The Stone Knight (gay)✔️

29. Surprising revelations

"Is Cortina beautiful this time of year?" asked Annika with a smile, bowing to Dylan.
He had informed her of his plans while he picked her up from the airport.
"I have gathered quite a lot of information about head trauma and memory loss. There are several things we can try to stimulate your memory," she said enthusiastically. "If you want of course," she added cautiously in the absence of response.
"Of course I do, Annika."
Dylan was pleasantly surprised with her enthusiasm to help him with his memory. He wondered if she would be as helpful as she knew the possible content of those memories.

  After Lucas' last remark, he could no longer get around the truth. Natalie had always teased him with his Hulk eyes. She laughed and said he had superpowers. Sadly, he shook his head. It had been her with the superpowers. For nine years, she had been the center of his existence. Jacob's arrival had only strengthened his love for her.
The women with whom he had been intimate in recent years could not stand in her shadow. After Lucas' confrontational remark, he had thought deeply about whether there had ever been anyone else talking about his changing eye color at the time. He couldn't think of one. Did that mean anything?

Throughout the weekend, Annika had talked about nothing but her plans to get his memory back. Frankly, it had hindered rather than helped his willingness to cooperate. Sitting in the conservatory they had a view of the newly constructed path. His eyes unwittingly wandered.
Since their fiasco date and frankly the two previous ones had not really been successful, he had not heard from Lucas. Whether this was per his request or because Lucas was mad he did not know. He had been waiting for a response from Jake and Noah, but it remained unusually quiet on the boys' side. Of course, this was exactly what he wanted, so he couldn't complain about that. In order to preserve the status quo as much as possible, he only informed his mother what he was up to with Annika and the boys. He was pleasantly surprised with her positive response and wished him success in bringing back his lost time. The light in her eyes made him suspect that she was more aware than he felt comfortable with. On the other hand, he wasn't surprised. Lucas and his mother were like two hands on one belly from the very beginning.

"What do you think of the plan?" asked Annika, who had talked non-stop without him hearing a single word.
Dylan cringed slightly. 'Right. What did he think of the plan?'
Annika had started some sort of scavenger hunt following the events playbook and his credit card details. All his actions five years ago would be laid bare and he was unsure of what they would reveal, but it was too late to put a stop to this. It seemed as irrevocable as his waning feelings for the young woman next to him.
He struggled to produce a smile. "I have no idea if all this is going to pay off, Annika," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder, "but I want to thank you for your commitment, enthusiasm and patience."
After blinking a few times, her eyes flashed between the hand on her shoulder and the undisturbed hand lying next to his on the table. Confusion with a hint of anger was clearly visible on her face. Slowly she shook her head.
"The rejection in your words hurts me so much, Dylan. You can deny it if you want, but do me a favor and save yourself the trouble." Abruptly, she got up from the table. "You may not know what you want," she said, staring at the forest path", but the people around you are not so blind."

"What do you mean by that, Annika?" protested Dylan, who also stood up.
"That I know very well that you are using me and I hate that," she accused him. "I can't believe I was willing to ignore your misstep with Lucas."
When his eyes opened wide an hysterical giggle escaped her.
"Did you really think I didn't know about this? How stupid do you think I am? I should have known better when I saw how jealous you reacted on Madeleine's  birthday, but I put aside my distrust when your mother asked me for help recovering your memory. Here!"
Her hand grabbed the pile of papers lying on the table and slammed it in his face. "It's over between us!" When she noticed he didn't reach out to stop her, tears were in her eyes. "What an ice-cold bastard are you!" she hissed, her face twisted with anger.
"Your bags are at the door." Gray eyes were as cold as he was accused of.
"Fuck you, Asshole!" were the last words she spoke to him before she lit her heels and left the conservatory.
The reverberating front door betrayed her hurried departure.