Beg You to Trust Me (Lindon U #2)(104)

“Wait! Skylar.”

An arm hooks around my waist and I’m jerked to a halt before a bigger body is blocking my path.

“Hold up, baby.”

His eyes burn into my face and beg me to look at him. When I do, there’s something fearful in his gaze.

“You need to tell me what you’re thinking,” he pleads, swiping at my cheeks. I didn’t realize they were damp until then. “I know what you must think, but you know it wasn’t me. It couldn’t have been. I was there, but I slept downstairs in the basement. Please believe me.”

My mouth opens, then closes a few seconds later like I’m unable to truly gather the words needed to respond.

Danny shakes his head, his eyes going between me and the house. I hear people’s voices behind us gathering at the front door of the house.

“I didn’t know anyone used my room,” he tries explaining. “We don’t keep things locked up as well as we should. The guys…it could have been anyone. Wallace—”

“Stop,” I finally force out, not wanting to hear that name in this conversation.

“I’m trying to explain—”

“I don’t want you to! What does he have to do with this?”

“You know it wasn’t me. Tell me you know that, Sky. We’ve been over this. We’ve talked about—”

“Just stop! Stop.” I brush off his hands and back away, shaky hands going to my hair. “We’ve barely ‘been over’ anything. I need to think. You need to let me think.”

“What is there to think about?” he demands, getting back in my way and forcing me to look at him. “Blondie, I’m right here. We need to talk this out. Don’t shut me out again. Not this time. This is too important.”

Too many thoughts circulate.

About hands.

Voices.

Scents.

Why can’t I see the full picture? It’s blurry. The face. The body it belongs to. It’s there but it’s not. At the tip of my tongue—the edge of my mind.

So close, but so far away.

Those hands reach out to me again, but I bat them away because I can’t be touched right now. By him. By anyone.

Danny doesn’t give up. “What do I need to do? Do you want me to get on my knees and beg?” He does just that, dropping to his knees and looking up at me with pleading eyes. He doesn’t care about the audience watching my turmoil unravel before them. His blue eyes cloud with devastation as if my decision will determine just how much these past few months with him meant to me. If they were real or not.

Deep down I know it couldn’t have been him. I know it in my bones—in my soul. But I’m too flustered, too angry to let him know that.

“I’m doing it, Skylar.” He throws his hands up. “I’m begging you. I beg you to trust me. I beg you to believe that I would never lie to you. I wouldn’t hurt you. I’ll do anything to prove it. Fucking anything.”

The words that leave my mouth crack me wide open—heart and all. Exposing every vulnerable piece of me.

“It’s too much right now,” I tell him in a shattered tone. “You and I have been rocky from day one. This makes it…” I lick my lips and shake my head. “I don’t know where we stand. You wouldn’t even let me tell you what I wanted to earlier before jumping to conclusions. This? Showing you the room? It meant something. It still does. But it’s your room and I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Baby.” His voice is weak. “You know you can trust me. You know that.”

“I told Olive,” I whisper. “That’s what I was trying to tell you at the bakery. I opened up to her like you told me to. I wanted you to be proud of me.”

His eyes widen. “I am. That’s…shit, Skylar. I’m so damn proud. Let’s go back inside and figure this out.”

I shake my head again. “No.”

“Blondie—”

“Don’t you see, Danny? I’m broken. Somebody broke me in that room. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. Because the only thing I can be certain of is that what happened in there makes me weak. Messed up. What if I can’t trust?”

He reaches up and squeezes my hand. “I don’t believe that for a second. You’ve already trusted me. We wouldn’t have done what we did in Boston otherwise. You know that. And I promise that I’ll get to the bottom of this. That’s why I was so busy. That’s why I wasn’t trying harder to see you. I gave you space, tried to use my time to figure out what Wallace was up to so I could—”

“Why do you keep saying his name?”

Danny stares at me. “Skylar…”

“Why?” I croak.

When I can’t stand the way he watches me, I look away. His hand slips from mine. “Why do you get worked up when I say his name? If you know something—”

My fists clench at my sides. “Maybe you’re trying to fit the wrong puzzle pieces together for your own reasons,” I snap, stepping away from him.

“Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds? I’m trying to help you. That’s all.”

“If you want to help then leave me alone to process this.” I blink back the onslaught of tears that blur his image on the ground in front of me. “I just need you to leave me alone for now.”