Page 61 of Cloud Storm

Calling her by her name, with only silence that follows, is as cruel as it gets.

“Ariel!”

From: Arthur

To: California Girl

Date: October 04, 2019 2:29 PM

Subject: RE: What have you done?

How can I excuse myself?

How do I explain?

I could give you a thousand excuses, even tell you the truth but I’m sure you wouldn’t believe me. Why would you? I stood you up, just left you there alone on a day that was supposed to be unforgettable for us.

Tell me that I have not lost you.

Tell me there’s another chance for us.

Tell me that in your heart there is a place for this idiot who is torn between reason and madness, between what dictates reason and what screams his heart.

I have to see you. Let’s try it one more time. Please.

Desperate,

A x

Chapter 15

I sit at his desk, my head spinning as easily as the leather chair I’m on. Everything is here.

Every single email I shared with Arthur, my virtual online friend. I feel naked, vulnerable in a storm I didn’t know was coming to hit town. I have a lot of questions and I’m not sure if now’s a good time to look for the answers.

How can I trust either of them? Arthur stood me up last night and Lancelot is… I don’t even have a name for him.

Is he taking his revenge after all?

“Ariel, did you find anything?” Roselynn’s voice brings me back to reality and what’s happening right at this very moment.

I look at her still in shock, with the sheets of paper in my hands.

“What are you doing?” Roselynn asks and I struggle to remember what I’m meant to be looking for. “Ariel, we need the doctor’s number or at least his insurance information to take him to the emergency room. Chase thinks he could have pneumonia.”

She pulls the pile of papers from my hands and, like the tea sipper she is, starts reading them.

“What are you doing with this?” she scolds. “This is private.”

Little does she know, this is far from private. They’re my emails.

“Actually, I should be asking why the Suit has these emails.”

She looks me directly in the eye, and I see reflected her bewilderment and worry.

“I don’t understand, Ariel, what are you saying?”

I don’t understand what is happening here either and I’m shaking.

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