Read Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) for Free Online Page B

past-tense.  He nodded, yes.
    “Did I love you?”
    “You did.  And I have loved you from the first moment we met.”
    “How long were we a couple?”
    “Not long enough,” Creed answered sadly.
    “You gave me this ring.  We were serious.” She said the words as if she was trying them on for size.  She looked down at her hand and slowly spun the band on her ring finger.
    “I know you don’t think you remember me, but a part of you must.  It’s how I found you out there at the bottom of the mountainside.”
    Meg’s eyes watched his face as he spoke.  She nodded slowly, acknowledging his claim.  “But I don’t think it’s right for me to wear this,” she slipped the band off and held it out for him. 
    Creed didn’t move.  His heart was squeezing so tightly in his chest, he couldn’t breathe. 
    Meg’s hand hung in the air as she waited patiently for Creed to regain some sense of control.
    “I appreciate that we had something, but I cannot expect you to wait to see if I regain my memory.”
    “We could start over.” Creed didn’t care that desperation laced his words.  His heart was breaking.
    Meg shrugged softly, “Maybe, but it’s still not right for me to wear your ring while we’re getting reacquainted.”
    The SUV was quiet, overflowing with Creed’s heartbreak, Meg’s coolness and everyone else’s awkward embarrassment at being unwilling witnesses to the break up.
    Farrow pulled into a parking spot in the otherwise empty rest stop.  The doors flew open the moment she put the car in park as everyone wanted to escape the uncomfortable air inside.
    “How about those snacks?” Cole asked Alik and Evan as he reached way above his head, stretching.
    “Bathroom!” Farrow and Sloan both chirped as they ran toward the female stick figure pictured beside a closed door.
    Back in the car , Creed held out his large hand.  Meg dropped the tiny platinum band into his palm and, with her two hands, closed his fingers around it.  Touching his skin made her heart leap inside her chest before crashing down at the pain she felt she’d created in him.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “I don’t expect you to wait for me, but I would like to be your friend.  It’s the best I can offer right now.”  Inside, Meg was an emotional mess, but outwardly, she was holding it together.  She could feel her heart pulling her toward the man whose hand was warm and calloused in hers, but as much as she wanted him, she was terrified of him, too.  How could any one person have that much control over me? She thought. I don’t want to be controlled by anything or anyone ever.
    Afraid he would start sobbing if he looked at her one second longer, he nodded once, pulled his hand away from her touch and slipped the white band into the front pocket of his jeans.  He started to make his way to a side door when Meg’s voice stopped him.
    “Creed?  I can sense you’re a good man with a loyal heart.  I don’t remember what they were, but I sense you made a lot of sacrifices for me—for others—and I just wanted to say, thank you.”
    Creed nodded once, without looking at her and stepped out of the SUV to get some fresh air.  He felt as if he were going to pass out from the emotional pain—the kind of pain he had no gift to turn off. 
    From the far corner of the humble brick building that housed the bathrooms, water fountains and a small cluster of credit card -accepting vending machines, Creed watched Alik help Meg out of the back of the SUV.  He tried to look away but found himself mesmerized by her confident, barefoot strides.
    Evan walked over to Creed with a bottle of soda and a bag of peanuts.  “I’m sorry, Creed.  Give her time.  She has been through a lot.  She’s not herself right now.”
    “Maybe this is the new Meg.” His eyes watched her perfect profile as she leaned down to sip water from the fountain, one of her hands gracefully holding her long hair back from the water.
    Evan