Chapter 13

In the blink of aneye.

It was always just a phrase to me beforenow.

I’m going faster than I should down the mountain. Only another few minutes and I’ll be at the rental hut. I think. Everything is blurrier than usual, thanks to the tears. This is how I’ve been living my life—a little blurry—only I didn’t realize it until the optometrist clicked those slides into place so I could see the letters on thewall.

There’s a minor scrape on my leg where I grazed a tree about a quarter mile back. But I’m not stopping to bandage it now. I just want to get away. Away from the possibilities that aren’t possibilities anymore. It hurts toomuch.

Everything hurts too much. My head aches, my chest burns.

The farther I get from Rex, the more I start to wonder if I’m doing the right thing, though. Rex is probably flipping tables, Real Housewives style. And while I enjoy him punishing me after a tantrum, this is nothing like those times. For one, I’m leaving him, not trying to get sex. Two, I’ve been built for our unique kind of relationship, but maybe Rex needs more time before he’s comfortable being unapologetically…us.

I…did blacken everything in their world.

Rex’s words drift back to me from this morning at the lake and my feet slow their peddling. It couldn’t have been easy for Rex to bring me into a room full of people and have them stare so rudely at me. Treat me like some kind of freak. No, he would have felt terrible. He would have taken all the blame, too, even though I’ve been pursuing him. Even though I came here with the intention of seducing him. Lied to him since the very beginning about who I am, just so he’d touchme.

He tried to stay away because he’s my step-uncle. He didn’t want to blacken me and my reputation. But we went there. Went there and took it a step further, becoming something even more controversial. Something we’ve barely begun to explore. And it all happened before Rex even got over my status as his step-niece. At the first sign of people disapproving, he saw me being ostracized right in front of his eyes. I shouldn’t have left. I should have assured him of one true fact—a fact that will always hold true. Being an outsider doesn’t bother me. It’s who Iam.

All I’ve ever wanted was to feel safe. He gives me that in spades. He’s also helped me see the clear picture of where my fantasies have always been guiding me. But I expected too much too soon. I owe him time to get used to being on the fringe with me. It’s where I live. It’s where I’m comfortable.

All I need with me is Rex. I loveRex.

My lips spread into a smile and I hit the brakes…but I’m on too steep of a decline now and it doesn’t stop. The skidding sound screams in my ears. A sixteen-wheeler comes flying around thebend.

It all happens in the blink of aneye.