Page 116 of The Mistakes I've Made
Every step he took closer to me, I felt my resolve weakening.
And it pissed me off.
“Yes, you are. Get in the car, Lani.”
“Only my friends can call me that,” I spit out.
A menacing grin took hold of his lips as he grabbed my bag from my hands. “We were never friends,” he reminded me.
“No, we definitely weren’t. We were much better off as enemies.”
He didn’t wait for permission. He simply turned back toward his truck and tossed my bag behind the passenger seat. Then, he turned back and waited. “I’m not leaving this fucking island without you.”
Letting out a frustrated huff, I gave Molly a parting look.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Jake can force his hand, if you’d like. It might be kind of fun to see them wrestle.”
She meant it mostly as a joke, but I knew if push came to shove, these two would go to blows for me.
The corner of my mouth turned upward, but I declined. “Thank you, but I’ve been avoiding this for too long as it is. He deserves to know, especially since I’m leaving.”
She patted my shoulder and then pulled me into a hug, knowing I needed it. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I said before heading toward the truck and an impatient-looking Taylor.
After I hopped into the passenger seat, he joined me, putting the car in gear and pulling back onto the road.
“You going to wear that scowl on your face the entire car trip?” I asked, my arms firmly folded across my chest.
“You gonna bitch the entire time?” he countered.
“Well, seeing as how I didn’t really get much of a choice in the matter, maybe.” And then, for shits and giggles, I added, “But, then again, I haven’t been getting much choice in a lot of things lately.”
He didn’t have a witty comeback for that one and remained silent the rest of the way out of town.
“How’d you know where to find me?” I asked as we coasted down Highway 12.
He kept his focus dead ahead. “It didn’t take a genius to figure out who you’d turn to for a ride out of here.” His fingers gripped the wheel hard and his jaw ticked with annoyance.
“Well, Molly is a reliable friend.”
“Yeah, she is.”
The traffic was heavy, everyone making a run for it at once. It made getting on the ferry a cumbersome task, but eventually, the line ambled forward, and we were parked in a sea of vehicles, waiting to move across the sound toward the mainland of North Carolina.
“I’m assuming you’re meeting up with everyone else at the regular place?” I asked once he’d shut off the engine, and the silence had become too much to bear.
“You know about our meeting place?”
I smiled, glad to have the upper hand at least once. “Molly and Jake told me,” I explained. “I was going with them, and then once the storm let up, they were planning on dropping me off at the airport.”
His eyes finally met mine. “You’re leaving?” he asked, his voice suddenly hoarse.
I looked away, tears prickling my vision. “There’s no reason for me to stay,” I simply said.
“No,” he agreed quietly. “I guess there isn’t.”
Coward.
