A Trace of Passion Read Online Free PDF Page A

crying. “I was selfish,” she said.
    “Yeah…yeah, you are selfish. What about Alana and your friends? You’re just going to give up without a fight and break their hearts too?”
    She sobbed, covering her mouth with her hands as the tears ran faster. Trace couldn’t stand it anymore. His heart tore between wanting to hold her and wanting to beat the shit out of her. He stormed out the room and marched past Alana.
    He didn’t bother to call a cab. He needed to walk. Or stomp. Stomping was good. It would have been better if he could punch someone. The only woman Trace loved beside his mother, was choosing a grave. Okay, it wasn’t her fault. He knew that. No one asked for cancer or a slow death. But he hated that she accepted her fate.
    She beat it twice. She’d been battling it for thirteen years. Jesus Christ, that was a lot longer than most cancer victims. Her body must have been so worn out, so tired. No wonder she was always so thin and frail. What if she really couldn’t do it a third time?
    He stopped walking and slumped against something hard. He didn’t know what it was or where he was. It didn’t matter. All he could think about were her tears. Each one twisted a dagger in his heart. I only regret hurting you…
    She’d probably already come to terms with her friends. Hell, they have probably already come to terms with it. But not Trace. Trace who had to barge into her life unwelcomed. She tried to spare me. That’s why she gave me a false phone number. She knew even then… I yelled at her. God, I’m such an asshole!
    His eyes stung as tears threatened to spill. He rubbed them with the palms of his hands while pushing off the hard surface. When his hands fell away from his eyes, he saw what he’d been leaning on. It was the display window of a Kay’s jewelry store. In big block letters and flashy colors stood a sign announcing the sale of engagement rings.
    * * * *
    Ophelia watched the leaves sway in the wind outside the hospital window. Alana had gone to get her some clothes and shoes after discovering Ophelia only had her bathrobe with her. The nurse would wheel her out as was the protocol. She never understood that part. Her legs weren’t broken or in any pain.
    Now that Trace was gone, she could get on with the end of her life. It hurt when he left, but what else did she expect? She told him her secret, and just like that he was gone, just as she’d predicted. She reminded herself it was better that way; better for both of them. She regretted hurting him, but she didn’t regret getting to love him before her time came.
    The door creaked open. “That was fast.” She turned, expecting to see Alana, but instead faced Trace. She sat straight up in bed. “Trace?”
    He kept his gaze on the floor as he entered. “Were you expecting someone else?”
    All she could do was stare for a moment before her voice came to her. “Alana.”
    “Oh.” He nodded. “Right.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    He looked at her and Ophelia winced. Dark circles rimmed his eyes and thin wrinkles creased his brow. He looked as though he had aged ten years in the hour since he’d left. Facing death did that to people. She remembered the sad boy who she asked to the Sadie Hawkins’s Day dance. She knew he’d rejected a lot of other girls who asked and though he didn’t say it, she knew it must have been his father’s death that made him not want to go to the dance. But something possessed her that day as she thought to herself maybe he’ll go with me. Maybe I’ll be different . She saw the same sense of bravado and hope in his pleading eyes as he approached her bedside. “Ophelia, I know there is a chance you might not…make it. But I can’t let you give up and not fight it.”
    “Trace—”
    “No, you just listen.”
    She bit her lip, surprised by the sharpness of his tone.
    He took a deep breath and continued. “This morning I told you I wouldn’t stop until you were mine. I fought for you