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“Why are you here? Atthisbar?”
Thane’s brow creased at my question. “I was going to have a drink with Adam. He just finished his shift, and had texted me to join him when I got off work. Why are you here? I figured you’d be out with Nox.”
Thane said it innocently, but his betrayal had made me question everything, and I hated it. “How did you meet her out there, then?”
Thane didn’t like that I wasn’t answering his questions, his huff of annoyance evident as I continued to ask my own instead. When I stared, not budging, he breathed out a long breath before answering this time. “Before I started school at UT, I met her at that throwback party Adam had dragged me to. You were too cool to come, remember?”
“It sounds vaguely familiar. Your point?”
“That’s where I met her. She was Kelly to my Zack.”
“And you haven’t seen her since then?”
Rolling his eyes, Thane had gotten to his limit with my line of questions. “I’m not sure what your deal is with that girl, but no, I haven’t. I gave her my number on a napkin. The party made us leave all modern technology in our cars or at home. But she never called after that night. I was just as surprised to find her out there as finding you. Now, have I passed whatever test you’re giving me so I can tend to the drunken girl out there?”
“So, you have no idea she’s Nox?”
He stopped, his back ramrod straight. He’d been moving toward the door before my question. Thane spun around, and the emotion on his face was so genuine I knew he hadn’t. He looked stricken as a wave of emotions passed over him at the news. I relaxed, nodding as I walked forward and pulled him the remainder of the way toward the door.
“Nox? But how? Why was she with some other dude then?”
I stepped out into the hall, not answering him, determined to get to the bottom of the epic cluster fuck myself. Unfortunately, when we cleared the door, the hallway was now empty.
“Fuck.”
Taking off, I pushed my way through the sweaty bodies, looking for her. I saw what could possibly be her being helped out the door, a guy in a hoodie next to her. Shit. I wasn’t sure if she was Lennox, my Nox, but I didn’t want her to be taken in her state either. Walking to the bar, I smacked it to get one of the bartender’s attention. Adam was nowhere in sight, but Thane had said he was off, so he could be anywhere in the crowd. When a bartender saw me, they looked over relieved, and walked over with a card in hand.
“Oh good, I thought she’d left. Can you give your friend her card back? Thanks.”
They handed it to me and walked off before I could reply. The receipt was long as I looked at the tab. Slowly, with trepidation, I glanced at the name on the card. I didn’t know what I wanted it to say, honestly. But when I saw the name,Lennox James, it felt like a knife pierced my heart. The guy had been right. I scrunched up the receipt in my fist and stalked out of the bar. I bumped into a few people who weren’t fast enough to get out of my way, not caring as I plowed them over in my rage. Thane chased me, catching me once we were outside.
“Slade, stop! What’s going on? Where did she go?”
He grabbed my arm, and I twirled, slapping the card to his chest, my anger getting the better of me as I bit out my words. “Her fucking name is Lennox James. Congratulations, you were right. She’s been catfishing me. I was just a joke to her. So much so, she sent an actor to play her tonight, not able to continue the facade. Of course, my luck was to come face to face with her hours later and feel a true connection with her. Joke’s on me though, she’s a liar and a fake, and I want nothing to do with her.”
I stepped back, the card dropping from my hand as I walked off, leaving everything to do with Lennox James in my rearview.
When I woke the following morning, it was to a slew of Thane’s texts and a link to a news article of a crash that ended with the death of a cop as the scene. I found myself rushing to the bathroom, emptying the contents of the night before into the porcelain bowl after reading it.
Had I done that? Was I to blame for her fate? Was my role in life to curse the women I love to die? My anger had seeped out of me last night, almost a tangible toxicity permeating the air. Had it reached out, taking on a life of its own in the process? Everywhere I went, I created havoc around me, and once again it appeared my rage had taken another life from the world in comeuppance. Just as it did with my mother years prior.
Guilt weighed heavily on my soul all day, and I found myself driving up to Bowling Green with the excuse of returning her card late that afternoon. I’d found it on the kitchen counter once I’d ventured out of the bathroom, Thane having placed it there. It gave me the excuse I needed though to attempt to assuage myself. It took two hours for me to build up the nerves to enter the hospital. When I walked down the hall, I found an older man sitting against the wall outside the room the nurse had given me. Based on his age and looks, I gathered he was Lennox’s father.
“Um, hi. How… is she?”
He looked up, meeting me with tears in his eyes, and I sank to my knees, devastation settling in. I realized I might hate Nox at the moment, but I also loved her, and the hate didn’t make love vanish overnight after being forged over eight years. A pain, unlike anything I’d ever felt, punctured me deeper than even the night before. Peering up, I found the man watching me, a look of recognition coming over his face.
“You're Blaze, aren’t you?”
“What?How?” I stuttered, falling back from shock.
He smiled kindly, the corners lifting up slightly. “Son, I’m the chief of police here. Do you honestly think I didn’t look into who my daughter was writing to for all those years? Once I knew you weren’t a middle-aged man, I stayed out of it, but I knew she was going to meet you last night, and then something happened.”
Accepting what he said, I nodded, liking his easy manner. He didn’t judge, or overstep, but let her make her own choices. I liked that about him. “Is she… is she okay?”
The smile dropped, and I worried I was about to be crushed beyond repair for the second time in my life. First, my mother’s death, and now, the girl who’d breathed life into me all those years ago.
“She’s alive, but I doubt she’ll be okay for a while.”
