Page 88 of All Our Secrets

Another couple of hours, and we’d be separated by the real world. I had a taste, quenched my needs, and was ready to live without another drop of Silas King. I could. No, Iwould.My stomach cramped as my decision weighed on me.

When the familiar streets of Fenkin greeted us, the winding roads got smaller and the hours in his presence dwindled to mere minutes, Silas began again. His hand landed on my thigh. I shouldn’t have worn shorts. I was weak against his touch. Yanking my legs toward the door, I focused on the trees passing in a blur.

“Let me take you out this Sunday.” His deep voice broke the silence.

I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply. “No.”

“I won’t give up on you.”

My ears burned. I could feel the force of his stare on me. “I won’t give in.”

“You want me to chase you? Because I’m going to.”

I jerked my head toward him. “What? No. I want to go back to the real world now.”

“We’re as real as it gets, baby.” His hand went to my thigh again. I couldn’t pull away as quickly that time. His gaze darted back and forth between my face and the road. “Why are you so against us?”

My chest ached like someone had split it open with a machete. “I went into your room for one thing and one thing only. There’s nous.I’m sorry if you think otherwise, but that was my only intention.”

“I’m inside you already. I’m in you deep. That’s why you’re trying so hard to push me away.”

“Stop acting like you know me.”

“Will you do something for me?” he asked.

I sulked. “I’m not going on a date with you.”

“Come home with me. Pack up your stuff, and little man’s, too, and be with me.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Who cares what anyone thinks?” he went on.

“I care about the people in this town.”

“And if they care, they’ll accept your choices.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is.”

“What about this pain inside here?” I tapped my chest. “I’m ashamed of myself. I couldn’t control myself, and I let this happen.”

“Peyton… I’m sorry,” he said. “If I had…” His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Maybe everything would be different.”

Something about his apology cut deeper than the guilt, and I wasn’t ready to acknowledge why. Silas King had nothing to apologize for, did he?

“We can’t do this,” I whispered.

“Peyton, I don’t want you in that house alone.”

This again?

“That house is my home. The one I shared with my husband.”

His throat constricted as he focused on the road. “If you knew what it did to me every time you say that, you wouldn’t throw it in my face. You only do it because you think it will keep you safe, especially that heart of yours, but you know,” he glanced over at me briefly, “you know, don’t you? That you’re already mine. Have been since that moment in the bar—”

“Would you stop speaking those words? Every time you speak, you make the last six years of my life seem like a lie—a fraud. I loved Theodore. Yourbest friend.”

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