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“Where will I even go?” I whispered, a tear sliding down my cheek.
He scooted his chair back, and I grimaced at the sound it made against the floor. Then he walked into my room, and I heard some shuffling before he emerged with a key and placed it on the table. Next, he went into his room and lifted a floorboard. I knew our floors were shit but I didn’t think they were that bad. He came back to the table with a tin box. He slid it my way and I reached for the key with shaking hands.
“I always thought this was going to be my way out of here. But, I don’t know what I was expecting. To leave you and pursue baseball again?” He shook his head.
I unlocked the tin and gasped at its contents. Twenties, fifties, hundreds, all stuffed in there like afterthoughts. “I can’t—”
“Take it. If you don’t, it’ll just stay here collecting dust. I don’t need that shit.”
I took a few out, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
How…?
“You want to know how I managed to save it?,” he asked. “I always kept the key in your room. And I vowed to never enter that room drunk. That was your sanctuary. Sober, I can deal. But it was when I was drunk that I really had to fight the urge to spend it all.”
More tears came.
Tim fought back. For me.
“So, I guess the question isn’t where will you go, but where do you wanna go?” he said as he sipped his black coffee.
Noa
At the soundof banging on my front door, I jolted awake. The sound made my heart race and for a moment, I worried Dylan would wake up until I remembered Dexter had picked him up. I raced down the steps toward the front door as more pounding vibrated against the thick wood.
I opened the door, surprised to see Dexter. “Is it Dylan? What’s wrong?”
My heart dropped but something in his eyes made me pause. I stepped back once as he stalked toward me.
And then we were crashing.
His mouth took mine like it belonged to him; like only he knew what to do with it. It wasn’t long until his mouth sought out my skin and my world tilted as he maneuvered us toward the stairs, only to lay me on the steps. He tugged his shirt off and lifted my long T-shirt over my panties.
I opened my mouth in a silent plea.
Please…
Please do anything you want to me.
Please burn me. Please set fire to my body until the memory of him fades. Until the flames between us is all I remember.
As he reached for me, my world tilted again and I found myself alone in my bed, with not even Theo’s warmth to keep the lonesome waves at bay. He’d spent the night in Seattle again.
But it wasn’t Theo I craved. I didn’t know that it ever would be.
In my empty bed with only my broken heart to keep me company, I decided I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t drag Theo into our battle anymore.
I glanced down at my ring and pulled it over my knuckle before setting it on the nightstand and turning to try to sleep again.
I’d never be anything other than Noa.
But I could start being fucking honest with myself.
* * *
Later that afternoon,I called Theo a dozen times with no answer. I even called the hospital, only for them to tell me he’d gotten off shift yesterday afternoon. I called his place in Seattle. Nothing.
I wondered if something had happened to him so I turned on the news, just in case. My cell phone rang and I answered it quickly, wondering if Miranda had any answers. Unlikely, but still.
