Page 94 of The Crush
“Yes.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible.” His head bows again. “A few days.”
“A few days,” I repeat, feeling sick. “That’s great.” I turn, heading back for the house, and, at least, I’m ready to show him my hand now that he’s shown me his. “Guess it’s good then that I’m already packed” Aslightexaggeration, as I’m not sure thatfrantically getting ready and throwing things into my suitcase this afternoon really counted as packing. “May still have to get a few things there though.”
“Isabel,” he mutters behind me while I step inside, my gaze having lingered on his face long enough to see the understanding dawning. “Isabel.”
I won’t do this again. I won’t.
“Isabel.”
He always says he doesn’t want me near it. If that’s the case, then he should have stayed away from it, too.
Seventy-Five
Daniel
“Isabel.” I almost trip up the stairs in my haste to follow her into the house. So fucking exhausted that I can’t seem to get my body to move right, to get my brain tothink, but I’m quickly finding a reason to keep going.
I say her name again, close enough to her now that I have to look down to meet her determined gaze. “You can’t—you’re not—”
“Notwhat?” she snaps, stepping further into my space, and I could reach for hersoeasily. “Please tell me what Ican’tdo.”
“Colombia,” I say, watching her eyebrows rise and her lips press together. “If that’s what you’re thinking—no. Absolutely not.”
She rolls her eyes at me, folding her arms across her chest. “I wasn’t asking.”
“Good,” I say, too much adrenaline running through my system now to feel as foolish as I should about my misunderstanding. Of course she hadn’t meant…
“Thatwould be silly of me,” she says, coming closer so that my back is both literally and metaphorically against the wall. “Which is why I’m notasking. I’mtellingyou that I’m going, because that’s apparently what we do. We don’t talk. We justtelleach other after we’ve made major life decisions. Well…this is mine.”
“No,” I say again, true fear gripping me at merely the suggestion. “No, you are not going with me. I’m not even discussing it.”
“Thehellyou aren’t,” she seethes. “I get a say in this, too.”
“No. Not with what I’ll be doing. Christ, Isabel, this isn’t a fucking holiday. People get—Iwon’tdo it. The whole point of this was so that…” I groan, dragging a hand against my face. “No.”
“Iknowit’s not afuckingholiday.” Her eyes narrow, catching my mistake. “And what do you meanthe whole point? The whole point ofwhat? Danny,whyare you doing this?”
“I need to do this. You need to listen to me on thi—”
“No, I can’t do thisagain. I can’t watch you do thisagain,” she says. “I’mgoing. If you’re going, then I’m going. What else did you think I would do? You really thought I would go back to my parents?”
“No, I—” I already know it’s bad before I say it but it’s all I’ve got. “I have some money saved,” I try in a rush as another part of my brain yells at me to stop. “You could go live in Austin. You could go back to school for something you actually want. You could get out of here, and…”
In all the times I’ve come close to death, I’m not sure I’ve ever come as near to it as I am in this exact moment.
“You’ll give me money so I can go backto school?” Isabel repeats slowly. “While you go back tofighting drug cartels?”
Why had this sounded so much better when I rehearsed it in my truck?
“Are youjoking?” she snaps, her voice rising as her arms fling out to her sides, and I’ve spent too much time around Eva not to throw her right hand a cautious glance. “Youcannotbe serious!”
“Something else then,” I start to say. “Or you can stay here if that’s what you want. I’m only trying to—I know I’ve fucked this up, but I’mtryingto protect you.”
“I’m sosickof everyone saying that. I don’t need you to protect me. Ineedyou to talk to me. Tell me why you’re doing this. Danny, please, just tell me what happened.”
