Page 49 of Never the Same

I removed the dish towel from her shoulder and tossed it on the counter. The woman was an heiress to wealth and power; her mother would have a coronary seeing her like this in my home.

“Well, did I know before?”

I stepped around her to close the dishwasher, then chucked my empty beer bottle in the recycling. “Nope.”

“Did I ever ask?”

“Negative.”

“You don’t like talking about yourself because we supposedly dislike each other, or you don’t talk about yourself in general?”

“We’re just two different people. We’ll never understand each other. There’s no point in trying now.” I thought back to her mother’s words. The fact she’d done her research on me. Considered me beneath her. Beneath her daughter. “This situation is temporary. When you remember who you are, you’ll walk away, and . . .” I cleared my throat. “I won’t stop you.”

She cast her eyes to the floor, forehead drawing tight. “Got it,” she said in a strained voice, then turned and left me alone like I deserved.

Ranger rushed by me to go after her, whacking his tail against my leg in the process.

Yeah, I was a jerk.

But I couldn’t go after her. No amount of chasing that woman would ever do any good.

When she remembered who she really was, she’d never want to be with a man like me.

So why the hell would I let myself fall for her and risk losing everything I’d worked for, only to get my heart broken?

Chapter Seventeen

Hollis

I peeled off Reed’s shirt and flung it onto the bed, fighting back tears as Ranger scratched at the door.

I hesitantly opened up, worried Reed might be out there, too. The coast was clear, so I let Ranger in and shut the door.

He sat by the bed, eyeing it as if waiting for permission to jump up. “It’s okay, come on.” I plopped down on top of his dad’s shirt, and he curled up next to me, resting his head on my bare thigh.

I patted around in search of my phone and finally located it. Before I’d left my family’s estate, Julian had given me a disposable cell with his number, our parents’, Lyra’s, and Gideon’s programmed in it.

Lyra: You doing okay? I miss you.

I stared at her words, my chest aching at the fact I didn’t miss her since she was a stranger to me.

Me: It’s late where you are. Go to sleep.

Lyra: Well, I’m up. Talk to me.

In that case, I did have a question.

Me: Any chance you can tell me what happened when you went to my flat in London with Dad? Find anything?

Me: Or are you sworn to secrecy about all things related to me since I ran away?

Lyra: I don’t trust Julian’s not reading our texts for Grumpy Gideon.

Grumpy? More like terrifying. Also, talk about an invasion of our privacy, but since the phone came from Julian, I shouldn’t be surprised he’d be monitoring my conversations. Also my every movement, more than likely.

Lyra: Your flat was tossed. Your place in the South of France, too. Dad sent someone to check it since you were here and there two weeks ago.

Lyra: And, Julian, if you’re reading this: