Page 16 of The Voices are Back

I opened my eyes to find Aodhan staring at me with concern in his smoky-gray eyes.

I blinked at him, feeling my muscles twitch underneath me.

“She’s faking,” I heard my father say.

“All due respect, sir,” Aodhan said stiffly, “she’s not.”

I wasn’t.

I never was.

But my father didn’t like to admit that he’d created an imperfect child.

“She is,” my dad argued.

“She’s not,” Aodhan replied back. “How about you go? Give us some space.”

God, I hoped that we weren’t on the ground.

I was wearing white pants.

I blinked, trying to get a gauge on my surroundings.

“We’re on the bench outside the superstore,” he informed me, guessing as to what I was thinking.

Since my brain wasn’t all the way online yet, I didn’t nod or reply, but he understood my reaction anyway.

“The only people to see you pass out were me and your parents,” he explained.

I felt an irrational surge of anger at the thought of my so-called “parents.”

“Still not getting along with them, I see,” he drawled.

Biggest understatement of the year.

He twirled his fingers around a long lock of hair, wrapping it around his finger like he used to do.

A memory assaulted me out of nowhere.

• • •

“I just want to touch your hair,” Aodhan whispered.

I felt the butterflies once again take flight in my belly.

Aodhan and I were new.

As in, a few days new.

He’d asked me to be his girlfriend just two days ago, and I’d immediately doubted his sincerity.

At first, I’d thought he was playing a joke on me.

I mean, why would Aodhan want to date me? I was nothing special.

But he was persistent, and it’d taken him a week to finally get me to say yes.

Now, we were official, and I guess if he wanted to touch my hair, he could.

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