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I ran a harried hand through my hair. This was why I didn’t do this shit. But it was better this way than the alternatives. And it would get worse before it got better.
“Fine. Have it your way.”
I stepped back, gesturing for her to go before me so we could get the hell off my yacht.
Noemi remained quiet on the drive to the airport. She didn’t even ask me where we were. A car met us at the pier, and she sat in stony silence until we got to the airport. She was pissed at me, and I deserved it. But she didn’t know just how cruel I could get.
The car I’d ordered dropped us off at her airline. I walked her to check-in where I used my credit card to get her boarding pass. She was all messed up. I could feel her anger and anxiety. I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her that everything would be okay, but I couldn’t guarantee her that. Not yet. Someday soon, I’d be able to. Maybe she’d forgive me. Maybe it wouldn’t be until after she’d moved on and put the memories of our week together into a forgotten vault. Maybe it’d be after she gave her body to some other fucker who could take better care of her than I could. Someone who hadn’t laid out a calculated plan to break her.
I masked my emotions and turned to face her with the single boarding pass in my hand.
Confused, she looked at it, then at me. I just stood there without a fucking clue what to say.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“Your flight leaves at one-fifteen. Do you have everything? Your passport, that book you’ve been reading?”
Like fucking deja-vu. I was putting her on another plane, flying her as far away from me as I could get her. Sending her away before I could really hurt her. But it was too late for that.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up at me.
I couldn’t fucking help myself. I swiped her lower eyelid with my thumb as the moisture started to spill over.
“Don’t cry,bambina.”
“Then tell me what’s going on,” she insisted, her voice strong through the tears. “Where’s your boarding pass?”
“I’ll get it, but it’s for a different airline.”
“You’re not going back with me? You’re deserting me?”
“No, I’m not going back with you, but I’m not deserting you. You’ll get on the plane and fly back to New York. One of Gabriel’s men will meet you at the airport and drive you back to Connecticut.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “But what about... what happened? The man in the bungalow? The pirates? You’re sending me out there alone? What kind of bastard are you?”
I sucked in an angry breath. I wasn’t angry with her, but at the circumstances that put us here. That my plans had to change. In the end, it didn’t matter. The result was her anger and heartbreak.
“It’s better to get it over with, Noemi. There isn’t going to be an us, so there’s no reason to go on pretending. You’ll be safe on the return flight. No one knows your travel plans but me.”
“And the man who’s supposed to pick me up from the airport.”
“That hasn’t been arranged yet. Gabriel will not send someone until you arrive and, on his life,
he will send somebody he can trust.”
She blinked at me. “So, you are deserting me? Just like that. We’re through.”
“Yes, Noemi. What we had is done.”
“And you’re going to go raise your hell now, or whatever you want to call it?”
I pulled her to me quickly. Anyone passing by would think it was a lover’s embrace, but she had to know what a precarious situation she was in.
“I’m putting my trust in you, Noemi. What we had, the things we discussed, are private. Do you understand me?” I whispered harshly in her ear.
She tilted her head up. “Are you threatening me?”
For fuck’s sake. I was. I wasn’t. The fuck if I knew what I was doing.
