Page 81 of Deception & Daylight
“In and out. That’s it.”
My eyes snap up to meet the brilliant blue irises of the man who’s stolen my heart. Paige must have called him. “There she is.” He palms the back of my head, bringing me flush against his chest. He gently kisses my temple and my breathing starts to slow as I listen to his erratic heartbeat. “Fuck, Mags. You scared the shit out of us.”
I glance around the apartment, locking eyes with a distressed looking Paige. Cade has her wrapped in his embrace, mascara tracks staining her rosy cheeks. Guilt swamps me as I realize just how worried they must’ve been. “I’m sorry.”
Miles stiffens beneath me. “Don’t you dare apologize. None of this is your fault.”
Minutes tick by slowly as I find my composure. Exhaling a shaky breath, I pull away slightly to look at my friends, unable to find the words to express how much they mean to me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if they hadn’t been here. “Did the detective say anything else?” I ask hesitantly.
Paige shakes her head in response, loosening her grip on Cade. “I told him we’d call back. But we don’t have to do this today, Mags.”
“No, I want to. I need to know why this happened or I’ll never be able to move on.”
Eyeing me with trepidation, she sighs. “Ok.”
She hands the phone back to me once the detective is on the line, and I quickly put it on speakerphone. “Miss Watson. Are you alright? This can wait.”
“I’m okay. Please tell me what happened.”
“We were called to your home for a welfare check in the early hours of the morning, where we located your deceased roommate. The landlord — your father, I believe — said he hadn’t heard from Eric in well over two weeks and the rent was past due. There was a note.”
Unable to wrap my head around the fact that my father was somehow involved in the discovery, I focus on the biggest bombshell instead. “He’s… dead?”
“Yes. It appears he couldn’t live with the guilt of what he did to you and he took his own life. It’s over, Miss Watson. We have no reason to believe there was any foul play. We’ll run the DNA to confirm, but I believe your case will be closed once we have final confirmation.”
“Th… Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Take care of yourself, Miss Watson.”
When the line goes dead, I collapse into Miles’ arms and sob. The cushion dips on my other side as the familiar scent of my best friend wraps around me. Having the two most important people in my life hold me while I’m falling apart soothes the broken part of me that’s always longed for a family. And when Cade crouches down in front of me, his hands resting on top of Paige’s on my knee, silently offering his support, I know I’m exactly where I need to be.
Paige lingers as long as she can, but she has to get back to Sofia, so she leaves me with a crushing hug and a reminder to call her later. Miles ushers me out of the diner and back to his truck, and the whole time I’m completely numb. I cried out every thought and emotion I had, and now I feel utterly empty. I got the closure I wanted, and instead of relief, irrevocably shattered.Because there’s no longer any reason for me to stay.
Miles
As swiftly as Maggie fell apart in my arms, it took half that time for her to piece herself back together. And I don’t know what’s going on in her head because she refuses to talk about it. It’s been six days since she got the call, and she’s been eerily unaffected since we left Rosie’s that afternoon. She’s not coping, and I’m worried she’s trying to lock it away until it inevitably comes crashing to the surface.
I didn’t know I could miss someone when we’re basically living together. Our banter is non-existent, and she’s thrown herself into writing to avoid talking about what happened. She’s a shell of the woman I’ve fallen for, and it kills me to see her this way.
The Oak Ridge Police made contact for the first time since Matty’s arrest. They’ll be keeping him in custody pending his next hearing, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting out anytime soon. The investigation is ongoing, but it seems Maggie isn’t the only victim of his blackmailing schemes, just the latest in a long line of unfortunate souls who happened to land in his crosshairs. I thought the news would get some kind of reaction from her, but she shrugged it off like everything else.
“Isn’t it about time you get back to work?” she asks, sizing me up from her spot at the kitchen island where she’s thumbing through the pages of her new favorite notebook.
“Sick of me already?” I tease, pulling open the fridge for the second time so it doesn’t look like I came in here to check on her. I pull out another unnecessary bottle of water and lean against the counter. I won’t pretend to be impervious to her lack of emotion. She’s closed herself off to everything and everyone as a defense mechanism. I know, I’ve been there, but it’s only going to make things so much worse when she can’t keep up the pretense.
She looks up from her work, pinning me with a glare. “You’re hovering.”
“You’re dissociating.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m fine? I got my closure. I know what happened. I’m moving on. Why can’t you?” She hops off the stool, storming past me towards the living room, but I snag her by the wrist before she can get far and she keeps her back turned so she doesn’t have to look me in the eye.
I stroke my thumb over her pulse point, noticing how thin her wrist feels in my palm. Keeping my voice low, I say, “Is this you moving on, Mags? You’re not sleeping. You’rebarely eating. You walk around like nothing happened, but I see the emptiness in your eyes. I see you, baby. I’vealwaysseen you.”
She pulls herself free of my hold and glances over her shoulder. “You saw a broken person who needed rescuing.”
“That’s not fair, Mags. I never saw you that way. You were never fucking broken to me.” Is that what she thinks? Does she not know by now I can't even breathe without her?
“I was, Miles. Maybe still am. I don’t know. But I can’t stay here.” She heads up the stairs to the bedroom, gathering her things along the way. I follow close behind, and when she starts throwing her things into the duffel bag, I lose it.
