AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I like Mia,” I say in a voice so dark, he smiles. He picks up on the unspokenunlike youthat lurks there. “So, I’ll do it.”
When he leaves, I go into the house. I drink tea until I want to scream, no matter how great everyone is.
The horrible truth comes in hard.
Tizio cares, but he’s not changing his mind about how we don’t work, how we’re done. You can care and not want to be with someone. Or feel you can’t.
That’s Tizio.
He kissed me and told me sweet things, but he never once told me anything other than we have a use-by date.
Now this is done, it’s come.
I set down my cup and get up. “Mia?”
“Yes?”
She follows me as I head into the study to get my computer. I hug it to me as I stand at the desk, the room so full of life from all the people that were here. The people that form a family I’m not part of, that hurts.
“That program I blabbered about earlier?”
She nods. “Cyber security? A system for us?”
“I’ll do it. I’m working on something I think will be perfect when I tweak it. It’ll be easy to use and make your calls untraceable, make any data unreadable in the right way. Like if, say, the authorities or someone gets hold of your books. The stuff you don’t want anyone to read, they’ll see something else.”
“Are you talking hiding it in plain sight?”
I nod.
“Right now, most of that is hard copy. This could change the game if it works. I’ll set up a meeting with him.” She whips out her phone for my number.
I hesitate, then say, “I might change my number, so I’ll call you.”
“Karlee, that man loves you, I see it.”
“He doesn’t want to. I’m too young, blah blah. His best friend’s sister. Blah and blah. And not wanting to negates love.” I take a breath. “Can I borrow a car? Please?”
Mia presses her lips together then sighs, going over to her bag and digging through it. She pulls a set of keys off a key ring. “This is mine. Done to my gorgeous husband’s specifications. Lots of protective measures and drives like a dream. The red one.”
“You’re not going to stop me?”
She shrugs. “Not unless you want me to. But you seem determined. You are very young.”
“I’ve lived a lot in that time.”
Mia smiles and puts a hand on my arm. “You might have, but from Tizio’s point of view, he equates young with not for him. Because he’s a protector, and he wants to bone your brains out.”
I almost choke on the air.
“He also looks at you like you’re his, but I don’t know whether he’s quite worked it out. And he’s a guy. They’re always getting stuck on dumb things and getting in their own way.” She goes to the door and opens it as I pick up my bag and slide my computer into it. I grab my other two bags that are in the hall as Mia walks me to the door. “I also see how you look at him.”
“I know how I feel about him.”
I give her a hug, walk out, load the sweet, low-slung red car, and drive to the gate where I hit the brakes.
“You idiot.” I roll down the window and shout it again at the idiot standing there, in the middle of the driveway, arms folded and all kinds of pissed off.
Tizio stalks over and opens the door, hauling me out, and glowers at me. He pins me against the car, mouth so close I can almost taste him.
