His jaw works. "Goes away, once there's nothing to see. Once you're just a swim-team girl who has nothing to do with me." He looks at me, and there's something raw under the cold, something that costs him. "That's how I keep you safe, Anna. By making sure you're not mine to take."
The words land strange in my chest, mine to take, and the pull goes tight and hot, and I have to look away from him and out at the black water to keep my face from doing something I'd regret.
"That's a terrible plan," I say.
"It's the only one I've got."
"It's terrible because it's already too late." I stop walking. He takes another step, then stops too, a few feet ahead, and turns back to me in the dark. "You can't un-ring the bell, Evan. They already think I matter. Me disappearing from your life doesn't er
