“It’s Liam,” Nash muttered, staring at the screen. The blue glow lit his face, allowing me to see his wrinkled brow perfectly.
“Maybe he’s trying to warn you before you get into too much trouble. We were supposed to be home hours ago. Gran is going to disown me,” I said as I pulled on my panties and then reached for my bra. “I can’t believe we fell asleep.”
Nash smoothed a hand over his face. “I know me either.”
His phone continued to ring. It had to be seconds from going to voicemail. “Well, aren’t you going to answer it?”
Nash ran a hand through his hair. “Ugh. He’s probably just calling to tell me how much trouble I’m in with Dad.”
“We’ll both be in trouble,” I said as I leaned over and placed a kiss to his cheek. “It was worth it, though.”
He squeezed my thigh and shifted to face me, a crooked smirk twisting his lips. Electricity sparked beneath my skin at the feel of his touch, and I leaned forward to kiss him again. It was tender at first but soon it filled with more passion than even I knew what to do with. His cell went to voicemail, and the sudden silence had him pulling away from me.
“You consume me, Samantha Mathers.” Nash grinned and shook his head. “You always have.”
“And I always will,” I insisted as I leaned in and nibbled his ear.
He playfully swatted me away and then tapped around on his phone, calling Liam back. It rang only once before he answered. My heart dropped to my stomach because I knew something was wrong by how quickly he’d answered.
“Hey. I know Dad’s probably about to have a cow because I’m not—”
Nash’s words were cut off. I could hear what Liam said, and it made my heart skip a beat as an icy chill slipped down my spine.
“She’s gone,” Liam repeated, his voice thick with emotion. “Mom’s gone.”
Silence spread from the phone line outward, surrounding us and weaving through the woods. Even the sound of the rushing waterfall was blocked by it. I placed a hand on Nash’s shoulder, and he shook my touch away. The gesture stung, but I let it go because I knew he was hurting.
He was in pain.
“No. She’s not gone. She can’t be. I just talked to her. Earlier. Like, hours ago.” Nash’s words were frantic. His expression twisted into one of confusion, and his eyes blazed bright with his bear. I knew it was because neither of them could process what Liam had said.
Neither of them wanted to believe.
I placed my hand on his shoulder again, wanting to let him know I was here with him. That he wasn’t alone. Again, he shook off my touch. This time when he looked at me, anger burned through his eyes. It stung because I could tell it was directed at me. It seared deep into my soul and my breath caught in my throat as I pulled my hand away.
Nash had never looked at me like that before.
I knew then that this was something neither of us were ready to go through, that it was something I wasn’t exactly sure our relationship would survive. Call it a premonition or basic gut instinct, but I knew right then that this would be the beginning of our end.
Nash would always look at me differently from here on out. He wouldn’t remember the beauty of the moment we’d shared before his world fell apart. Instead, all he would remember was the pain of losing his mom.
It would overshadow everything. It would overshadow us.
I slid my shirt over my head as Nash hung up with Liam. He remained where he was, frozen and unblinking. I could see that his life had split in half right before me. He would never be able to go back to who he’d been before that phone call, but he couldn’t handle who he was after either.
I pulled my knees to my chest and stared at him, wondering what I should do—what I should say—to comfort him. It was all I could think about—it was all my bear could think about.
How could we make him hurt less?
We both knew there was nothing we could do. There was no point in asking if he was all right either because clearly he wasn’t. Who would be after receiving news like he had? I didn’t want to touch him again because I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it if he shook my touch off for a third time or if he glanced at me with harsh hatred reflected in his eyes again. So, I sat there, feeling as though I was on eggshells, waiting for him to speak, to move, to do something.
Time ticked away. Night turned morning. And neither of us moved. We remained where we were… whole but broken.
Chapter Five
Emotions I thought I’d scratched onto blank canvases and sold to become someone else’s burden were still with me. They were still there. Clearly, they always had been.
All it had taken was one look at Nash for everything to come rushing back.
I ripped at the ground, pulling up handfuls of weeds and tossing them into the bin Gran had set out for us. A thorn from something pierced my skin and I jerked my hand back, cursing under my breath.
“The ground is biting back at you for being so angry,” Gran said from the next row over. “Maybe you should simmer down some.”
“I’m fine,” I snapped.
“Really? You don’t seem fine,” she said, shifting to look at me. I could feel her eyes on me. “You still feel something for him. It’s nothing to beat yourself up about.”
I froze. “You’re right. I do still feel something for him—anger, and lots of it.” I glanced at her. Her lips were twisted into the knowing smirk she always gave me when she
