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“No way. I’m not going anywhere with you ever again.”
That would arguably be for the best. So why do the words make me want to punch the building beside me?
She stomps past me, as if I’m going to let her just walk away, then whirls back to face me. At least that sharp turn in those heels tells me she can’t possibly be drunk. “If you don’t have my phone, then let me use yours.”
“No way in hell.” She’d probably call Iris, and then I might as well ring up the grim reaper himself.
“Well I don’t know if you’ve fucking noticed,” Raleigh spits, “but my car is gone!”
Ah yes,hercar. The one I’d had impounded earlier, fully anticipating keeping Raleigh in bed at least until tomorrow morning. How silly of me not to anticipate that she’d steal and then spirit awaymycar.
“Your car is fine,” I tell her. “It’s at the impound lot. We can go and get it whenever you decide to tell me what you were doing here with Silver.”
Raleigh’s mouth falls open in stunned rage. “You impounded my Bentley?!”
“I did. Now let’s go back to my car so we can have an actual conversation-”
But she’s already walking away. She stalks off down the alley going back to the street. Going fucking nowhere. I storm after her, nearly reaching her before she rounds on me again. Accusations fly from her mouth like shots being fired.
“You kidnap me, you impound my car, you won’t let me use your phone to get a ride-”
“You come out of a known mafia spot with a wanted criminal,” I snap back, “you lie to an officer, impede a police investigation, stealmycar-”
“You’re damn right I did!”
“And where the fuck is it, Raleigh?!”
“I drove it into a fucking ditch!”
Now I turn away from her, so angry I need a second to breathe without her watching. I pinch the bridge of my nose, counting down from ten, then look back at Raleigh. She’s still standing there, uninterested in walking away now that she can glare triumphantly.
This is done. It has to be. Maybe we’re physically compatible, but whenever we cross paths, chaos, danger, and bruised feelings are the only outcome.
I take a last bracing breath and ask, as evenly as I can, “Are you or are you not working with Silver?”
Her mouth presses into a very thin line, her eyes flashing even in the dim glow from the street lights. “Aren’t you?!”
“I told you I’m not!” I snap.
“And I told youI’mnot!” she shrieks back.
For a moment, we glare at each other over the cracked asphalt. We both deny working with our mutual enemy, and yet neither of us can trust each other enough to believe it.
Raleigh must see that I still don’t believe her. She shakes her head. When she speaks, her voice is shaking like I’ve never heard. “It doesn’t fucking matter if you believe me, okay? I don’t give a shit what you think, Derrick Lindman. I came here today to remind Silver who the rulers of this city are. And guess what- he didn’t believe me either!”
Her mouth twists, her nose scrunches. I realize suddenly that she’s trying not to cry. And these aren’t crocodile tears. I hear in the tremor of her voice and see in the whites of her knuckles that she’s genuinely distraught.
Fuck. I’ve made Raleigh Warwick cry.
“Why should he?” Raleigh goes on. “I’m just some stupid bitch who’s never had a say in anything in her life! No one at home takes me seriously either, so why should I expect any different from him? Or from you?!” She puts a hand over her mouth, then over her eyes, but she’s not regretting her cutting words. She’s just trying to hide the shape her face makes when she cries. “This was my one chance to prove myself, and I fucking failed, so just leave me alone. No- let me call a fucking cab so I can go anywhere but here!”
Anywhere but here.
I know that feeling all to well. I’ve said those exact words more times than I can count. It takes me back to my childhood, sneaking out the front door whenever my dad’s temper boiled over, trying to slip away before his fists started flying. Eventually, he was the one slamming the door in my face. And he never let me back in.
So, while I don’t know exactly what’s making Raleigh want to run, I get it. I know what it’s like to want to escape.
Slowly, like I’m approaching a wounded animal, I step toward Raleigh. She doesn’t lift her head, doesn’t move her hands from her eyes. Her shoulders are trembling. The gasps of her sobs sound painful.
