He shakes his head. “The second you stepped foot in that building, you sealed your fate.” Nero moves to my dresser and pulls open the top drawer. Finding it already empty he moves to the next, then scoops the t-shirts out in a pile and drops them into my duffel bag. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to do it, Payton.” He growls the words.
Nero sounds so hurt. Acting on instinct, I wrap the blanket around myself and go to him. “You didn’t want to do what?”
His back is to me, so it’s easy for me to see his shoulders bunch, and his head fall forward. It’s a stance I know well. It’s shame.
“I didn’t want to touch her. Putting my hand on her hip like that, so you’d see it…” He takes a deep breath. “I knew how much it would hurt you.”
The feelings of that moment float back into my chest, and I
