He pressed his foot on the gas, making the motor rumble to make his point. "That’s what I’m trying to do."
"No, you aren’t."
“…What do you think I’m doing then?"
I had no answer. Except, “Get out of the car.”
First he’d been defeated, which caused my heart to hurt a tad. But this time as he exited the car, he was annoyed. Shutting his door with more sass than should be able to fit in the simple motion, then he tapped his foot impatiently in front of me.
"You're really leaving?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"You aren’t going to track me or tail me?"
"Hello, shield." He threw his hand out in the direction of the bandage.
"Seriously?"
"Am I supposed to do something different?”
"No…"
“Yet you still kinda expect me to,” he realized.
"I’m—”
"Don’t apologize,” he cut in. “Of course someone respecting your wishes must seem foreign. You wanted to leave and the Brokers wouldn’t let you."
"I wish I felt differently,” I said because he needed to know that. “I wish I could stay, really."
"You don’t need to explain yourself.”
I couldn’t say the same. "What about you? There’s different things to expect with all of you. Doctors stick to the medicine, the nurses are encouraging. Aaron talks about healing and asks me to share my feelings, Chase has jokes. You’re logical. You suggest reasonable things.”
"Okay?"
"But I’m not making a logical choice now."
"Which you clearly realize,” Temple said. “So what else is there to do?"
"I don’t know.” I wish I did. Maybe that’s why I expected—maybe even hoped—he had a better answer where I failed.
“I’ve heard you say no before,” he explained. “But that’s the first time you explicitly said yes. Even if I’m uncomfortable with this and worried for your safety, I won’t stand in your way. I’m even less comfortable being the guy who ignores your first yes.”
His eyes were sad, full of resignation and other things he didn’t say. He only stood there with me for another moment before he nodded in goodbye and turned away again.
And there he went.
I needed to be free, even if I had no idea what the hell freedom looked like. But if anything even remotely resembled freedom, it was probably this. Giving me the opportunity to make my own choices, even when they were terrible. He was gonna leave. Even if he wanted to track me, he couldn’t. The bandage still shielded me, bright blue color signaling the magic wasn’t even close to wearing off.
This was some measure of freedom and some measure of trust. I had it. It wasn’t going away. So if I asked him to stay, that would be my choice too.
“It’s not.” I said. “It’s not about me.”
"It isn’t?" He made it to his car but hadn’t climbed in yet.
"If it were only about me, I’d ask you to stay. But they don’t even know you. How can I ask them to trust you too?"
