Page 141 of The Grand Duel
“You girls are the only thing to make me smile today.”
Luna stands, Daisy following.
I let them out, crouching down to cuddle them.
Once the lump in my throat grows too tight, I push them away and stand, letting them follow me as I go to Charles’s office.
I inhale the smell of him the second I step through the door, my eyes closing in reverence. When I open them again, it’s with the memory of his touch on my skin, the taste of him…the lie he kept.
I make my way across the room, my heart like a lead weight slowing me down, before placing the letter on his desk.
Refraining from looking around his space, I turn and head straight for the door, the sound of someone in the distance only registering for a second before Charles is walking into the room.
I stop short.
“There you are!” he says with a smile, a little out of breath. “I thought you’d left already, and I’d missed you.”
I swallow, our eyes locking and shaking me to my core. “I thought you’d be in court until late?”
“I finished up early and wanted to make a dash back to catch you.” He still wears a smile, but his eyes have grown wary. “I’m sorry I wasn’t home when you got to mine last night?—”
“I know that it was you,” I say, needing it to be known regardless of how dangerous it is when my throat is thick with emotion.
He frowns, but then I see the moment it clicks, and his smile vanishes completely, his face draining of colour. “Lis, I…I was?—”
I shake my head, hating that he doesn’t deny it. That it’s true. “I don’t want to talk to you about it right now. I thought I did, but I don’t.” I don’t dare blink, staring through him.
“Please, Lissie. Let me explain.”
“Explain what?” I snap. “That you’re a liar?”
He steps towards me, and I widen my eyes. He stops, his throat working as his wild gaze pins me. “I never lied. I just didn’t tell you. There wasn’t ever a good enough time and?—”
“A good enough time would have been when I showed up here the first day.”
“It wasn’t.” He shakes his head, his frown deep. “Trust me, please. I contemplated every scenario and what was best for you.”
“Best for me?” I repeat. “This is what’s best for me? You pretending to explore whatever this is whilst knowing…” I clench my teeth, emotion overcoming me. I swallow it down and let outa shaky breath. “I don’t owe you this conversation. I feel…I feel completely humiliated.”
I walk past him, not wanting to feel like this for a second longer. I can’t. At least not in front of him.
He stops me at the door, flattening his hand against the wood when I go to pull it open.
“Lissie,” he says, voice firm, but the panic that laces the word, my name…it hurts.
“My resignation is on your desk. Let go of the door.”
He grabs my waist and turns me, towering over me. “You’re not quitting over this.” His throat works, his eyes pleading, terrified even. “I know you don’t owe me anything. I know you’re hurt and angry. But please let me explain.”
I stare at him until it’s impossible to for a second longer, dropping my eyes to his chest.
“I wanted to tell you, and I planned to, but I knew it would make things awkward around the office. I thought about how it would go, me telling you, and there was no outcome that made sense. It was messy. It messed with my head for weeks and killed me to see you again after being with you that night.”
I shake my head, needing him to stop. “I feel like a joke. Like all this time I’ve been trying to get to know you, and then the second I think I might, I find out I don’t know you at all.”
“That’s not true.”
“You should have told me.”