Page 283 of The Grand Duel
I search her eyes, needing her to stay. “Lis…please don’t walk away right now.”
Her face screws up as she backs away almost apologetically. “If I had it in me to have this conversation, I still wouldn’t haveit. Maybe in three weeks, you’ll find it within yourself, and we can sit down and…and pretend none of this ever happened? I’m guessing that’s how you thought this would go?”
My heart sails down the middle of my chest.
Her text.
The one she deleted.
“I didn’t see your message until this morning. I wasn’t?—”
“You left me, Charlie.”
“Because my staying was hurting you. I only wanted to put a stop to that. I couldn’t sit back and watch you get more and more?—”
“I would have watched you!” she interrupts. “Stop telling me you did this for me. That you don’t want to see me hurting when you know full well that I’m hurting more than I ever was when you were beside me.” Rage flares in her eyes. “You pleaded with me to show my emotions, and the second I did, the second I broke, you left.”
“No.” I shake my head, frowning. “That’s not how?—”
“You wrote it in a letter!” she snaps, voice breaking. “And tell me again that you did this for my own good, Charles, and I will walk away and never look back.”
Panic ravishes me.
“I promised to walk, and you swore you’d run, but damn you for being the honest man that you are. You didn’t just catch me up, you ran a million miles right by me.”
I watch as she climbs into the Jag, her frustration and anger clear as she fights to put the car into reverse.
When she eventually finds it, she doesn’t even glance towards me before she turns the car around and drives out of the carpark, the wheels skidding over the gravel.
I stand for a solid ten seconds before I climb into my car and follow her.
FIFTY-ONE
Charlie
Igrip the steering wheel tighter as I watch Lissie trundle through an amber light, the front of my Jag practically attached to the car in front of her.
Pulling out my phone, I call her.
When the call connects, I don’t give her a chance to speak.
“You can be angry at me all you like, but driving recklessly and putting yourself in danger is not something I will tolerate. Pull over so that we can talk about this properly.”
“I’m not driving dangerously.”
“You’re driving angry. Pull the car over.”
“I have a job I need to get to.” She hangs up.
My face hardens, the lack of control I have over her safety making me want to cross every line I’ve ever woven into my conscience.
When I arrive back to the office, she’s already parked the Jag and is out of the car, walking around the building and into the office. I put my window down. “Lissie.”
She breezes right past, ignoring me.
I leave the car at the side of the road, knowing I’ll get a ticket but not caring.
Tow the fucking thing for all I care.