But she’d failed. So much so that she had to wonder if any of her previous relationships had been real, because none of them had felt as painful as this.
Evie left soon after, giving Harper an excuse to do the same, but being in her own apartment was a trial in itself. Patricia’s place was a few floors up from hers, so it only took minutes before she was home. A place empty of both people and excuses.
They’d gotten furniture in, but there wasn’t any life in the place yet. All their stuff was still in St. Louis, stuck there until the Chains could bribe a moving company to smuggle it out of the city.
Nell and Patricia were most hurt by that. They had items of sentimental value that no amount of money could replace, but Harper wasn’t attached to anything. Other than her wardrobe, and that had been refilled after a few thrift store visits.
She hadn’t really noticed how empty the apartment was before. She’d gotten so used to Maya’s place. To how cozy and lived-in it was.
“Oh, for fuck’ssake.”
She pulled out her phone, pacing the living room as she stared at the screen.
It was just a phone call. One press of a button and then the hard part was over. Then the awful weight she’d been carrying around for days would finally vanish.
Assuming Maya picked up, of course.
Cursing, she tapped the call button and put the phone to her ear. The dial tone screamed at her, sounding increasingly mocking the longer it lasted. It went on and on, her heart sinking with every passing second, until it switched to voicemail.
She threw the phone onto the couch. This was so dumb. It was near midnight, making it prime working hours for monstrous warfare. Maya was too busy to handle a random phone call.
Or maybe she wasn’t. They might have gotten attacked. Leaving Maya hurt or captured.
Maybe even killed.
Harper snatched up the phone and pressed the call button again. She gnawed on a nail, pacing faster as the dial tone went off once.
Twice.
Three fucking times.
“Harper?”
Maya’s voice. Surprised. Eager. Worried, almost.
Harper let out a sigh before she could think to keep it in. Her legs gave out, and if her pacing hadn’t brought her close enough to the couch that she could collapse onto it, she would have dropped right to the floor.
“H-hey,” she stammered.
She bit back a groan.Way to play it cool, Harper.
“Hey…” Maya breathed out the word. “Sorry I didn’t answer before. I was… Something came up.”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure.” Harper dug her fingers into the cushion. “That’s fine. I didn’t really want anything, I just… I needed, uh… You didn’t text today.”
Silence. One that stretched for long enough that it started to feel tense.
Then awkward.
Had a silence between themeverfelt awkward? Though, it really couldn’t be anythingbutawkward, because what the hell was that opening statement?
“Right… I guess I didn’t,” Maya said. “I was training. With Aleksander. Lost track of time.”
Harper nodded, even though Maya couldn’t fucking see it.
“Oh. That… That makes sense.”
She waited for more words,anywords, to appear.
