"I ... what do you mean they no longer matter and may never matter again?" Evan spoke carefully, his mind filled with the memory of how he'd misspoken the last time and how angry and hurt Niks had been because of his words. He was determined to not make that mistake again. He actually didn't want to hurt her in any way ever again.
"I mean, I'm ... I'm still pretty concerned about my part of it, the whole ripping you to shreds. Less so since I've ... had some... memories... surface, but you have to understand that the last thing I want to do is be the source of any pain. Physical or otherwise. I need you to understand that and know if I have to stop something, it's not you. It's really really really really not you. Really."