Page 19 of If He Hadn't Cheated
“You think you can fix me?” I ask, voice lower now.
“No.”
That surprises me.
He leans forward slightly. “I don’t think you need fixing.”
I laugh. Quiet, bitter. “That makes one of us.”
“You’re not broken,” he says. “You’re just tired of pretending you’re not.”
That hits somewhere deep and I turn away convincing myself I need air.
I push through the crowd and head outside. The cold hits me hard. I lean against the brick wall and suck in deep breaths like they’re my last.
The door opens behind me. Knox steps out. He stands a few feet away. Doesn’t speak.
Eventually, I say, “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” I snap.
“I just don’t like watching you destroy yourself,” he says evenly.
“You think I’m doing this on purpose?”
“No. I think you’re trying to feel better. To make sense of it all. And it’s not working.”
A car honks down the block. Somewhere a siren wails.
“I’m not someone you can save,” I mumble.
“I know.”
“Then stop following me. Stop showing up.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, Lana.”
I turn to him, angry now. “Then what is this? Some guilt thing? You didn’t tell me about Sebastian, so now you’re trying to earn forgiveness?”
“I don’t care about forgiveness.”
“Then what?”
He takes a step closer. “I care about you.”
That word.
Care.
I haven’t heard it in so long from his lips that it feels foreign.
Unreal.
I shake my head. “Don’t.”
He nods once. Doesn’t argue. Just says, “Okay.”
