Page 49 of A Series of Rooms
Jonah looked over at him for the first time since they got in the car. “What?”
“Don’t go back to him.” Liam’s voice was on the edge of hysteria. “Stay with me, let me drive you somewhere. Anywhere. We can tell someone. We can do something. Anything. Please, just don’t make me take you back to him.”
“Liam.” His voice was unexpectedly hard, but Liam pushed onward, undeterred.
“Jonah, look at you.” He waved his hand in a wild gesture toward where he was shaking apart in the passenger seat. “How can I let you out of my car right now knowing what you’re going back to?”
“‘Let me?’”
Liam winced. “You know what I mean.”
Jonah was quiet for a moment, and Liam experienced a wild surge of hope that maybe he was considering his words. When he spoke again, the rawness in his voice shattered that dream on impact.
“Did you listen to a word I told you last night?” Jonah asked. “I thought you understood now. I trusted you to understand. I can’t run from this.”
They were only blocks away from the hotel now.
“There has to be some way,” he pleaded.
There was an agitated rustle of movement in the passenger seat. “Let me out here,” Jonah said. “I can walk. I don’t want him to see you.”
“Jonah, please.”
“Liam, let me out!”
He hit the brakes, cars honking past him as he swerved into an empty fire lane. There was a fleeting moment of dead silence.
“I’m so sorry,” Liam whispered. He was surprised to feel a hand on his wrist a moment later, squeezing tight.
“It’s not your fault,” Jonah said, then, when Liam couldn’t immediately meet his eyes, he squeezed harder, just approaching the edge of pain. “Hey. Look at me.” Liam did, his tears spilling over. “This was not your fault.”
The words sounded too much likegoodbyeto be of any comfort.
“Will you—” Liam broke off in a panic when Jonah released his arm. “Jonah, will you be okay?”
There was no hesitation. “I’ll be fine.”
“Will I see you again?”
Jonah pulled his sweatshirt—the one Liam had become so accustomed to seeing on him—over his head, dropping it on the console between them. He opened his mouth to reply, then reached for the door instead.
“I have to go,” he said, climbing out onto the sidewalk. “I’m sorry.”
The door slammed shut before Liam could say another word.
For a few stunned moments, it was all he could do to watch as Jonah made his way down the block, hands swiping furiously at his exposed arms. Liam reached over and touched the sweatshirt, still warm from Jonah’s skin. When he picked it up, bringing the fabric close to his chest, a paperyrustle drew his eyes to the passenger seat. There, having fallen from the pocket, was a crumpled wad of cash.
Jonah’s money.
Liam nearly ripped the phone charger out of its port in his haste to get out of the car, breaking into a run. “Jonah!” he called, but he was too far ahead to hear him. He picked up the pace.
He was just catching up as Jonah turned a corner, disappearing from view. “Jonah,” he repeated as he rounded after him, but he skidded to a stop as soon as he cleared the corner.
Jonah had stopped, too, just a few feet in front of a tall man in a leather jacket, who was halfway out of his car. He towered over them both as he stood, looking down at Jonah with dark eyes and a mean, flat line of a mouth.
Liam’s body went numb, plastering him to the sidewalk.So this was him,he thought.
They both wheeled on Liam at the same time. It was Jonah’s widened eyes that made him realize his mistake, and his rage hardened to ice-cold dread.
