Page 81 of Play Me

“Stop.” She puts her hand up.

“What?”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear you defend her. Not now. Not over this.”

“There’s no way...no reason she would do this.”

“She was there, Sebastian, she was there! Last night, in the greenroom! I heard her just as we were leaving!”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t think she was going to do anything! I thought she’d just gotten stuck in there and hadn’t wanted to bother us. Fuck, was I wrong.”

“Even if she was, she wouldn’t have done this, and how would she have known about the videos of you from before?” I don’t have any other way to argue this except with reason. But I know Cadence’s insistence has reached a level beyond that now.

“I don’t know. I just know... that she was jealous of me being with you because she wanted you... that she was the only one other than us in that room last night... and now there are pictures of us FUCKING on the front fucking page. And all you can do is say, it wasn’t her.”

I don’t know what to say. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Hailey has no feelings for me but I can’t explain it to Cadence.

“Trust me, please, you’ve got to trust me. It wasn’t her.” I reach out to touch her face and she pulls away, her eyes filled with hurt. And I feel something snap between us. Something break.

She walks to her side of the bed and picks up her bag. Then as if there’s no energy left in her body, she sits down on the bed.

“Don’t go. We can’t work it out unless we’re together. Don’t give up on us.” I beg her softly. I can’t believe this is happening.

“There is no us. I’m sorry, Sebastian. I’m so sorry. I just, I can’t do this again. I can’t handle this level of scrutiny, this absolute loss of privacy. But...it’s not even that. You say you want to protect me, but you don’t even trust me enough to consider what I’m saying about Hailey. Or you won’t explain why. What’s the point in protecting me if you don’t even trust me?”

“I do trust you, but you have to trust me. I can’t tell you why, I just, I just know it’s not her.”

“You won’t even consider it? You won’t even ask her?”

I can’t lie to her. I’ll keep her here by restraint, by force, before I keep her here by deception. So I just shake my head. By form of answer. By form of disbelief of what’s about to happened.

“Ok.” She relents. “Then I have to go.”

She stands up and runs to the door but I jump over the bed and slam my back against it before she can get there. She stops in front of me, refusing to look at me.

“Cadence.” I cradle her face in my palm. “Oh baby, my Cadence.” I pull her against my chest and she doesn’t fight me.

Her body breaks into sobs and I feel the tears start to stream down my cheeks. I want to tell her to take me with her, that I can leave all this behind. But the fear that she’ll say no stops me.

“I have to go, Sebastian,” she whispers when her sobs finally die down.

I bury my face in her hair, breathing in those orange blossoms one last time, before stepping away from the door.

“You might be walking out that door, but don’t forget, you’re still my here, there, everywhere and in between.” I tell her.

“And you’ll always be mine.”