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She zipped the bag, one harsh tear in the quiet, and grabbed the straps.
Tristan put his hand upon hers before she could lift it. “You’re not supposed to be doing that.” He picked up the bag himself and tossed it over his shoulder. “I’ll put it in the car with your computer. Don’t pick up anything else while I’m gone.”
As he left the room, Lila dug through every drawer, making sure she’d packed everything.
He returned before she’d reached the bottom of the dresser. “Katia has known this entire time, by the way, long before you showed up on our doorstep. She didn’t care that I was in love with you. She’s back from school, trying to find a contract to sign. She didn’t want a commitment with anyone. She just wanted to enjoy what time she had left in New Bristol, and I wanted to try it like the highborn. I wanted to see if I could be the sort of lover you needed. She’d planned on introducing me to a few of her friends who wanted the same. We were never even monogamous.”
Lila unlocked the bottom drawer in the bedside table, revealing a second bag filled with hard drives and other gadgets.
Tristan plunged his hand inside before she had a chance to fish out the bag. He held it loosely by his side, not moving from his spot. “I never even met any of her friends, except for the other two men she was seeing. I had to smile at her mother’s birthday party, pretending I didn’t care. I’m not even sure that I did, and that makes it worse. I hate the whole damn idea of it. I hated it even more after you left my bed the other night, and Katia crawled in. I told her what had happened. She didn’t care. I did, but I tried it that night, anyway. Unfortunately, it just proved to me that I can’t be that man, Lila. I can’t be the sort of man who goes to parties with my lover’s bedmates, the sort who turns off how he feels about the one he loves as he bounces from bed to bed. I tried so hard, but I can’t be the lover you want me to be.”
She closed the drawer and scanned the room, searching for anything else she might have left behind, then prowled into the other rooms, doing the same.
“I broke up with Katia. She wanted fun, and I wasn’t much fun to be around. It wasn’t fair to her. I would have lost her as a friend.”
He stopped in her path as she tried to leave the cabin. “Say something to me, Lila. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m sorry I was so angry when you came to the apartment before your trial. I wasn’t ready to see you yet. I was still too pissed off, and I knew you’d be okay without my help.”
He huffed out a long breath. “You wanted to talk before, so let’s talk. I’m letting it all go. All of it. I’m tired of being mad and frustrated all the time. It’s too hard. Maybe I can’t give you want you want in a lover, but I need you in my life. I at least want to be friends.”
Whatever light she’d had within her blew out, one gust of wind too strong to dodge.
The hint of a baby no longer bound them together.
Nothing bound them together.
Not even Dixon.
“Lila, don’t look at me like that.”
She reached for her luggage, but he pulled it back. “No, I’ll put it in your car if you want. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
He did as promised, sliding the bag into the back seat. “Why won’t you even talk to me? You’re scaring me.”
Lila circled the car and slipped into the front seat, starting the engine in one quick movement. She pulled out as soon as Tristan closed the door, speeding through the compound as fast as she dared, careful not to hit anyone who lingered between the cabins.
A shadowy figure in a brown coat ran after her, his fists pu
mping as he kept pace.
Her palm vibrated with a message from her mother.
Your accounts have been replenished.
Lila looked up from her palm, slamming on the brakes almost too late to avoid a second figure. It sprinted before her sedan and stopped in its path.
Brakes screeched as she came to a stop.
The car bounced to and fro, squeaking on its frame.
Dixon crouched in her headlights, standing his ground. The bumper had stopped only a few centimeters from his knees.
“For oracle’s sake!” Tristan cried out. “Dixon, are you okay?”
Dixon nodded over the car and put his hands up as though calming a cat. He pointed at himself, then pointed at the seat beside her.
She couldn’t go around him, and she couldn’t back up without hitting Tristan.
The engine whirled while he opened the passenger door. Slipping inside, Dixon showed her his palm. Something’s wrong with Lila. She’s moving out of your cabin. Get over here now! Go with her. Don’t let her run away alone this time. Please!
