Page 39 of Ruling Scar
I roll my eyes. “You’re literally about to watch me walk to it.”
“I’d buckle your seatbelt if you’d let me, but you have this thing about keeping me your dirty secret.”
“I have to go now.”
He lets me, his fingers gliding down my arm as I pass. Even with the thick winter coat, I shiver. And not from the burst of frigid air.
My phone lights up as I shut the car door.
Elijah: Is there a reason you haven’t texted me yet?
Lennie: I didn’t take you for the clingy type.
Elijah: Many people make that mistake.
I expect Mom to be waiting up. Instead, it’s Dad.
He closes the book in his hands, a political memoir, and takes off his reading glasses. His hair is peppered with gray and the lamp next to him, the only light on in the living room, highlights it.
He glances at his watch. “You were out late.”
“Sorry.”
He shakes his head before I’m finished. “I’m just surprised is all.” He scans my dress. “Did you wear a coat?”
I smile. It’s a classic Boris Akatov question.
They say Dad nearly ripped the entire city apart when they kidnapped Mom. He did things to people, killed and tortured them, without a second thought.
I don’t want to upset Mom, but I also don’t want to upset Dad.
I know my parents would do anything for us kids. But I don’t want to put them in that position.
He turns off the lamp, motioning for me to go up the stairs. “I’d offer you a nightcap, but you look tired.”
That’s putting it lightly.
“You have fun tonight?” Dad asks.
I think about Ren dancing at Fujimori’s. About how I burst in and found my friends. I wish I’d thought of a way of kidnapping Albert and taking him home with me.
My lips tingle. I must be stupid, but when Elijah leaned toward me that second time, I thought maybe he wanted another kiss. A deeper one. What’s he going to do with the photo he took?
“Darling?” Dad prompts, following me up the stairs. In his robe and slippers, no one would equate him to the ruthless businessman he is.
“Yes, but you’re right,” I say softly. “I’m too introverted for these late nights.”
Chuckling, he pulls me into a hug, before slipping down the hall.
I toss my dress off and stuff some sweatpants on. There’s the need to cry but for some reason, I can’t as I pull the bedcovers over my head. With weary muscles, I settle into the mattress when the dark room is illuminated.
Elijah: Leonora if you don’t have the basic decency to do as I ask then I don’t see this going well.
Lennie: When you say going well do you mean for you or me? I think I’ll be fine. I can recommend a therapist to work on your clinginess.
Elijah: I take that to mean you arrived home safely.
Elijah: Goodnight Leonora.
