Page 25 of Tempt

But she’s put something in my head, and it scratches at me. A burr.

Another week goes by, and I shave, because beards are fucking itchy, but that’s not the problem. The burr is inside. Grace put it there.

“Do you go to therapy?” I ask her one day after she has a fight with Luke about the fact that I’m in their space all the fucking time.

I’m aware, asshole.

“Not yet. I keep meaning to make some calls, but then I put it off. After my next show, after my next trip abroad. Later, next… you get the idea.”

“It’s hard.”

She nods. “Want to make a deal? We’ll both make appointments?”

I want to say yes, but I’m a liar. A no-good, manipulative jerk. I’m not sure I can say yes and mean it.

Grace can’t see that about me, though. She gives me the sweetest, most earnest look. “We’ll fix our brains together.”

I round the kitchen island and squish her into a bear hug.

“I don’t deserve you,” I rasp into her hair. “I’ll never not be there for you.”

She wriggles free and shoves at my chest. She’s tiny, and I don’t go anywhere. “Oh God, I hope that’s not true. I hope you get through this and move on with your life and get far too busy to even worry about me.”

“That wouldn’t be fair, not after all you’ve done.”

“Life isn’t fair, Sam. If it was…” She trails off.

I know.

If life were fair, everything would be different.

The next day, I go to my first Gambler’s Anonymous meeting.

7

Hazel

Present Day

I’m nearlyat the front of the ticketing line when I see Sam burst through the front doors of the station. He ignores the fact there is a clear queue and storms right up to me. “So that’s it?”

I glance at the person behind me, who makes no effort to pretend not to be curious about this early morning drama.

“You left,” he says loudly, waving my letter in the air. It’s pretty crumpled now.

Everyone else in line perks up as well.

“You left first.” I shrug.

He glares at me like that’s not fair.

It’s all I want to give him, but he’s under my skin whether I like it or not. I sigh. “And then I got an alert on my phone that they’d added another train today. I might make it to my hotel tonight after all.”

He lifts his other hand in the air. It’s clenched around his phone. “I got the same alert. Remember, funny girl? I had a ticket, too.”

Oh. Well, that makes the contents of the letter a little more awkward. “You missed your meeting in Ottawa. Why would you…”

“Wehave unfinished business.”

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