Page 71 of If You Were Mine (After We Fall 3)
“Yes.”
I stood there, momentarily struck dumb. I had no idea what to do.
“Can I come closer?” he asked.
“I guess,” I said cautiously, twisting my fingers together at my waist.
He closed the distance between us until we were nearly chest to chest. His eyes were sincere, his tone solemn. “I’m sorry I walked out like that the last time I saw you. I never should have treated you that way.”
“Why did you?”
“Because I panicked. I’d convinced myself that what we were doing was just a temporary thing—I wasn’t going to stay in your life. That meant I didn’t have to tell you things about myself I don’t like sharing.”
“Like what?” I gasped. “Oh God, you have a wife.”
His forehead wrinkled. “What? No. I don’t have a wife.”
“Then what is it?”
“Well, lots of things.”
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I tapped my bare foot. “I’m listening.”
“I’ve fucked up every good thing in my life by giving up on it. Running away from it.”
“And?”
“And the reason I don’t let anyone get close to me is because I know I’ll disappoint them.”
Something tugged at my heart, but I did my best to ignore it. “And?”
“And there are things in my past I’m not proud of.”
“Such as?”
He looked me right in the eye. “Nine years ago, I was convicted of a felony and served a year in prison for it.”
It was as if he’d punched me. A solid blow right to the gut. “What?” What was a felony? Was that like…murder? I backed away from him a little. “What did you do?”
“Stole a car,” he said matter-of-factly, his face grave. “It was a stupid, fucked-up, drunken night with friends that got out of control. I’m ashamed of it, and I hate talking about it, but I can’t change it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked. My mind was reeling. How did I feel about all this? What else was he hiding? No wonder he’d been so reluctant to talk about himself! But I sympathized too—he was revealing some deeply personal fears and feelings. That took a lot of guts.
Theo put his hands in his jacket pockets. “I didn’t think I needed to. We’d just met, and that’s something I don’t put out there right away.”
I guess I understood that, but still. “What about after that? What about the night you came back? What about the entire next day we spent together?”
“I could have done it then,” he admitted, “but I didn’t see the point.”
“The point was that I trusted you, and you didn’t trust me!” I yelled, pointing at his chest and then mine.
He grimaced. “You’re right. And deep down, I know that part of the reason I didn’t tell you was because of that trust you had in me. The way you looked at me, I…” He shook his head and shrugged helplessly. “No one’s ever looked at me that way before. And it made me feel so good. I didn’t want to give that up.”
“You thought I wouldn’t trust you after that?”
“Yeah. I mean, why should you?”
