Page 26 of Duplicity

Cat said something he didn’t register.

Lucas shifted too close. “I’m calling Peter.”

“No!” Simon whipped around to him. “I don’t want him here!”

He backed up a couple of steps, stumbling on the uneven grass.Get it together.But no matter what he said to himself, that same fear he’d tried to stuff down was now swallowing him whole.

He needed to get out of here.

Simon glanced around. Anywhere was better than here where far too many people were looking at him.Escape like you did last time.

Cat moved in front of him. “Simon, look at me.”

He managed to still enough to focus on her face.

She stretched out her arm. “Take my hand.”

“I have to go.”

She motioned with her hand. “I’ll drive.” She stepped a fraction closer. “Whatever you’re scared of?—”

“I’m not scared.” Why would anyone believe that? He didn’t, but who wanted to be the victim?

“Whatever, whoever it is, they’re not here. Who is here?” Cat asked, but she wasn’t looking for a response. “A whole lot of people who aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”

“I have to go.” Somewhere. Anywhere that he wouldn’t have to pretend to be strong.

She took his hand. “So let’s go.”

ELEVEN

“I’m not weak.”

Simon strode ahead of her into her house. He hadn’t said much on the drive over, and she didn’t try to coax anything out of him. His reaction had been unexpected but not out of the ordinary. It seemed as if no one who knew him understood. Which meant he hadn’t told them the story.

He’d been keeping it in all this time.

No wonder it hit him hard.

“Let’s get a soda and sit.”

Simon turned to her, standing by her kitchen table. He looked lost. But she wasn’t the one who would find him. She walked over and flipped off the light he’d turned on when he walked into her house.

Cat touched his arm as she passed. He didn’t react at all. She blinked at the light in the fridge and got two cans, one a cola and the other a clear soda. “Come on.”

She waited in the doorway, and he followed tentatively. Still in shock. Or knowing she would likely get him to talk about what happened to him as soon as they sat. She ran her hand down his arm, tugging on his hand. “Here.”

Hopefully, he would find it easier in the dark.

She set his hand on the back of the chair and offered him his choice of drink flavor. She heard him ease into the chair, and the can popped. She hit the button on the remote, and the blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows rose slowly. The muted yellow of streetlights below them gave the room a mustard tint.

“Whoa.”

“It’s why I bought this condo.” Here on the east side of town, she’d grabbed up a place with a view out the back that was nothing but mountains. Trees. Lots of the residents skied out the back door of the building, taking a lift from the edge of the property to the top of the mountain. This time of year, it was hiking trails, miles of open space to explore.

Right now, the night sky stretched above the peaks with an ocean of stars.

Cat settled into the chair to the left, both armchairs facing the windows. She curled her legs up and took a long draw from the soda. Her bookcase to the left overflowed with all her favorites, shelves of books she’d bought but hadn’t read yet. She still continued to purchase them, making space in her life for more of what she loved.

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