Chapter 11 Rose
I awake in darkness with a cool hand pressed to my pounding forehead. A stifled groan leaves my throat and Parker mutters something, pulling his hand away.
I roll onto my side, and my stomach churns. Why do I have no memory of returning home from the bar? I bite the inside of my cheek, tasting copper.
“Parker?” I whisper. I push myself up and flick the light switch beside my bed. Light fills the room and I flinch, drawing my hand up to shield my face. Parker’s sitting on the floor, back resting against the desk, and his head in his hands. “Parker?” I repeat.
He raises his head, and hollow, bloodshot eyes stare back at me.
My throat constricts. “What is it?”
“There’s no way she’s going to help us now,” he mutters.
“What do you mean? What happened?” I groan. “What did you do?” I demand, and I’m hit with a flashback of Ella edging away from me, her eyes wide and shoulders tight. I suck in a sharp breath. “How much damage have I done?”
“Do you mean when you went mentally AWOL in the bathroom?” He lets out a sober laugh. “I think me calling her crazy and yelling at her to get out did more damage.”
I rub the bridge of my nose. “Wait, what? Why did you yell at her?”
“She was helping me get you home and saw her class schedule on the table. She started asking questions. I panicked. I didn’t know what to say.”
I clutch my head, still aching like I’ve been sucker punched. “Couldn’t you have made something up?”
He gets up, lies on his bed and stares at the ceiling.
My pulse booms in my ears. “Parker?”
“I won’t lie to her,” he says.
I grit my teeth. We’ve spent the past two weeks arguing about the best way to approach Ella but have yet to agree on anything. My patience is wavering. “What’s your plan, then?”
“We tell her the truth,” he says, as if it’s obvious.
“We’ve been over this. Why do you want to tell her things that will scare her? Besides, it’s not lying if we choose to leave certain things out.”
“Yes, it is,” he says, hands clenched by his side.
“No. It isn’t. Can’t you see I’m protecting her?
” I hack at my nails. It’s obvious he’s blinded by his feelings for Ella.
“There’s no other way.” I whip my head toward him.
“I can’t stop blacking out and slipping into my memories, which means it’s only a matter of time before I lose my hold on you.
” I square my shoulders and look him dead in the eye.
“Either you want to live and we do it my way, or we split and you’re on your own. Which is it?”
Parker glares at me. “I won’t lie to—”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time,” I snap. “You won’t lie to her.”
But I will.