My eyes fly open.
It’s pitch-black. Quiet. I sit up too fast.
I must’ve fallen asleep. I have no idea what time it is, but a quick glance around the room tells me Warner isn’t here.
I slip out of bed. I’m still wearing socks and I’m suddenly grateful; I have to wrap my arms around myself, shivering as the cold winter air creeps through the thin material of my T-shirt. My hair is still slightly damp from the bath.
Warner’s office door is cracked open.
There’s a sliver of light peeking through the opening, and it makes me wonder if he really forgot to close it, or if maybe he’s only just walked in. Maybe he’s not in there at all. But my curiosity beats out my conscience this time.
I want to know where he works and what his desk looks like; I want to know if he’s messy or organized or if he keeps personal items around. I wonder if he has any pictures of himself as a kid.
Or of his mother.
I tiptoe forward, butterflies stirring awake in my stomach. I shouldn’t be nervous, I tell myself. I’m not doing anything illegal. I’m just going to see if he’s in there, and if he’s not, I’ll leave. I’m only going to walk in for a second. I’m not going to search through any of his things.
I’m not.
I hesitate outside his door. It’s so quiet that I’m almost certain my heart is beating loud and hard enough for him to hear. I don’t know why I’m so scared.
I knock twice against the door as I nudge it open. “Aaron, are you—”
Something crashes to the floor.
I push the door open and rush inside, jerking to a stop just as I cross the threshold. Stunned.
His office is enormous.
It’s the size of his entire bedroom and closet combined. Bigger. There’s so much space in here—room enough to house the huge boardroom table and the six chairs stationed on either side of it. There’s a couch and a few side tables set off in the corner, and one wall is made up of nothing but bookshelves. Loaded with books. Bursting with books. Old books and new books and books with spines falling off.
Everything in here is made of dark wood.
Wood so brown it looks black. Clean, straight lines, simple cuts. Nothing is ornate or bulky. No leather. No high-backed chairs or overly detailed woodwork. Minimal.
The boardroom table is stacked with file folders and papers and binders and notebooks. The floor is covered in a thick, plush Oriental rug, similar to the one in his closet. And at the far end of the room is his desk.
Warner is staring at me in shock.
He’s wearing nothing but his slacks and a pair of socks, his shirt and belt discarded. He’s standing in front of his desk, clinging to something in his hands—something I can’t quite see.
“What are you doing here?” he says.
“The door was open.” What a stupid answer. He stares at me.
“What time is it?” I ask.
“One thirty in the morning,” he says automatically. “Oh.”
“You should go back to bed.” I don’t know why he looks so nervous.
Why his eyes keep darting from me to the door. “I’m not tired anymore.”
“Oh.” He fumbles with what I now realize is a small jar in his hands.
Sets it on the desk behind him without turning around.
He’s been so off today, I think. Unlike himself. He’s usually so composed, so self-assured. But recently he’s been so shaky around me. The inconsistency is unnerving.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
There’s about ten feet between us, and neither one of us is making any effort to bridge the gap. We’re talking like we don’t know each other, like
we’re strangers who’ve just found themselves in a compromising situation. Which is ridiculous.
I begin to cross the room, to make my way over to him. He freezes.
I stop.
“Is everything okay?” “Yes,” he says too quickly.
“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to the little plastic jar.
“You should go back to sleep, love. You’re probably more tired than you think—”
I walk right up to him, reach around and grab the jar before he can do much to stop me.
“That is a violation of privacy,” he says sharply, sounding more like himself. “Give that back to me—”
“Medicine?” I ask, surprised. I turn the little jar around in my hands, reading the label. I look up at him. Finally understanding. “This is for scars.”
He runs a hand through his hair. Looks toward the wall. “Yes,” he says. “Now please give it back to me.”
“Do you need help?” I ask. He stills. “What?”
“This is for your back, isn’t it?”
He runs a hand across his mouth, down his chin. “You won’t allow me to walk away from this with even an ounce of self-respect, will you?”
“I didn’t know you cared about your scars,” I say to him. I take a step forward.
He takes a step back. “I don’t.”
“Then why this?” I hold up the jar. “Where did you even get this from?” “It’s nothing—it’s just—” He shakes his head. “Delalieu found it for
me. It’s ridiculous,” he says. “I feel ridiculous.” “Because you can’t reach your own back?” He stares at me then. Sighs.
“Turn around,” I tell him. “No.”
“You’re being weird about nothing. I’ve already seen your scars.” “That doesn’t mean you need to see them again.”
I can’t help but smile a little.
“What?” he demands. “What’s so funny?”
“You just don’t seem like the kind of person who would be self- conscious about something like this.”
“I’m not.” “Obviously.”
“Please,” he says, “just go back to bed.” “I’m wide-awake.”
