Page 11 of The Man I Love

Picking up the rest of the game boxes, Samantha placed them on a shelf before turning to face the studio. Tiny rainbows danced on the walls of the apartment from Peter’s stained glass. The sun was barely visible as it rose in the sky, yet somehow the light and glass found one another and created magic.

Sam crawled into bed around dawn, the sun already peeking in through her window as she reached across her mattress to grab her cellphone from the nightstand.

Wild Stallion:Missed call 10:57pm. Over six hours earlier.

She rolled to her back, squinting at the screen as she remembered the day he’d given them their code names in a gas station parking lot. Two years later, she was still giddy every time she saw it.

Tristan hadn’t left a message, and although she knew he’d still be sleeping, she had the urge to call him and say goodnight.

Rolling to her side, her still drunk fingers typed out a message she knew he wouldn’t get until he woke up that morning.

Mona:Good night you sexy beast. I love you more than you will ever know.

She waited a few moments, but the telltale dots that would say he was awake never came. She stuffed a pillow under her cheek, forced her eyes closed, and tried to keep the world from spinning. This was the first time she’d been this drunk in years. The first night since moving to New York, that she wouldn’t talk to him before falling asleep. The first day in two years that they wouldn’t sayI love you.

5

CHAPTER FIVE

December

Eight Months Earlier

Los Angeles

Tristan tooka long breath as he pulled his truck along the tree-lined street in front of his client’s home. Leaves had littered the road with the change of the season, crunching beneath his oversized tires as he came to a full stop at the curb. His chest was tight as he glanced down at his phone for what felt like the hundredth time.

Mona-Good night you sexy beast. I love you more than you will ever know.

He’d read that text at least a hundred times that morning, and he’d probably read it a hundred more before he was finally home. What on earth had she been doing up so early? The time stamp read 2 am in L.A., but she was telling him goodnight. That meant it had been five in the morning in New York. He’d known Samantha a long time, and mornings were not something she took part in willingly. He imagined she was sleeping now, which is the reason he hadn’t texted back just yet.

Damn he missed her. He missed everything about her. Even finding all the drawers and cabinets in the entire house open because she had a million things on her mind and would forget to close them.

Picking up the phone, he traced his thumb over the message. “Fuck it,” he muttered under his breath, then typed out a message and pressed send.

Wild Stallion- I love you more.

He grabbed the door handle, but a notification came almost instantly.

Dad: Can we talk?

He nearly dropped the phone.

He read the message for a second time, and bile burned up his esophagus. His phone pinged again.

Dad:Tristan, please.

It had been over two years since he’d heard from his father, two fucking years. What could he possibly want now?

His thumb hovered over the keyboard as a million responses formed in his mind. Seconds passed into minutes. Shock, sadness, and confusion whirled around his head making it ache.

What happened?

The question lingered on his tongue as though he were a child.

A vision of his sister Renee in her wedding dress came to his mind. She was standing at the end of the altar, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her in his life. Yet there was sadness in her eyes that still haunted him to this day. Their dad had left her broken and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

Delete.

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