AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t trust me,” he said.
Bo held his breath as he awaited Ismay’s response.
“Don’t create a problem that doesn’t exist. I’m just trying to get some sleep,” she finally said. He didn’t hear anything more from Bastian afterward.
Bo waited two or three minutes, during which there was only silence, before asking, “Is he gone?”
“I think so,” she whispered.
“Good. Slip out of the house as soon as you can. I’ll be waiting for you.”
He thought she might refuse, say she’d be fine until morning. Given the late hour, she probably believed she’d successfully navigated her final encounter of the night with Bastian. But as erratically as he was behaving, Bo wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t come back, and this time, he might be angrier—angry enough to force her door open.
So he was relieved when she said, “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Ismay slung the bag that held a change of clothes, her toothbrush, and makeup over her shoulder and pressed her ear to the door. She could hear the TV in the master but nothing else.
Still nervous because Bastian had seemed so agitated tonight, she checked her watch. One twenty. Surely, he’d gone to bed by now. Even if he hadn’t, she couldn’t keep Bo waiting. She had to take her chances, leave now.
Grabbing her purse, she carefully twisted the knob until it clicked and peered out through a narrow crack. The light was on in the master. Some of it spilled into the hallway, indicating the door stood open. But she couldn’t hear any movement.
The floor creaked as she stepped into the hall, and she cursed to herself.
Was Bastian, who was probably in bed, still awake? Or was he going through that duffel bag and fantasizing about what was inside it? Were those panties of hers that’d gone missing now part of his collection?
She grimaced in distaste. He’d been in her room. Imagining him fondling her belongings made her angry and tied her stomach in knots at the same time. She didn’t want to see him. She was afraid of what she might say—about her panties, Lyssa, the duffel bag, all of it. But she was more afraid of what a man like that might do...
If he was in the master, he was behind her at the end of the hall, so she was probably in the clear. He might call out to her if he heard her tread on the stairs, but she didn’t plan to answer. She was just going to duck her head and go straight through the living room to the kitchen, the mudroom, the screened-in porch—and, finally, the stairs down to the garden, where Bo would be waiting for her.
She made it to the living room before realizing that Bastian wasn’t in the master—and he wasn’t asleep. He’d probably been on the couch, and the moment he heard her come out of her room, he got up to intercept her at the foot of the stairs.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
Although it was mostly dark, there was enough light streaming through the large windows from the moon—in addition to the light from his bedroom falling into the hallway above—that they could see each other. “N-no,” she stammered.
His eyes immediately locked onto the bag she was carrying. “What’s that? Where are you going?”
She tried to skirt around him, but he cut her off.
“Ismay? What’re you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” she said. “I’m leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t sleep.”
“Where will you go?”
“To see my brother.”
“At the hotel?”
“Yes.” She didn’t want him to know she was going to Bo’s, didn’t want to take the risk that Bo would be penalized for trying to help her.
“Do you know how far that is?” he asked.
She eyed the front door, but she’d have to go around him to reach that, too. “Of course. I can get an Uber.”