“That’s not my problem.” “Turn around,” I tell him again. He narrows his eyes at me.
“Why are you even using this stuff?” I ask him for the second time. “You don’t need it. Don’t use it if it makes you uncomfortable.”
He’s quiet a moment. “You don’t think I need it?”
“Of course not. Why … ? Are you in pain? Do your scars hurt?” “Sometimes,” he says quietly. “Not as much as they used to. I actually
can’t feel much of anything on my back anymore.”
Something cold and sharp hits me in the stomach. “Really?” He nods.
“Will you tell me where they came from?” I whisper, unable to meet his eyes.
He’s silent for so long I’m finally forced to look up.
His eyes are dead of emotion, his face set to neutral. He clears his throat. “They were my birthday presents,” he says. “Every year from the time I was five. Until I turned eighteen,” he says. “He didn’t come back for my nineteenth birthday.”
I’m frozen in horror.
“Right.” Warner looks into his hands. “So—” “He cut you?” My voice is so hoarse. “Whip.”
“Oh my God,” I gasp, covering my mouth. I have to look toward the wall to pull myself together. I blink several times, struggle to swallow back the pain and rage building inside of me. “I’m so sorry,” I choke out. “Aaron. I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want you to be repulsed by me,” he says quietly.
I spin around, stunned. Mildly horrified. “You’re not serious.” His eyes say that he is.
“Have you never looked in a mirror?” I ask, angry now. “Excuse me?”
“You’re perfect,” I tell him, so overcome I forget myself. “All of you. Your entire body. Proportionally. Symmetrically. You’re absurdly, mathematically perfect. It doesn’t even make sense that a person could look like you,” I say, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you would ever say something like that—”
“Juliette, please. Don’t talk to me like that.” “What? Why?”
“Because it’s cruel,” he says, losing his composure. “It’s cruel and it’s heartless and you don’t even realize—”
“Aaron—”
“I take it back,” he says. “I don’t want you to call me Aaron anymore
—”
“Aaron,” I say again, more firmly this time. “Please—you can’t really
think you repulse me? You can’t really think I would care—that I would be put off by your scars—”
“I don’t know,” he says. He’s pacing in front of his desk, his eyes fixed on the ground.
“I thought you could sense feelings,” I say to him. “I thought mine would be so obvious to you.”
“I can’t always think clearly,” he says, frustrated, rubbing his face, his forehead. “Especially when my emotions are involved. I can’t always be objective—and sometimes I make assumptions,” he says, “that aren’t true— and I don’t—I just don’t trust my own judgment anymore. Because I’ve done that,” he says, “and it’s backfired. So terribly.”
He looks up, finally. Looks me in the eye. “You’re right,” I whisper.
He looks away.
“You’ve made a lot of mistakes,” I say to him. “You did everything wrong.”
He runs a hand down the length of his face.
“But it’s not too late to fix things—you can make it right—” “Please—”
“It’s not too late—”
“Stop saying that to me!” he explodes. “You don’t know me—you don’t know what I’ve done or what I’d need to do to make things right—”
“Don’t you understand? It doesn’t matter—you can choose to be different now—”
“I thought you weren’t going to try and change me!”
“I’m not trying to change you,” I say, lowering my voice. “I’m just trying to get you to understand that your life isn’t over. You don’t have to be who you’ve been. You can make different choices now. You can be happy
—”
“Juliette.” One sharp word. His green eyes so intense. I stop.
I glance at his trembling hands; he clenches them into fists. “Go,” he says quietly. “I don’t want you to be here right now.”
“Then why did you bring me back with you?” I ask, angry. “If you don’t even want to see me—”
“Why don’t you understand?” He looks up at me and his eyes are so full of pain and devastation it actually takes my breath away.
My hands are shaking. “Understand what—?” “I love you.”
He breaks.
His voice. His back. His knees. His face. He breaks.
He has to hold on to the side of his desk. He can’t meet my eyes. “I love you,” he says, his words harsh and soft all at once. “I love you and it isn’t enough. I thought it would be enough and I was wrong. I thought I could fight for you and I was wrong. Because I can’t. I can’t even face you anymore—”
“Aaron—”
“Tell me it isn’t true,” he says. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’m blind.
Tell me you love me.”
My heart won’t stop screaming as it breaks in half. I can’t lie to him.
“I don’t—I don’t know how to understand what I feel,” I try to explain. “Please,” he whispers. “Please just go—”
“Aaron, please understand—I thought I knew what love was before and I was wrong—I don’t want to make that mistake again—”
“Please”—he’s begging now—“for the love of God, Juliette, I have lost my dignity—”
“Okay.” I nod. “Okay. I’m sorry. Okay.”
I back away. I turn around.
And I don’t look back.
