Chapter 20: All The Things That Aren't The Same

I force myself instead to think of the pain - of that night when everything fell apart. The years have done little to dull the hurt, to make me forget.

"Ash," Dante says, the rumble of his voice drawing me back into the present. He's still touching me - in fact, his hand has curled around the side of my face, and his eyes have softened just enough to make my insides go weak.

I turn my face away from him.

"I don't know what you want," I say, "but I have nothing to give you."

"Because of Jack."

"Among other reasons."

I don't have to be any more specific than that - I can tell by the look in his eyes that he knows I'm referring to how things ended between us the last time around. But he doesn't rise, doesn't look away.

"Ash."

"Don't," I say, holding up a hand. "It doesn't matter now."

He presses his lips together. That's another thing he always did when he was working through a plot issue in one of his scripts.

And then he leans toward me. And though he doesn't touch me this tim