I look at how the silver shines. These earrings aren’t like the pendant—they lack the same weight and age. “So you made these?”
Drew nods sadly. “I did. I only wish they were the originals.”
“They’re beautiful.” I have to say it, because it’s true.
Drew leans in, but before he can say anything else, I feel a heavy sense of foreboding. I look up through the window in the practice-room door and see Griffon standing in the hallway staring at the two of us.
“Damn.” I pull myself away from Drew, and yank the door open. Griffon doesn’t move, just looks at me with a question in his eyes.
“Hey,” I say, trying to play this off like it’s nothing. “I was waiting for you.”
Griffon nods toward the practice room. “Who’s that?” No way is he going to let this go.
I gesture vaguely in that direction. I feel like I’m walking on the edge of a very sharp knife. One wrong move and it’s going to be bad. “Nobody. Just someone that Kat used to work with.” I grab his hand and try to lead him to the door, but he won’t budge.
“If he’s nobody, then what’s that in your hand?”
I look down and see that I’m still holding the little black box. I don’t dare look behind me to see if Drew is still standing there. “Uh, some earrings. He’s a jewelry designer and he was showing them to me.”
Griffon folds his arms across his chest and looks right into my eyes. “I thought you agreed to tell me the truth from now on. No more hiding things. I’m going to ask one more time. Who is that?”
My breath gets shallow and I feel my heart racing. There’s no going back now—I have to tell him the truth. “His name is Drew.”
Griffon waits without speaking, calm on the outside, but even from here I can feel how upset he is.
I force myself to look in his eyes so that he can see I’m not lying about the rest of it. “Before . . . a long time before . . . his name was Connor. Connor Wyatt.”
He seems to lose all color in his face as the name sinks in. After that lifetime he must have done research on Lady Allison, because he knows exactly who Connor was. “Lord Connor Wyatt?” He glances back over my shoulder. “Are you sure?”
I press my lips together hard; the uncertainty of his reaction is killing me. I can only nod.
“I’m out of here,” Griffon says suddenly, turning and walking quickly down the hallway.
I catch him as he reaches the outside door. “Griffon, stop, please! Let me explain!”
One hand on the door, he straightens his back and turns toward me. The look on his face is devastating. His eyes are hard, as if he’s made a crucial decision in the few moments since he heard the truth. “There’s nothing to explain. I get it. You have unfinished business with . . . with him. I can’t compete with that.”
“Come on, you’re being ridiculous.” I feel suddenly hot all over, like I’m going to be sick. “There’s nothing between me and Drew. You’ve got to believe that.” I reach for his arm to lead him outside, but Griffon shakes me off. “Please,” I say. “Let’s go outside and talk about this.”
Griffon looks at the ground. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“It’s not like that.” I feel desperation rising as I open the door. “Please. Just come outside.”
Griffon grunts, but follows me. The sound of cars whizzing by on the busy street calms me just the slightest bit. “Drew’s engaged to Kat’s boss.” I take a deep breath and start again, knowing this isn’t coming out the way I want it. My voice drops to a whisper. “He . . . he was explaining some things that I’m starting to remember.”
Something shifts in Griffon’s eyes, and I feel a jolt of hope running through me. He wants to believe me. He reaches over and lightly runs his finger over my ankh. “He gave you that, didn’t he?”
I force myself to answer. “Yes. And he just wanted to give me the earrings that go with it.”
I can barely hear him as he whispers, “What else does he want from you?”
“Nothing! It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be with him, no matter what our relationship was before. I want to be with you. I love you.”
Griffon blinks slowly and his nostrils flare as he considers my words. “I’m not ready to do this again, Cole.”
“What do you mean again?” My words rush out as I try to keep him here. I can feel him pulling away, retreating from me. “There hasn’t been anyone else.”
“I don’t mean with you.” His tone is dismissive, and I feel everything deflate. “I’ve done this before, and I swore I’d never do it again. If . . .” He pauses and glances at me just for a second. “If you have a history with him, something you have to finish in this lifetime, I can’t stand in the way of that. I won’t stand in the way of that. Not this time.”
In a rush I realize that so much of what he’s reacting to has nothing to do with me or our relationship in this lifetime. It’s all about the pain he’s carried through many lifetimes. “What happened in your past has nothing to do with us,” I say. I can hear the pleading in my voice, but I can’t do anything about it. “This is about you and me. Here and now.”
Griffon waves my words away, but the look of pain on his face is unmistakable. “This isn’t about my past. It’s about yours. I can’t—I won’t compete with a ghost.”
“How can I make you understand that I’m not interested in Drew?” It feels like there are miles between us, like he’s someone I don’t even know.
The door to the studio opens and Drew walks out. His eyes flick to Griffon, but then settle on me. “Everything okay?”
“Just go away!” I shout. I thrust the earrings back into his hands. “You’ve done enough.”
Time seems suspended as Griffon looks from me to Drew and back again, his hands clenched into tight fists as he slowly takes a step back. His face is a mask, and I’m so far away I can’t read any emotions. After what seems like an eternity, he turns to me. “I’m going to do you a favor and walk away.”
I grab for his hand as he turns to walk down the sidewalk, but he’s already out of reach.
“You can’t go!” I shout, but I’m already talking to his back. “Not now. Please!”
“Think of it this way,” he says, glancing over his shoulder. “I’m making your decision a hell of a lot easier.”
Ten
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kat asks, looking over her shoulder for traffic.
“I have to. He won’t answer my calls, and I have to talk to him. He just needs some time to realize that he made a mistake. That’s all.” Just turning down Griffon’s street makes my stomach churn. I check my phone one more time on the off chance he’s answered one of the texts I’ve sent since yesterday, but the only thing on the screen is the picture of Rayne and me that’s been my screensaver for months. I stare at the houses going by, steeling myself for the first glimpse of his.
Rayne leans forward from the backseat. “Peter’s been no help at all. He says this is between the two of you.” She squeezes my shoulder for support. “Sorry.”
“Guys are like that,” Kat says. She glances at me as she drives. “I hate to say this, but maybe it’s for the best, you know? You two seem to argue a lot.” I don’t blame her for thinking this, because I couldn’t tell her what had happened the last time, that I’d found out that he was the one who had executed me back then—all she knew was that we’d had a fight.
“It’s not for the best,” I say. “This is all just a misunderstanding.”
“I don’t know why you won’t tell me what it was about this time,” she says. “Maybe I can help.”
“I told you, it’s no big deal.” If Kat even got the smallest hint that Griffon broke up with me because he found me with Drew, she’d go ballistic. I had just finally gotten her to stop thinking I had a thing for him. This kind of information would send her over the edge. I point out the front window. “It’s that one there. The one with the brown shingles.”