Page 175 of Never Die for a Sinner
She putters, falling back in the seat like I’d slapped her.
Finally, she shakes her head, looking anywhere in the car but at me. “It doesn’t matter.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“What the fuck’s gotten into you?” I grit. I hear what she’s saying, but I don’t fucking like it.
This isn’t my Ava. These are the lies someone’s put in her head.
She scoffs, chuckling humorlessly.
“You made me sign a contract that I would leave if I developed feelings for you.”
“So, are you?”
“Am I what?” she fires back.
“Developing feelings?”
She looks like she’s been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you implied,” I challenge, and she falls back at the bite in my voice.
“I’m not a charity case, Levi. If you want me gone, then man up and tell me.”
I scoff at her boldness.
“What the fuck did Cherry say to you?”
I know exactly what it is, and I’d bet a grand that it has something to do with whatever Cherry said to her after I walked away.
I fuckingknewit.
My knuckles crack with the force of my grip on the steering wheel.
She shakes her head, looking out at the road. I fucking hate it.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course, it fucking matters!” I snap.
“Okay, Levi. You want the truth? Maybe I’m just waiting for this thing to be over.”
Silence is the only sound despite the blood roaring in my ears.
“Come again?”
“You and I were never meant to be forever, Levi,” she says, her voice cracking despite the determination in her gaze. “I know the contract I signed. I also know I have to protect myself, and leaving tonight was just that. An act of self-preservation.”
I pull the car to the side of the road, down a dirt path that leads to an old, forgotten campsite, and shove the car into park.
I hear her sniffle and realize she’s crying, but I can’t do anything about it.
Not this time.
The last three weeks have shown me what loving someone means. It’s not cheesy one-liners and dinner dates with wine. It’s the real, hard shit. The nasty shit no one wants to talk about.
