Page 200 of These Tears

I stand beside him as he teaches me how to fill up the tank, then he turns towards the building.

As I shove my frozen fingers deeper into my sleeves, his hand closes around my wrist, and he begins to haul me after him across the icy forecourt.

Inside, it’s barely warmer. An old plug-in radiator groans its best welcome from the corner. Waffles and damp wool fill the ambience. A young man behind the till looks up from a comic book and greets us in Norwegian with the rehearsed politeness only those who have been awake too long can manage.

‘Chocolate?’ Elias asks, voice oddly light.

I blink at him. And again. Is he… joking?

‘I…’ I start, but it sounds more like a cough. My brows tug tighter together.

‘I’m getting it,’ he grunts out as if I’d complained about something.

My breath catches somewhere between a scoff and a stunned exhale. Last night he could barely look at me. This morning he was growling over our coffee mug. Now he is offering me chocolate like we’re on a bloody stroll. I don’t know if I’m supposed to brace, glare or scream at him any more.

‘I don’t need anything.’ I wrench my gaze away from him.

Elias ignores me and sets the chocolate on the till anyway. When he opens his wallet, the only note he produces is a thousand kroner, which causes the cashier’s face to crumple terribly as he gurgles something in Norwegian. We both peer over the counter when the man tips his chin and opens the almost empty cash drawer.

Elias studies the note for a second before turning to me.

‘You’ve got a card in your phone wallet?’

The question barely registers. The man turns his gaze towards me and lifts an expectant pair of brows.

‘Of course,’ I murmur.

Elias holds out his hand, palm up.

I stare at it. Slowly lift my eyes to his.

His are sharp again in that way that strips me down to my bones. ‘Your phone, then.’

The floor tilts, even though I’m standing perfectly still. For half a second, I can’t make my limbs obey. Pure panic blows up in me, followed by a cold, sinking horror that crawls up my spine and knots at the base of my throat. My mind scrambles, uselessly replaying the moment I’d found it, the childish certainty that I’d gotten away with something.

But the look in his eyes now? Not surprise.

It’s the exact same one he gave me in the plane when I almost reported him.

He has been watching me hold my own leash.

My fingers move numbly. A click. A rip of Velcro. I pull the phone from my inside pocket, and present it to him.

‘Unlock it.’

I glower.

‘Leah.’

With a sigh, I use my thumb to bring up the card in my wallet, and I hand him the phone.

‘Doesn’t it need a signal?’ I ask, trying to undo the anxiety clustering beneath my collarbone.

A soft beep sounds and a green light flashes as he brushes it over the device.

‘The terminal’s online,’ he says simply.

The cashier smiles awkwardly as Elias tucks it inside his jacket instead of returning it to me. He doesn’t even look at me as he does it.