Page 38 of One Secret

All of which might as well be made of paper for all the protection they offer against what I can sense coming...

'So, when you say change...' I say like I'm poking at a fresh wound.

'I mean everything,' Darcy explains. 'My place, my job, my... connections.'

Ha. Connections.

Connections that have seen you naked, you mean?

'You mean me,' I grunt.

'I mean you.'

Ouch. She doesn't even hesitate.

'Why?' I swallow.

Why do you care? Mechanic, remember? Remember the mechanic thing? What about the boyfriend? You can't seriously not know why, Alesi...

'I need a fresh start,' Darcy shrugs, clearly dodging the question.

'A fresh start with who?' I demand before I can catch myself.

Something in me needs to hear it. I need to hear her say she's with someone else. That she loves them. And that that's why whatever we have is ending.

For a moment, I think I spy a flash of panic on Darcy's face at my question. But I blink and it's gone. Probably never there to begin with. Probably just a fancy from my own mind; an unfocused desire to see her as rattled as I feel.

Instead of showing any such thing, Darcy just neatly avoids my question.

'I don't need to answer to you,' she says.

For a split second, rage washes through me from head to toe. My thighs seize up and my fingers dig into the leather of the armrest. The truth of her words eventually soaks in enough to cool me down.

We were never exclusive. We were never even a real couple. And she is absolutely correct: she doesn't need to answer to me and I have no right to demand explanations from her.

'All right...' I finally sigh. Damn, but that word is dogging me today. 'After we get back to Rome, I won't contact you again.'

The promise rolls off my tongue like sandpaper.

Darcy shifts awkwardly in her seat.

'Thank you...' She clears her throat. 'I didn't know whether to tell you that now or wait until after the trip, but it felt... wrong to sit on something like that.' She winces. 'I know that we're now going to have to act like a couple in front of—'

'You said when we get back,' I interrupt. Again, before I can stop myself.

'What?' she blinks at me.

I'm as surprised as her. Apparently, being dumped by my not-girlfriend has erased any sense of discipline I have over my tongue.

Fuck it. In for a penny...

'You said you wanted to make changes after we're back. Which means we don't have to act or pretend anything.' I shrug and try to adopt a casual stance over the whole thing.

'You mean...' Darcy speaks slowly, as if unsure I'm as damn desperate as I sound. 'Stick with... whatever we are... until we fly back?'

'Exactly as we are,' I nod.

My confidence is barely skin-deep. Underneath, I know the truth:

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