Chapter 48. Challenged to Duel

Zayne’s POV

Present

“Where is Jeremy?” She had asked.

My jaw clenched on their own, but I quickly covered the little disturbance I felt with a smile.

“Downstairs. He was here when you fell, though. He left after.”

She blinked, like she was trying to load the idea into her head. “He knows?”

“Yeah.”

Her chest rose and fell sharply. For a heartbeat I wanted her to be disappointed, to think he’d seen her fall and walked away. Maybe that was sick. Maybe I wanted him to look small in her eyes. Better that, than her thinking he had always been the one to catch her.

Her lips opened and closed multiple times like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to form the words.

I shifted the conversation away before she could tear herself open.

“How do you feel now?”

She let out a sound that was almost a laugh and sagged back into the pillows. “I’ll be fine.”

That didn’t mean she was fine.

“How can I