Page 97 of Ride the Sky

Her eyes drop to the water. “Nothing.”

“I thought you said no half-ass answers.”

She snarls. “Fuck you, Wyatt.”

She’s pissed because I’m pushing her, affecting her. Forcing her to drop her walls, to tell me why she ran. I’m ready, I’m here to knock them all down.

Her eyes dart around the backyard. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

“You need to,” I press. “You think runnin’ away will fix everything, but it won’t. It won’t get him out of your head,because you and I both know all he’s done since you left is follow you around.”

She closes her eyes, covers her face. “Stop! Stop it.”

My fists clench and unclench beneath the water. “Because of that motherfucker, you left. You left us.”

“There was never any us,” she flings.

“Now who’s the liar?” The sharp snap of my voice makes her jump. I soften it, but it’s no less stern. “I’ve felt you, Fallon. I’ve fucked you. I’ve held you in my arms as you bled out and begged you to fuckin’ stay. So you lie to me again and tell me there’s no us, I fuckin’ dare you.”

We glare at each other. Seconds tick by.

“I hate what he did to you.” I soften my tone. “I hate that he hurt you. That he took you from me.”

She goes still, expressionless. Her eyes glass over as she says, “I don’t want to talk anymore about Aiden.” She wets her lips, stares daggers at me. “And if you cared so much about anus, you had your chance.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

She looks at me like I’m stupid. “I told you where I was in my letter.”

I blink. “Whoa. Hold up. Rewind that back. Letter?”

She looks surprised then recovers. “I left you a letter. The night I left. I left one for Koty and one for you.”

The news hits me like bomb.

Water ripples. I push off my seat, swim toward her, grip her fingers. Her teeth click together, but she doesn’t stop me from touching her.

The heart in my chest is unstable. “You told me where you were?”

Her voice is cold, wobbly. “I thought someone with half a brain cell should know.”

She told me where she was.She told me.

“Fuck, Fallon.” My voice breaks. “Baby, I never got it.”

“You didn’t?” Something like relief, pain, crosses her face. “I thought…” She swallows. “I thought you didn’t come, because you didn’t want to.”

“No.” I lace our fingers, holding tight. “I would have come. I would have been down there with you the fucking second I read it.”

Fuck. All this time. All this time lost, all this miscommunication. We’re both fucking idiots.

I grip her chin, force her to look at me. “Do you hear me? I would have been there.”

She laughs wetly. “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”

The fuck it doesn’t.

“Was that all that was in the letter?” I rasp. “Where you were?”

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