Coming Home(60)

He smiled softly. “I figured we could just be friends, you know?” His voice was low and throaty as he added, “No harm in that, right?” He shook his head as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes before running them up through his hair. His eyes flew open, but they were bleary and unfocused. “But every time I talk to you, I like you more and more, and every time I see you….it’s so f*cking hard, Leah.”

She sat there, unmoving, her fingers poised over one of the buttons as she tried to make sense of his words.

“And that kiss,” he said, covering his face with both hands as he groaned. “My God, that f*cking kiss.”

Her heart was thundering in her chest now; there were a million questions she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t formulate them into words.

“And I can’t see you,” he said firmly, dropping his hands to the bed as he shook his head. “I can’t. It’s not fair to you. Shit, it’s not even fair to me.”

Why? Why isn’t it fair?

But the words wouldn’t come.

“I just wish…God, I wish…” He trailed off as what could only be described as agony clouded his expression, and Leah felt a lump form in her throat.

“Shh,” she said, leaning over to run her hand through his hair, and his eyes fell closed. “Just close your eyes. You’re okay. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

She sat there for a minute, gently running her hand through his hair until his brow smoothed out and his body relaxed.

Her mind was reeling; none of what he’d said made any sense, and yet she knew he had just given her a huge piece of the puzzle that was him. She just needed to sit down and piece it together.

But not now. Right now, she just wanted to go home.

Leah brought her hands back to his shirt, undoing the remaining buttons before gently sliding it off his body and draping it over the chair with his pants. He was wearing a fitted white V-neck shirt underneath the button-down, and she left it on, figuring that was about as comfortable as he was going to get.

Water. Get him some water.

She made her way through the living room and over to the tiny kitchen, opening his fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. As she walked back to his room, she stopped in the bathroom and grabbed the small wastebasket.

He was sitting up when she entered, his face contorted in sadness as he stared without seeing at the wall in front of him.

“Hey,” Leah said softly as she sat on the bed beside him.

He didn’t move.

“Hey,” she said again, bringing her hand to his face and turning him toward her. It took his eyes a second to focus on her, and when they did, he smiled sadly. He reached up and took the end of her hair between his fingertips.

“You’re gonna leave,” he whispered.

His words made her chest feel heavy, and Leah closed her eyes, needing a break from the intensity of the night. She had no idea why she was responding so viscerally to his suffering, but in that moment, all she wanted to do was take it away for him.

“No, I won’t,” she said softly. “I’ll stay here if you want me to.”

Danny shook his head as his eyes dropped to watch his fingers twirling a strand of her hair. “You’re gonna leave and never look back.”

She pulled her brow together, waiting for him to go on, but he simply sat there, running his fingers through the ends of her hair.

Leah brought her hand back to the side of his face, and he lifted his gaze. “I’m gonna stay tonight. I’ll be in the next room if you need me. There’s a pail on the side of the bed,” she said, leaning over and dragging it closer. “And here,” she added, uncapping the bottle of water and holding it out for him.