Page 47 of The Sin

“You don’t know?”

I squinted at her. “Know what?”

“Oh. My. God.” She fanned herself with a hand. “You’re not going to believe this!”

I thought I was prepared for anything, for every lie, for every earth-shattering revelation, for every blind betrayal.

But what Jenna told me next…?

I was not prepared for that.

My blood turned to ice and my pulse raced, chasing that chill through my veins.

Jenna left soon after. She had a previous engagement, somewhere to be. I didn’t ask. She seemed to think she’d see me again, that I had some free pass to move between Capra and The Smoke as I liked.

I didn’t correct her.

I smiled, and I assumed I said all the right things as I walked her down the stairs and waved goodbye, because she didn’t seem to notice anything off, buteverythingwas off.I was cold, so very cold and numb, inside and out. I was a marble statue in a snow blizzard.

I was still cold and numb to the bone when Roman arrived. I’d left the door ajar after seeing Jenna out, and he walked right in.

His gaze landed on me, and his jaw softened.

The affect was lost on me. A million thoughts and feels buzzed around me, threatening to penetrate my shield. If I let one in, I’d have to let them all in, and I would explode.

I jumped up from my perch on the edge of the bed and shrugged into my coat. I’d cleaned up last night’s pasta disaster and I’d rinsed out the coffee cups. The apartment was ready to be left, and I was ready to leave it. “Let’s go.”

Unlike Jenna, he noticed something was seriously wrong. He came to a dead stop in the middle of the room, his eyes hooding. “What have I done now?”

“Nothing.” I grabbed my overnight bag from the bed and slid it over my shoulder.

“Georga.”

I swept around him and out the door. “The keys are on the table.”

I knew my way out The Smoke and to the train tunnel. If he wanted to catch up, he had the extra leg length to do so.

16

Iwas in the solar fields before I sensed Roman at my back. Seemed nothing could make me be completely unaware of him, no matter how deeply I dived into self-preservation. He didn’t catch up to me, though. He kept a few strides behind, as if he was as attuned to my desperate need to be alone as I was attuned to his presence.

If I had it in me, I might have marveled at walking out of a walled city in broad daylight and across a field. If I had it in me, I might have felt a twinge of regret at leaving The Smoke behind forever. Those were some of the thoughts and feels that slammed up against my shield.

The sky was gray and miserable. The air was crisp and biting. The landscape of solar panels looked like a science experiment gone wrong all over nature’s ass.

My skin grew clammy beneath my winter coat. Maybe it was the fast pace I was setting. Make it was the bleak, cruel world seeping in.

My bag banged against my hip with each step and I pinched the strap at my shoulder to shorten it. That’s when I realized Roman wasn’t as far behind as he’d been.

He plucked at the strap. “Let me carry this for you.”

His voice was a gentle rumble, strong and kind.

I didn’t look at him, and I didn’t slow my steps, but I did let him slide the bag off my shoulder. We had a grueling three hour hike ahead and he had more muscle, training and stamina than me. “Thanks.”

We entered the opening of the tunnel and before us, the dim light slowly faded and narrowed into pitch blackness. Since I was determinedly striding up in front, Roman handed me a flashlight.

“We have plenty of time before the afternoon train,” he commented. “There’s no rush.”

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