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“I told the cops what really happened.”
There was a long pause between us. I wasn’t surprised by what she said, but I wished that she hadn’t said those words. How the fuck could her father allow such a thing to happen? Carla should never have spoken to the police. She didn’t deserve to spend even a moment in jail for killing that asshole.
But I kept these thoughts to myself even though it was killing me to do so.
“I had a recording of Callum confessing. There’s also the scuffle, and him trying to kill me.”
I swallowed heavily. “And?”
There was clearly more to this. If there wasn’t, Carla wouldn’t be looking at me with such pain in her eyes.
“And the lawyer is working on getting the D.A. to accept a plea deal, formally.”
I felt ill. A plea deal meant that Carla was not getting off scot-free. “They wanted blood. We thought that maybe I would be able to get away with community service, but they want to make an example out of someone.”
My hand reached out for her cheek. “No,” I said.
“Eli…”
“No. You aren’t going to prison because of that fucker. They’ve taken enough from you.”
Carla smiled at me and placed her hand over my own. “I killed someone.”
“It was self-defense.”
She sighed. “I would have killed him without it, and you know that.”
Those words made my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. I’d stopped her from killing Caleb while he was drugged out on the floor, and even though I wanted to believe that she would not have done it, some part of me knew she would have.
“They wanted to send you to prison,” she said, sniffling as she became overcome. “They are willing to send me to a treatment center.”
“What? You don’t need treatment.”
Carla was perfect. To me she was, and I wanted her to know that. But she placed a finger on my lips.
“I need help,” she said, her voice soft. “The last few years….” She released a heavy breath.
“I can help you. I told you before that we can leave. Go anywhere you want.”
Carla’s eyes grew sad. “That’s a wonderful dream, Eli.” She pulled away from me, and I felt my heart shatter slightly. I knew what she was doing. She was telling me goodbye. But I didn’t want to say goodbye. We’d already said it once, and we’d almost lost one another. If anything, it felt like we should be together. But I didn’t say those things. I could see the resignation in Carla’s face.
“I need to learn how to take care of myself. If I don’t, it’s only a matter of time before I start running again.”
My shoulders sagged.
“Kiss me,” Carla ordered. The words shocked me out of the numbness I felt. “One last time.”
Leaning down, I pressed my lips to Carla’s, allowing myself one last taste of her sweetness. Her soft lips molded to my own, and it felt like we were both trying to infuse everything we felt into that one moment.
The last moment we were likely to ever have.
My hands wrapped around Carla’s waist, and I brought her body closer to my own, not wanting to let her go.
“Times up, you two.” The sound of the officer’s voice broke us apart.
Carla pulled away. Her face was sad, and it broke my heart. “I’ll be seeing you.”
Those were the last words she spoke to me before walking out the door and out of my life just as quickly as she’d come into it.
