Page 24 of The Complete Truth Duet
Lisa’s face.
Lisa’s blood.
Lisa’s cries.
And then…
Cora’s face.
Cora’s desperation.
Cora’s pleas.
My failures.
My failures.
My failures.
Just as another wave of nausea tore through me, I heard the door crack open and then quickly close. Seconds later, I felt a towel being draped around my shoulders. His knees cracked as he dropped into a squat beside me.
“It wasn’t her.”
“I know,” I choked out, using the back of my arm to wipe the sweat off my forehead.
“Do you? Cora said you called her Lisa.”
Fuck.
Bile rose in my throat, and I leaned deeper into the trash can, ready for another seizure in my stomach. “Yeah. Sorry ’bout that.”
His hand landed on the back of my neck in what I assumed was supposed to be comfort, but it felt as though it singed my skin. “Penn, man. It wasn’t her.”
When my gut ended its revolt, I settled on my ass with my back to the wall. “I fucking know it wasn’t her. I was actually there for the woman tonight. Lot of good that did.”
His jaw snapped shut, which was quite possibly the smartest thing Drew could have done. I’d listened to the it wasn’t your fault bullshit too many times. The last had been the day before he’d gone to jail. It had ended in blows.
Using the edge of the towel, I wiped my mouth. “What the hell is wrong with this place?”
“I warned you it was a different world,” he replied, dropping beside me to his ass.
“A different world?” I scoffed. “This is a whole other planet.” I raked a hand through my hair. “For fuck’s sake, we’ve not even been here twenty-four hours and we’ve got teenage addicts hiding from pimps who sexually abused them, women slicing their wrists, corrupt cops trying to get their dicks sucked. Don’t even get me started on those EMTs. If I wasn’t a hundred percent positive that the girl was already dead, I’d have killed them both on the spot. Swear to god, Drew, one of them winked at Cora when he strolled in with all the urgency of a slug.”
With a sigh, he lowered his chin to his chest. “That’s another thing. We need to talk about Cora.”
“Oh, no. We are not fucking talking about her.”
He gave a low whistle and shook his head. “The way she looks at you?”
Oh, I’d seen it. And I’d give anything to be able to forget it.
She looked at me like I was a hero.
Like I was some sort of savior sent from above.
Like I could possibly drag her from the pits of hell.
I couldn’t even save myself and she thought I could save her?
And, fucking worse, I wanted to.
But I wasn’t that man.
At least not for her.
“I don’t care how she looks at me,” I lied.
“You should. Because after you pulled the damaged-white-knight routine tonight, I don’t have a shot in hell at getting in there.”
I blinked at him, in an honest-to-God stupor. “You’re kidding me, right? I ruined your game by trying to help that dying woman?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m just sayin—”
I shot to my feet. “Nothing. You’re saying nothing.”
I was marching down the hall, desperate for space, when he stopped me in my tracks.
“She’s under your skin and it’s freaking you out.”
It was the most shockingly accurate thing he had ever said, even if it did confuse the hell out of me. But admitting that I was copping a case of the feels for the broken, brave, and beautiful Cora fucking Guerrero was a whole lot like accepting it. And that just wasn’t going to happen.
Planting my hands on my hips, I wheeled around. “Fuck off, Dr. Phil. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“That why you were hovering all around her when I showed up tonight? Standing guard at her door like some kind of sentinel? For fuck’s sake, Penn. You’re covered in blood, but I couldn’t drag you out of there until you knew she was okay.”
“Excuse me for being a decent guy.”
His face took on the strangest expression. “You know it would be okay if you did want her.”
A searing blaze of pain hit me in the chest. “The hell it would be okay!”
“Lisa’s been gone for four years.”
“Yeah, I’m well aware of that.”
He shrugged. “Who knows. Cora seems to have the Mother Teresa thing down pat. Maybe she could rub a little of that on you.”
Rage built within me. “And then what? She and I just ride into the sunset while Lisa sits buried six feet under? Have you forgotten everything we’ve worked for?”
“I’ve forgotten nothing!” he boomed. His body became taut as he let out a frustrated growl, yanking at the top of his short hair. “Fuck. Fucking fuck.”
I stood there with my chest heaving, watching his meltdown. God knew he’d watched enough of mine. He paced a path in the floor, kicking anything he came into contact with. The couch. The stool. His duffel of clothes. Everything was fair game.
