Page 81 of It's You
She nodded.
“If I could come over, we could?—”
“No!” Her back straightened, and she was shaking her head no, even though they were on the phone. “No, Jack. Don’t come over. I can’t.”
“I won’t. It’s okay.”
“I mean…p-part of me wants…” She started crying softly.
“Please don’t cry, baby. Please don’t.” It was killing him to watch her, unable to offer her comfort. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“It was too good to be true,” she whispered.
He swallowed. “I love you. That’s true. Nothing feels as good as being with you. That’s true too.”
“But you’re?—”
“Yep. That’s true too. I’m not exactly who you thought I was.”
“It’s like a lie, only worse.”
“You’d never have seenmeif I told you. We never would have had last weekend. And last weekend was…”
He watched as she put the phone down, wiping tears away with both hands. Thoughts of last weekend were affecting her as much as they were him. Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, then picked up the phone again.
“You have to leave, Jack. You have to leave Carlisle.”
“I am.”
Her mouth dropped open, and her brows furrowed. He watched as her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and then she pressed them together.
“When?”
“Tomorrow. I’m going north.”
She nodded, and he could hear the tears start again. Her shoulders trembled, and she put the phone down again to wipe her eyes with the corner of her bathrobe.
“Oh,” she finally murmured when she was able to speak.
“Darcy.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Do you want me to come back?”
She looked out the window, and his breathing caught as he saw her swollen, tear-stained face. “I…I…I don’t…”
“Wait,” he said, cutting her off and swallowing the lump in his throat. “Don’t answer that.”
She sobbed, taking a deep, shaky breath and nodding. He watched her, trying to think of what to say, how to convince her that the man speaking to her now was the same man with whom she spent last weekend. He swallowed, then began softly, gently, beseeching her to love him again.
“Listen to me. I love you. With everything I am. With everything I’ll ever be.”
“Jack.” She sobbed.
“That’s all I wanted to say. That’s all I wanted you to know. No matter what happens between us, Darcy Turner, I love you forever.”
“I can’t do this. Goodbye, Jack.” He watched as she lowered the phone from her ear and touched the end button, then hung her head and wept.
He let out the breath he was holding, clenching his jaw with the force and fury of his longing, his frustration. To have come this close to having her, only to lose her. It was mind-boggling in the worst kind of way. He turned back toward the woods, then took one last look at her window. She had her cheek cupped in one hand. The other still held the phone. He could see a necklace, a shiny infinity sign, catch whatever dim light was shining in from her kitchen. His fingers twitched from the memory of its shape and texture. For so many years, it had been his.
The bloodfrom Phillip’s injury made Jack consider feeding, but the sight of Darcy’s unconscious, exposed, injured body on the floor overwhelmed almost any other instinct. Almost. For a moment, he stared at the soft, pinkish triangle of curly hair between her thighs, smelling that intimate part of her, his own body hardening in response. His breathing changed from the fury of anger to pure, unadulterated lust. His nostrils flared as her scent washed over him again and again, and he closed his eyes, feeling his Roug part assert itself.
