I Could Read Minds But Never His Sincere Love Chapter 02

I Could Read Minds But Never His Sincere Love Chapter 02

That was in his head, not out loud. Something in me snapped, and I asked him anyway.

“You don’t like them?”

“Just sit down.”

He didn’t say anything else. I kept looking at him, waiting for something, and nothing came through.

“Miles, come on. Who says that? All that therapy, and you still can’t be nice to her? You know how lucky you are, right?”

Clara tugged me into the chair beside her and shot him a look.

His voice started up inside my head again.

[No, Clara. You put me back together a long time ago. You’re the one I’m lucky to have.]

That was his truth. Out loud, he said:

“Keep them. You like them, and I owe you anyway.”

I sat there staring at him. He kept smiling at Clara, and he didn’t give me so much as a glance.

My hands shook so hard my silverware clattered to the floor. I got out an apology and ran.

The sun beat down on me outside. I couldn’t feel any of it.

My phone rang. Dad.

“Hazel, honey, we’re still on for the Sterlings’ place tonight? To talk about the wedding. Your mom and I are out picking up a gift, come help us pick.”

His voice broke something open in me and the tears just came. I choked them back and got the words out.

“Don’t buy anything, Dad. We’re breaking up.”

I hung up and kept walking with no idea where. There was nothing left inside me.

I knew this block too well. Oakwood Memorial was a few blocks up, and they knew my name there.

Every time I pushed the ability, my body paid for it.

I did it to Miles anyway, over and over, knowing exactly what it cost. It never worked, and I just kept getting worse.

The last time it put me in a hospital bed, Miles came in and told me he’d found someone who could treat him.

Clara. The person I trusted most, the one I’d looked up to since grad school.

I was thrilled. Clara and I got close fast, and I was in her ear every single day about how to reach him.

None of it touched him. It was like swinging at air, every time.

It was never the method. It was me.

I got home without remembering the walk. Dinner was still warm on the table.

My parents rushed over before I’d even shut the door, both of them wide-eyed.

“Hazel, where have you been? It’s so late.”

“I’m fine. I went for a walk.”

I headed for my room. They caught my arm to stop me.

I followed their gaze. Miles was on the couch, and his expression was thunderous.

“Hazel. We need to talk.”

In all our time together, he had never once been the one to start the conversation.

I didn’t know what to do with that, so I took him back to my room. The lock clicked, and his voice came out cold.

“Who said anything about breaking up?”

“I did.”

I lifted my chin and tried to look calmer than him. My eyes betrayed me anyway, stinging and filling.

Miles exhaled like I was exhausting him.

“Don’t be dramatic, okay?”

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”

He looked up at me. Then his eyes dropped to the floor and stayed there, and the room went quiet for a long, long time.