Teacher (Voyeur #6) - Fiona Cole Page 0,54

when I can.”

“Does Kent go with you?”

“No,” he laughed. “Well, he’s gone once, but only to bungee jump. He’s more city, and I’m more nature.”

“I kind of figured you both for city people.”

“I love the city. I love Cincinnati, but Kent is more fast-paced, where I like to enjoy these moments. The isolation. The quiet. But it’s good—we mesh. He pushes me to do more, and I calm him down…while sometimes encouraging him,” he added with a small smile.

“Did you hike when you were younger?”

“Some. We weren’t rich, so vacations were few and far between. Not that we were poor, but we weren’t traveling everywhere, and Ohio isn’t the best place for hiking. A little flat.”

“You could hike the cornfields,” I joked.

“Thrilling adventure right there.” He looked out over the edge and sucked in a deep breath, his chest stretching the edges of his shirt, before slowly letting it out. “That’s why Sabrina and I always said we wanted to travel. She made me promise to take her hiking one day.”

Was that his reason for this trip? I knew I’d told Erik we both had our reasons for going that had nothing to do with one another, but who did he see sitting by his side right now. I chose the mountains, but did he choose the hike to create what he missed with the one girl he loved?

The beauty of the view dimmed at the thought, and I reprimanded myself for letting it matter. It didn’t matter. We were friends.

“That’s the first time you’ve told me her name.”

“Yeah.” He laughed and rubbed his hand through his hair. “I don’t talk about her much.”

“She must have really broken your heart.”

When he didn’t say anything, I looked over and watched him stare out at the distance and swallow hard.

“She killed herself our Sophomore year.”

The words slammed into me like a Mack truck, stealing the air from my lungs. Fire burned up the back of my throat, and I struggled to find words to say.

“Daniel,” I breathed.

“I named Voy after her. She always wanted to travel, and we promised we’d do it together. We’d talk about all the places we’d go and where we wanted to start. She was Puerto Rican, and Voy means I go in Spanish. It fit with Voyeur, so it was kind of perfect.”

Unwarranted jealousy hit me, but it faded just as quick. His confession had no place to cause jealousy. This was a man confessing his hardest pain—a man who had helped me through my issues the past few months. I could do the same for him.

All of a sudden, Daniel’s ability to handle my trauma almost better than anyone else around me made more sense. He hadn’t just loved and lost in a breakup. He’d met death and felt its pain just as I had. He understood.

“What about you?” Daniel asked, clearing his throat and changing the subject back to lighter topics. “Did you travel?”

I had to take a moment to collect myself and flow with the shift back to lighter topics. I wanted to ask a million questions, but I couldn’t imagine what it’d cost him to say those words aloud. And for all the times he didn’t push me, I wouldn’t push him.

“Not really. Both my parents are teachers, and three kids make traveling a little difficult. The trip to Florida was a big deal and mainly happened because Erik fronted a lot of the bill.”

“Were you mad he wasn’t there?” he asked softly, easing the subject to a more sensitive topic.

“No,” I answered easily. I hadn’t been mad at Erik at all, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t mad. Taking a deep breath, I admitted what I’d never admitted before—not even in therapy. Something about Daniel’s confession spurred my own. I’d locked it up and shoved it away in my box, unable to deal with it on top of everything else, worried that if I let it out, the anger would swallow me. “I’m mad at myself for pushing her to go out. I’m mad at myself for resenting being her twin for months leading up to being taken.” Another deep breath, letting the hardest confession slip out on the exhale. “I’m mad she didn’t hold on for a few more hours. Erik showed up the next day, and she was gone.” The breeze cooled the wet tracks slipping down my cheeks, and I wiped them away with shaky hands.

After a moment, Daniel’s hand slipped over mine before he made his own confession.