She was sitting at the bottom of the ocean, the pressure breaking her body down bit by bit. Cracking her walls and thinning her boundaries. She had been in this place before, though further down, in the dark where light couldn’t reach, but she’d swam out of it and grown thicker skin.
The newest Chloe was banging on the iron threshold, growing gills and learning to breathe.
And fuck, did it feel good to breathe underwater.
I didn’t reply as he kissed my cheek.
“Dinner is in a couple of hours,” he said. “The chef has some appetizers out if you're hungry now.”
“I’ll be in soon,” I said with a thin smile.
Molly was waiting for Tyler at the pergola, hugging a glass of wine to her chest. She held her hand out as he reached her, and they turned to go inside, but not before Molly gave me a dirty look.
I resisted flipping her off.
My phone buzzed, and as I looked down at the message, my shoulders fell with a sigh.
If you’re home, open the door.
I studied Gavin’s message, reaching and pulling back from my phone as I debated whether to answer. I itched to talk to him, and after the conversation Tyler and I had just had, I was almost ready to give in.
I’m not there, I said, though I wanted to say so much more.
I didn’t wait for him to text me back before I gathered my things and headed back up the hill toward a future I was quickly realizing I didn’t want.
Dinner was… awkward, to say the least.
As was the entire night with Tyler.
He, again, tried to be intimate, and this time, instead of giving in and jerking him off, I rose from the bed and wandered outside. I slept with a blanket on the couch under the pergola, and honestly, it was the best sleep I’d gotten in weeks.
John had woken me up with a cup of coffee, and we’d chatted for a while about business. But as everyone else began to wake up, I retreated into the bedroom to pack.
Tyler left me at the front of the airport with a kiss and a quick “See you soon” before the driver took me to my private flight.
I didn’t realize how lonely the jet would feel until I was sitting in the cushy seat by myself, and the stewardess came to bring me a drink.
The same captain as before greeted me, though he didn’t just ask about getting going this time. He sat in the chair across from me like we were old friends and crossed one leg over the other.
Mirth danced in his blue eyes, so much that I shifted uneasily away from him. I forced a smile, then looked down at my tablet, hoping he would think I didn’t want to talk to him. I had pulled up a newly released demon romance and was eager to escape into the fictional world.
“Did you have a good weekend?” the pilot asked.
My lashes hit my eyelids as I lifted only my gaze to him. I didn’t like the sarcasm in his tone.
“It was fine,” I replied.
His smile widened. “Family can be tough, especially around weddings.Everyonehas an opinion. It’s exhausting.” He tilted his head. “But you know this too well.”
“It’s stressful for all of us,” I muttered, ignoring the last sentence.
“At least this time, you have some say-so, right?”
I stopped pretending to be on my tablet. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, your father isn’t dropping you off atop a mountain in—“ He paused upon meeting my confused eyes, his smile softening. “Sorry, you look just like a friend I once knew.”
It was the same smile Demi had looked at me with.
