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“No.”
Fuck. Fuck. No.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, wiping away the tears from my cheeks with the pads of my palms.
I stared around the platform. There was a mixed crowd of professionals and shopping commuters and I didn’t really want to open my suitcase, but if I wanted to get on the next train, it was a necessity. I pulled my suitcase away from them and onto a free bench. Keeping my distance from people, before I slid the code to the pass number and opened my suitcase. I pushed my hand into a side pocket and grasped my money.
I held the cash in my hand as I stared at a man with his arms sprawled across the back of the opposite bench. He twirled his lighter through his fingers as he checked out my suitcase. His eyes met mine, and I swallowed. Not that it helped one bit, as the thick lump of fear still clung to my throat. Pulling out my cash, quickly and discreetly I put the money into my handbag and hoped to god he didn’t see.
Slamming the suitcase shut and dragging it back to the ticket booth, where I had to rejoin the growing queue, but I had some time and I was happy to get away from the man. My mobile chimed. Isla. I pulled it out of my bag, looked at the screen. Unknown. I chewed my lip as I wondered whether to answer.
“Hello,” I whispered.
“Where are you, darling?” Jackson asked.
“Out,” I said without faltering. It was true. But it didn’t stop a sob falling from my mouth. I held the phone away for a moment.
“Where is out?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, Jackson, but I can’t do it. Your pack... me... it won’t work,” I said and hiccuped back a sob.
“Where are you Tilly?” Jackson growled.
“I’m not telling you. It doesn’t matter.” I dragged my suitcase another few steps.
“For passengers requiring Birmingham New Street, please go to platform four.”
I glanced at the speakers and forced the cancel button on my mobile, hoping I cut off the announcer on time.
I wanted Jackson and Luca, possibly Cruz, and it could have been perfect, but it wasn’t. Jackson was as sexy as shit. He made me laugh, and I’d fallen in love with him. Luca, much more reserved, and refined where Jackson certainly wasn’t, polished where Jackson was gruff. And I knew there was something about Luca that made me go weak. He was a good different.
Cruz.
I knew he was my mate. I knew he made me go weak at the knees and my heart flutter as though I was having a coronary. But I wasn’t sure.
Did he save me? He knew I was there all the time.
He was protecting me.
I strolled back to the ticket queue and paid in cash for my ticket, and dragged my suitcase to another area. A place where the man fiddling with his lighter wasn’t sitting. But my heart raced as grainy footsteps sounded far behind me. I widened my stride and got ready to run.
I twisted my head slightly and out of the corner of my eye; a large, dark mass was getting closer to me. I didn’t bother to ask myself why this was happening to me. I stepped back, out of the reach of this man.
The footsteps got closer, and I was sure now a person was following me. But as he walked straight past me, I laughed. I didn’t know if I was going mad or on the edge of hysteria, and it took a few minutes to relax. Luckily, it was only a few minutes of waiting before the train arrived at the platform. I dragged my suitcase over the edge of the train and found a quiet seat with a window view.
And it was only when the train moved out of the station that I finally breathed.
