Page 4 of Tell Me Again
CHAPTER TWO
It would have helped if Trevor had gotten fat or gone bald in the years since she’d seen him. Maybe. She wanted to believe her reaction to him, the hot prick of awareness over her skin and the dip and sway of her stomach, was a reaction to the pure physicality of the man before her.
Trevor had been a boy the last time she’d seen him, all long limbs and innocent good looks. The man standing in front of her was big and broad, with wide shoulders and skin bronzed from the sun. His blond hair had darkened over the years and was cropped short. Rough stubble covered his jaw, softening the angles of his face but not the animosity in his gaze.
Yes, that was what she needed to focus on. The way he looked at her as if she were evil incarnate come to tempt and terrify his daughter. The niece she never knew. She breathed in the charged air between them and let indignation expand her lungs.
“How dare you say that to me,” she said. “What would you have had me do, Trevor? Stay in Colby, Oklahoma, to be swallowed by the same demons that killed Bryce?”
“That wouldn’t have happened, Sam. You were stronger than her.”
Oh, how Sam wished she believed those words. She knew the demons could find her anywhere. But Trevor... “Why would you hide Grace from me?”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking away as if he couldn’t stand the sight of her. “Bryce made me promise,” he said quietly.
The impact of his words made Sam wince. “She would never...” she began, then stopped. Of course it had been Bryce’s idea. Her sister had never forgiven Sam for leaving and breaking their bond. Even though it had been Bryce’s choice to stay in the small town that threatened to suffocate them both. The town that had eventually closed its insidious grasp around her.
“What about after she died?” Sam asked, hating the hint of desperation in her tone.
The years after Bryce’s death had been a spiral of self-destruction, with all of Bryce’s troubles manifesting through Sam. Even though their twin link had been severed, she missed Bryce so much that for a long time it felt like it would be easier to follow her into death than to continue to live.
When she finally pulled herself out of the abyss, she’d founded Bryce Hollow Camp. Here in Colorado, the loss of her other half wasn’t so acute. She’d devoted the last five years to helping at-risk kids, because she hadn’t been able to help her twin despite repeated attempts to intervene and cajole Bryce into rehab.
To find out all her work with the camp had been done in honor of a sister who hadn’t even wanted Sam to know her own niece was a devastating blow. Bryce had not only left Sam behind, she’d also stolen her chance with the child who remained a link between them. “You could have found me.”
“Grace is everything to me,” Trevor said without apology. “From the time they put her in my arms, my whole world has been focused on keeping her safe. I wanted to give her a good life. A simple, happy life. The kind kids deserve.” He gentled his tone. “The kind neither of us had.”
“I would have helped.”
Something close to regret passed through his blue eyes, but he said, “You would have been a complication.”
Sam closed her eyes as another round of pain lanced through her. How many hits could she take without crumpling to the ground under the force of them? She locked her knees and tipped up her chin. “You’ve got yourself a hell of a complication now.”
His expression darkened even more. “I didn’t know you were in Colorado when we moved here.” He blew out a breath. “We’re in the mountains, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Grace doesn’t get down to Denver very often.”
“Are you serious?” Sam jabbed a finger at him. “She tracked me down. I’m not your dirty little secret anymore. The horse has left the barn, buddy. No sense in closing the stable door now.”
“Tell her you don’t want to see her again.”
Sam felt her mouth drop open at the lunacy of that statement. “No.”
“If you love her, you’ll do this.”
“Love her? I just met her.” But as soon as she’d recognized Grace, Sam’s heart had opened and expanded in ways she hadn’t realized were possible. Other than her girlfriends here in Denver, Sam had never let anyone close to her. She had a few friends around the neighborhood and her staff at the camp, but she’d never wanted to open herself up to the vulnerability of really loving someone. Not when she understood how bad it could hurt.
But Grace was different. She was a part of Sam. A part of Bryce.
“Do it for your sister,” Trevor said, his voice a soft command. “It’s what Bryce wanted.”
“She was out of her mind,” she said, shaking her head. “Between the drugs and the alcohol—”
“She stayed sober during the pregnancy. I made sure of it.”
Acid rose in Sam’s throat as she thought about the timing of her sister’s last message. It would have been when Bryce was pregnant. She’d said she needed help with something important. Sam had assumed it was one more manipulation by her twin that would lead to another request for drug money.
“Then you just walked away while she sank back into the pills and booze?”
His lips—which had pretty much ruined her for all other men with one kiss—thinned. “You don’t want to go down the pot and kettle road with me.”
