Her eyes searched mine. “What happened to you?” she asked again. I couldn’t tell her. Couldn’t let her inside that part of me. The ugliest, darkest part. But the walls I’d spent years building around it were weak now. Punctured. And the way she looked at me—with no pity, no judgment, just quiet concern—made the words slip out. “A while back, I ran my car into a lake. Almost drowned. Driving in the rain made me—” I swallowed hard, shaking my head. I sounded like a fucking idiot.
