River’s End

let go, you’ll break to pieces.”
    “I can still see it. I can still see it. Him kneeling beside her, the blood and broken glass. The scissors in his hand. He said my name, he said my name in my father’s voice. I’d heard her scream, I’d heard it. Her scream, breaking glass. That’s what woke me up. But I went into her room and played with her bottles. I was playing in her room when he was killing her. Then I ran away and never saw her again. They never let me see her again.”
    There was nothing he could say; there was no comfort in words. He held her, stroking her hair while the sun left the sky and sent the light to gloaming.
    “I never saw either of them again. We never talked of them in our house. My grandmother locked them in a chest in the attic to save her heart. And I spoke of her secretly to Aunt Jamie and felt like a thief for stealing the pieces of my mother she could give me. I hated him for that, for making me have to steal my mother back in secret whispers. I wanted him to die in prison, alone and forgotten. But he’s still alive. And I still remember.”
    He pressed his lips to her hair, rocking her as she wept. The hot tears dampening his shirt relieved him. However much they cost her to shed, she’d be better for them. He swung her legs over, drawing her into his lap to cradle her there like a child until she went lax and silent.
    Her head ached like a fresh wound, and her eyes burned. The fatigue was suddenly so great she would have stumbled into sleep if she hadn’t held herself back. But the raw churning in her stomach had ceased, and the agonizing pressure in her chest was gone.
    Tired and embarrassed, she pulled back from him. “I need some water.”
    “I’ll get it.” He shifted her aside to get up and fetch a bottle. When he came back, he crouched in front of her, then brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “You look worn out.”
    “I never cry. It’s useless.” She uncapped the bottle, drank deep to ease her dry throat. “The last time I cried was because of you.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “I was so hurt and angry when I found out why you’d really come. After I made you leave, I cried for the first time since I was a child. You had no idea what I’d let myself feel about you in those two days.’“
    “Yes, I did,” he murmured. “It scared me. Nearly as much as what I felt for you scared me.”
    When she started to get up, he simply planted his hands on her thighs, locked his gaze to hers and held her in place. “What? You don’t want to hear about it?”
    “It was a long time ago.”
    “Not so long, but maybe just long enough. It’s a good thing you booted me out, Liv. We were both too young for what I wanted from you then. Both parts of what I wanted.”
    “You’re getting your book now,” she said evenly. “And we’re acting on the attraction. So I guess we’re both finally grown-up.”
    He moved fast, stunning her when he dragged her to her feet, nearly lifted her off them. His eyes had gone sharp, like the keen edge of a blade. “You think all I want from you is the book and sex? Goddamn it, is that what you think or is that what you choose to think? That way, you don’t have to give too much back or take any real risks.”
    “You think baring my soul to you about my parents isn’t a risk?” She shoved him back, hard. “You think knowing anyone with the price and the interest will buy my memories and feelings isn’t a risk?”
    “Then why are you doing it?”
    “Because it’s time.” She pushed her hair back from her damp cheeks. “You were right about that. Does that satisfy you? You were right. I need to say it, to get it out, and maybe somewhere in your damn book I’ll see why it had to happen. Then I can bury them both.”
    “Okay.” He nodded. “That covers that part. What about the rest? What about you and me?”
    “What about it?” she shot back. “We had a few sparks some years ago and decided to act on them now.”
    “And that’s it for you? A few sparks?”
    She stepped back as he moved in. “Don’t crowd me.”
    “I haven’t even started crowding you. That’s your problem, Liv, never letting anyone get quite close enough to share your space. I want your body, fine if you’re in the mood, but everything else is off-limits. That doesn’t work for me. Not with you.”
    “That’s your problem.”
    “Damn right.” He grabbed her arm, spinning her back when she turned. “And it’s yours, too. I have