“The daughter.She accused Dylan of breaking up her parents’ marriage.Mallory… Oh, shit!”
“Kira?What’s the matter?”
I’m flat out running now.The girl in the car with no lights on.It was her.It was Mallory Whit, and I left Dylan unprotected.She was there before the car exploded too, working in the bakery across the street.I watched her talk to her mum.
“Kira, slow down.Don’t do anything rash… Backup’s on the way.”
-16-
-Dylan Drake-
I get it, why she’d say no.I do.It’s no more than I deserve, considering… We’re not exactly friends.We’ve indulged in an illicit, foolish relationship, brief enough in duration to barely qualify as anything at all.Nevertheless it hurts to walk away knowing this is it.Now that the threat to my person is removed, there’s no reason for me to have a bodyguard, and hence no cause for our paths to cross.
This is over, our final goodbye: her refusing to get out of the car, me steadfastly not looking back.
It sucks.
The worst part is I can’t fathom why we’re doing it.
You’re gay.She’s a woman.It’s not rocket science.
It’d be fine if all of those things were true; if I wasn’t a big fat fucking liar.Seriously, what sort of twerp lies to himself and lets the woman he cares about walk away?If I was really skewed that far over to one end of the Kinsey scale, would my heart do a jig whenever she laughs, or do a loop-the-loop—seriously, a frigging loop-the-loop—whenever she glowers and that V forms in the centre of her brow?Of course it wouldn’t.
“I can’t be your guilty secret, Dylan.”
“What if you could be something else?What if it wasn’t secret?”
Her laugh tinkles like the rain rushing over the roof of the smoking shelter earlier.“You’re going to admit to the world you like pussy?Dylan, sweetheart, you can’t even admit that to yourself.”
“I like you.”It’s not about genitalia.“Everything is different with you.”
Wrong words.
I can’t find the right words.
“I’m not ready to live without you.”
A sad smile plays upon her lips, and shadows flit behind the silver of her eyes.“You’ve suffered tonight.I get it, you need some security…to feel safe, and I’m the person paid to ensure that.”
“No, you don’t get it.It’s more than that.This has never been about you protecting me.”
“Dylan, don’t fool yourself.We were never meant to be.For as long as you’re you and I’m me, we never can be.”
The lift doors open, but I don’t get out.It’s a shoddy way to end things, and I can’t face myself if I allow it to happen.I jam my thumb against the button, and mash it until the doors close and the metal box slides down the elevator shaft again.What I’m planning to do when I reach the car park, I don’t know, I just know it can’t end like this.
The car park is dingily lit.One of the lights illuminating the bays is busted.There are only a few cars and a whole lot of emptiness, including the space where Kira parked up.She’s gone.I’m too late.Story of my life.
“Hold the doors, please.”
The slender woman sprints towards me from out of the gloom, head bowed, her hair covered by a baseball cap.She’s wearing an odd combination of clothes, a casual jacket and that cap, thrown over the top of a glitzy party dress and preposterous heels.Maybe she got caught in the rain and a friend took pity.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
She presses the button for my floor, and stands too close.There’s space for sixteen people in here according to the signage, so there’s no need to squash up like this, but I guess some people don’t grasp the concept of personal space.Thirty seconds, I’ll be out of here, and I won’t have to speak to anyone until I’m ready to.
The lift judders as it comes to a halt, and a green light pings on to indicate the floor number.Her palm brushes my thigh.
