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But there was something about this man that compelled me toward his gravity. A magnet so strong it could rend me apart. Tear me to shreds.
But it seemed it was the raw, tender pieces that were reaching out.
River
That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? Why I haven’t been able to get you off my mind? Why I can’t look away? Why I feel like I’m going to go mad if I don’t get next to you?
Me
You should stay away from me.
River
I should stay away from you?
I swore, I heard his dark chuckle rumble through the air. A warning cut through the atmosphere.
River
Make no mistake, Little Runner, it’s you who should be running from me. I’m the last person you should get close to. Know it as well as you do. Yet here I am, standing across the street watching your apartment.
Chills flash-fired across my skin, lifting far and wide, and my stomach tilted as my attention lifted from my phone to the French doors that overlooked the street.
Compelled, I slipped across the floor, keeping my footsteps light, like I was worried he could hear my approach. I peeled back the sheer drape. Streetlamps shined over Culberry, and I could see a handful of people meandering the sidewalk and a few cars traveling back and forth.
It didn’t matter.
He might as well have been the only thing out there.
A silhouette on the opposite side of the street that had me stuck.
The man a pillar in the night.
He leaned against a plate-glass window with a single hand stuffed into his jeans pocket.
Even in the distance, I could see his violently beautiful face was tipped upward, and his stormy eyes raged where they were pinned directly on me as if he knew exactly where I’d been standing.
My heart beat manic, a brutal pound in my chest, and I realized right then I’d taken this too far and had placed myself in too precarious of a situation.
Toeing a line I couldn’t balance.
Gathering all my strength, I forced myself to type the words.
Me
Tonight was unlike anything I’ve experienced in a long, long time. Your son and your sister are amazing.
I didn’t tell him that there was a part of me that knew that under all the aggression he wore, I was sure he was, too. Instead, I told him what needed to be said.
Me
But I don’t have space for any more pain in my life. This needs to end here.
Then I pulled away from the drape, letting it drift closed behind me, and fumbled into my bedroom and flicked on the light.
It illuminated the small space. The queen bed sat against the wall and had a white metal headboard. I’d covered the mattress with a white and pink floral coverlet and pink sheets. Pink pillows in different sizes and shapes accented it, and small lamps glowed from the nightstands on either side.
I’d hung some floral paintings on the wall, making it comfortable and cozy, though there were no real traces of me.
