Page 78 of Devoured
His eyes narrowed, but he waited for me to finish. When he realized I wasn’t going to continue, he clenched his fists. “I’ll call my driver,” he said under his breath. “I know when I’m not wanted.”
“That’s not it,” I said. “You know it’s not.”
“Then what is it?”
I didn’t know how to answer him. He was more to me than a business partner—I respected him, even if he had bad habits. And I wanted to be with him, to hold him, to experience the world with him, but I couldn’t trust him if he got high instead of working. If he said meaningless things, using drugs as an excuse. Ignoring my requests to talk about business showed that he didn’t take the Dahlia District seriously, nor me. I was just a bet to him. And it meant I couldn’t depend on him.
But Roland had given me a chance when he didn’t have to. Tomorrow would bring a new day, another chance for us to meet in the middle. I held onto that hope that if we planned for it, he would give me the same respect I gave him.
“Tomorrow?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said. The door shut behind him.
