I can get there on my own. you can leave me here alone.
She looks away.
But he doesn’t.
He goes on watching her as she searches their surroundings and he wonders what kind of answer she’s looking for. If that’s what she’s looking for at all. The laughter – short and breathy and mirthless – has gone and it is just the two of them standing there in absolute silence. He grits his teeth, the muscle in his jaw pulsing, when she finally drags her focus back to his face.
He nods, the muscle still pulsing as he finally looks away. There in the furthest corner of his dark mouth, a smirk. But this, too, lacks in mirth. It is gone just as quickly as it had appeared and he shakes his head. “You assumed,” he says, simply.
There is some darkness to it. It lacks in bitterness, sounds more like defeat. He exhales and relaxes the muscle in his jaw before he shackles his gaze to hers again. He does not want to be cruel or dismissive or angry. But he’s tired. He’s so tired. He had not been built for this, this marathon of emotion.
“You assumed because you just can’t help yourself, can you? When it comes to me, you can’t help but assume things.” He pauses only briefly before continuing because he can feel the darkness spreading steady through him. “You think you love me but you think the worst of me. You think I’m too honest and then think that I would lie about something like this.”
He drags in a breath in an effort to steady himself. “You put words in my mouth. Pick and choose what you want to hear. Fucking demonize me. And for what? To make yourself feel better? So that you have something to be angry about? I told you that I never agreed to be your punching bag, Adna.”
BETHLEHEM
I'm just tryin' to do what's right. oh, a man ain't a man unless he's fought the fight.
