Page 282 of The Grand Duel
She came here under my name?
With her things bundled in her bag, she makes her way to the doors, ready to leave.
My feet set in motion after her.
“Lissie, wait,” I say, walking up the steps and into the car park.
She doesn’t stop.
“Lissie.”
She turns, barely looking at me, focusing on anything but. “What?”
I lock my jaw and come to a stop a few feet away. “What?” I question. “Lis,” I plead.
She allows her eyes to meet mine, and they instantly fill with tears.
Angrytears.
“I can’t stand to see you cry,” I tell her, stepping forward.
“I’m not crying,” she defends, staring through me.
I nod, keeping my hands at my sides so that I don’t reach out and touch her like I so desperately want to. “What are you doing here, Lissie?” I ask, although I think I already know.
She looks away, swiping at the tear that leaks free.
I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone as stubborn as her.
“Have you been here before?” I try.
She eventually glances up at me. “I didn’t realise you’d be here. I wouldn’t have…”
I stare through her in a bid to stop the burn. “Is this the first time?”
She clenches her jaw, looking away again. “You said you couldn’t stand the idea of Lance not having someone show up for him.” She closes her eyes, her knees bobbing. “That you didn’t want him to think you gave up on him.”
My eyes drift closed, my heart growing too big in my chest, too fast. “How long have you been coming?”
I feel her stare on me and pin her with my own, needing to see her.
Her beautiful brown eyes swim with tears, and my gut coils. “Since you stopped.”
I step back, the guilt I’ve lived in and carried with me since stopping these visits, and she’s been showing up for me the whole time?
“You came here for me?”
She shrugs. “In the moment, it seemed like the smallest of things I could do to make your life a little less heavy.”
I love her so fucking much.
“But that was a different time. I had no right coming here without asking you first.”
She turns to walk away, but I reach out to stop her.
“Lissie.”
She shrugs me off. “Don’t.”