Page 11 of Savage Heart

“I have to go.”

As I walk away, she says, “Please stay. I want you to.”

I take one last look back at her and smile. “I have to go. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“I’ll always worry about you, honey. You’re my son. I don’t care how old you get. I’ll always worry.”

Anyone else on the planet could say something like that and it wouldn’t affect me like it does coming from her. I need to get away from here. It was a mistake coming back. I should have known I couldn’t come home. I don’t belong in this place. Maybe I never did.

“Alaric. Please,” she says sadly, but I simply shake my head as I disappear into the darkness.

I can’t feel like this again.

CHAPTER FOUR

Sienna

The sound of my phone chiming that mystical tune wakes me up, and I look around for Alaric, even though I know better. He said he’d be here until I fell asleep, and as much as I wanted to never close my eyes again, I drifted off sometime after our third round of sex.

I look over at my nightstand and grab my phone, answering it without even checking who it might be. “Hello?”

“Sabrina, did you sleep in today? It’s nearly nine already,” Trent says with more than a hint of disapproval in his tone.

He’s very much a man who likes to keep to schedules, and since I’m usually up long before this time on most days, I guess it’s not surprising he’s wondering if I’ve channeled my inner sloth this morning. His straight-and-narrowness is one of the things I like most about him, actually. He’s nothing like my family or a certain person named after a famous barbarian.

Until last night, I’d convinced myself that was a good thing. Now I’m not so sure.

Sitting up in bed, I stretch my limbs and answer him. “I guess I must have. It’s okay. Nine isn’t really that late.”

“What did you do last night?” Trent asks, and instantly, guilt washes over me.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just hung out for a while. I was supposed to go with the girls, but I begged off. This graduation stuff is exhausting. You know how it is.”

The words come rushing out of my mouth like I can’t stop them. I know I sound like I’m covering something up, so I quickly add, “So, are we going to see each other today?”

“That’s what I’m calling about. Get up because I have something special planned. You have the whole day free, right? That’s what you told me last week.”

I slide out of bed and walk over toward my dresser to grab the underwear and bra I’ll wear today. “Yeah. All day. What do you have planned?” I ask, never thrilled with surprises.

My entire life has shown me that surprises are rarely as wonderful for the person being surprised as the one doing the surprising. All those people my father and brothers surprised over the years would agree with me if they weren’t six feet under.

Trent chuckles in that playful way I adore about him. “No more questions. Get ready and meet me at the train station in an hour.”

The train station? Ooooh, maybe he’s planning on taking me into Manhattan for a celebration lunch? Or maybe we’re going to see a Broadway show.

My first instinct is to ask more questions, exactly what he told me not to do, but I clamp my mouth shut until the urge passes. “An hour it is. Where at the train station do you want me to meet you?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll see me as you’re walking there. I’ll be the one with the graduation present for my girlfriend.”

Ooooh, a present too? I’d been wondering what Trent would do to celebrate my big day. I guess this is it. I better get a move on so I don’t miss it all.

“Okay, an hour at the station. I don’t know what you have planned, but this reminds me of those old movies you got me watching. Taking the train to some unknown destination to do God only knows what. Very old school, Trent. I love it!”

“Good, then get yourself ready. See you in an hour!”

“I’ll be there.”

“Love you,” he says right before I end the call, just like he always does. And I never do.

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