Page 78 of Fractured Loyalties
He doesn’t push.
I pick up my glass again, keep my hand steady.
The stranger across the restaurant stands.
He doesn’t linger, doesn’t wait.
He walks out the same way he came in—like he never intended to stay.
The second he’s gone, something settles in my spine—but it isn’t relief.
It’s anticipation.
The way you brace after the lightning, waiting for the thunder.
Across the table, Celeste’s laughing again. But her eyes keep flicking to me. Not pushy. Not even probing. Just…reading.
Like she knows I’m writing something under the table she won’t get to read.
The check comes. Alec pulls his card first. Casual. Automatic. A little too performative.
“No argument,” he says, smiling faintly. “It’s on the department. Technically, morale-building is billable.”
“I’ll fight you next time,” Celeste grins, nudging him.
One of the admin girls whispers something about after-dinner drinks. Someone else mutters about their early shift.
I stand a little too fast.
Celeste catches my wrist under the table as the others rise.
“You okay?”
I nod. Too sharp.
We reach the door. Alec’s holding it open like he’s forgotten how to just exist in a space without performing in it.
Outside, the air is colder. The wind picks up fast, tugging at hair and sleeves like it has its own agenda.
I glance down the block. Elias’s car is there.
Alec walks beside me. “You want a ride?”
I shake my head. “I’ve got one.”
He follows my gaze. Sees nothing.
Still, he nods slowly. “Good.”
The others disperse into laughter and Uber notifications. I stay where I am.
Then I turn.
“I’ll see you at the clinic,” I tell Alec.
He watches me. Not unkind. But not innocent.
“I’ll walk you to your ride,” he says.
