like you took a load of drugs and crashed it into a ditch--but not before injuring someone. Those same drugs your mum is legalizing. Do you think she cared?”

When she doesn’t answer he spins the laptop back to face him and hits a few keys with fast fingers. I already know what’s coming before he spins it around, due to the massive fucking smirk on his face.

“Exhibit B. This was when we—correction. Not we. Nah, this one was all my brother’s idea.”

I’ll explain it to her later. I’ll explain to her those photos were genuinely the kinder option. At least, I fucking thought it was.

I grab Meisie. “Right let’s go—“

“Eh, hold on,” Cole says, standing up from the desk. “We didn’t even get to the best part, did we? The backstory. The part where we told mother dearest that we were punting her out to anyone with a twenty-pound note. The part where her own mother didn’t care. The part where—“

“That’s plenty, Cole.”

He leans his hands on the desk and smiles. “You can’t take her away now. We have a wedding to plan. Sarah wants to know colors for the bridesmaids, don’t you darlin’?”

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