“I don’t like it.”
“It doesn’t matter. Once I’m all better and they’re not worried about any other head injuries, I’m good to go.” She reached out to touch his hand, but he pulled away. “What’s going on, Noah? You’re scaring me.”
He was silent for so long that she didn’t think he was going to say or do anything, then he looked up. “My dad got a promotion.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yes. A promotion. It means more money, less worries, but it also means moving.”
“Moving?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
“Out of town.”
“How long have you known?” she asked.
“About three hours.”
“Did you even know he was going for a promotion?”
“Not a clue. I don’t even know when it started or what happened. He’s taking it,” Noah said.
“You’re leaving town?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, that’s a big thing.”
“A very big thing.”
“Congratulations.”
“I don’t want to leave you, Skye.”
“Noah, don’t, okay? You don’t owe me anything.” Inside, her heart was breaking. She wanted him to leave so she could fall apart without him know or seeing. This was killing her. He was the only person who knew what happened. The only person who could understand her pain.
“I don’t want to leave you.” He touched her hand, and she pulled away.
“We shared something horrible together. I get it, I do, but it’s over. We’re finished with that part of things, and this is a good thing, Noah. You’ll go and live your life far away from here. It’s good.”
He rested his hand on her leg. “And if I don’t go?”
“Noah, you’ve got to go. This promotion is a big deal. Before we were taken, stolen, kidnapped, whatever you want to call it, we weren’t even friends. I helped tutor you. That’s all. We were nothing, and we’ll go back to being nothing. It’s not a big deal. Not even a smidge.”
She saw his jaw clench.
“Nothing, huh? That’s how you see what we went through?”
“No, I see that as something that will forever change my life,” she said. “But I don’t want it to be the only thing that happened to me.” She felt tears fill her eyes as she looked at him. “I’ll never forget what happened, but I don’t want what we had to be the only thing I experience. I can’t … Noah, I didn’t want you to be my first.” She gritted her teeth.
“I know,” he said.
“We’re different because of what happened. Please, don’t stay for me. Don’t be someone for me. Just live your life. I forgive you.”
“Skye, right now, I really fucking hate you. I don’t deserve your forgiveness or anything.” She saw the tears filling his eyes, and it broke her heart. “I didn’t want to rape you. I didn’t want to be taken, or share a room with you, or do any of that, but I fell in love with you.”