Page 41 of When You Stayed
Ford held his hand out, tilting it to see how puffy and red his knuckles were. “What the hell was what?”
“Ford, you literally almost killed someone because they were a little?—”
Twisting his neck and emanating a hiss, he cut me off. “Don’t you dare try and downplay what he did to you. I had to sit there and watch while your face distorted in fear and you know what, Rose?”
He stepped closer, breathing hard. I backed up, knowing his question was rhetorical.
“That look on your face wasn’t shock, it was knowing.”
“Knowing? What are you talking about?” I let my chin fall, but he caught it.
Searching my face, he continued. “You knew what was about to happen next, and you knew that because it’s happened before. So, you’re going to tell me who else has touched you the way that fucker touched you, and how frequently it has happened.”
Oh my God. He was going to go on a murder spree.
I pushed past him, crossing my arms. “That’s kind of you to care, Ford, but it’s really none of your business.”
“You are my business, Rose. You havealwaysbeen my business.”
I scoffed, rubbing my forehead. Was he honestly serious with this routine? “You have barely glanced in my direction in years, Ford. Fuck, before that. Since we were kids. I honestly thought you forgot who I was at one point.”
“Ever wonder why?” he asked with a bit of gravel caught in his throat. I’d almost consider it emotion, but I wouldn’t dare assume that Ford Ryan had a heart.
“Of course I wondered why. You kissed my cheek when I was nine, and then you ignored me for years, until…” I recalled the dashed pieces of hope in his expression when he’d held that Christmas card out to me.
“Until you made fun of me and my attempt at peace.”
That was rich. Fucking gold, coming from him. “Your attempt at peace, Ford?”
He didn’t move, just stood there, barely a foot away, the scent of his cologne and the leather from his cut filled my lungs. I secretly loved that his smell was so familiar and felt like home.
“You had been cruel to me earlier that week. Why would I suddenly assume you wanted peace?”
His poker face seemed to slip as sorrow etched away the hard edges along his eyes and jaw. “Because I caught every single stare you sent my way, Rose. Every time you came over to see Ellie but slept in the hall near my door. The times you waited in my treehouse and lingered in all my spaces.”
“You were a childhood friend.” My arms came up again, folding over my chest.
With a smile, he added, “You had a crush on me.”
Mortification thrummed through me. “So what?”
A small flutter of his lashes revealed a flash of panic. “So, I expected you to know that I had the same feelings for you.”
My mouth parted, but Ford suddenly stepped back and ran his hand through his hair.
“Don’t worry, Rose. It’s long passed.”
Why did hearing that create such a painful ache in my stomach? It rolled along a wave of rage that had suddenly burst inside of me and came sputtering out in a horrific accusation.
“You’re lying.”
His derision grated along my soul, making it flip and erode. “If I still had a crush on you, Royce, trust me, you would know about it.”
My anger was a violent thing in my veins. It burned and pinched in a way that I hadn’t ever experienced. Which was why I goaded him further. “Really, how?”
His lips curved maliciously, but his gaze was still soft, too soft for how cruel he was being. I knew his next words would be a proverbial fist, crushing my heart into ash. Yet I stood there, listening anyway.
“Because I would do something about it, Royce.”
