Page 98 of Love Him Like Water

The pawnshop might have been a hellhole, but the owner had clearly invested in some good cameras, because Cinna was actually able to zoom in without losing clarity.

And there she was, staring out at the street for a second, before her gaze moved toward the pawn shop, looking at something in the distance.

The apartment building, maybe.

Her gaze flicked up, and I saw it when it broke across her face.

Just… devastation.

“I’m gonna talk to you like an old friend, not your capo right now,” Cinna said, voice tight. “What the fuck did you say to that girl?”

“I… I told her I couldn’t talk to her right then and to go home,” I said. But the memory was sharper now. How she went from beaming at me, all sizzling excitement at seeing me, at whatever she was going to say to me, to looking like I’d struck her.

“You told her? Or you barked at her?” Cinna asked, knowing me too well.

“Probably the latter,” I admitted. “Rico was hurt. Dav was struggling to hold onto the guy. I… I needed to get in there.”

We both watched as Lore’s haunted eyes stared off for another moment before looking down at the coffees in her hands. Before tossing them.

And rushing off in the direction away from the cameras. Her pace just short of an actual run.

“Where is she going?” I said, thinking aloud.

“To the subway,” Cinna said, looking over at me. “Congratulations,” she went on, making my gaze lift to find fire flicking in her eyes. “You finally did it. You finally broke her. Honestly, I’m surprised it took this fucking long,” she said, suddenly wrenching away from me, like being too close to me sickened her.

“Hey,” I growled, rushing through the store, following her, both of us ignoring the owner asking about his ‘payment.’ “Hold the fuck up,” I snapped, grabbing Cinna’s arm, yanking her back.

Only to have her whip around, arm raised, slapping me so hard across the face that I jerked back.

“The fuck?”

“That was for Lore,” she said.

“What are you talking about?”

“How are you this fucking blind?” she raged, not caring that she was drawing attention from people passing by.

“Blind to what?”

“To, I don’t know, everything involving your goddamn wife,” she seethed. “How is it that Elian can see it? And I can see it? But you are so fucking clueless?”

“Cinna, for fuck’s sake, say something that makes sense.”

“That girl is, and I can’t understand for the life of me why,” she said. “But she is in love with you. And you treat her like she doesn’t even matter. Like she’s nothing. Just, what, fuck her when you feel like it, and forget about her all the other time?”

No.

No, that wasn’t right.

I thought about her fucking constantly. It was frustrating, actually, how I could never seem to fully concentrate on anything anymore without thoughts of her invading my mind.

But more than that… no.

Lore wasn’t in love with me.

“Did you ever even ask her why she married you?” Cinna asked.

“She had to,” I said, dread starting to unfurl in my gut, having a feeling I was wrong. That I was wrong about… everything.

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