She doesn’t answer, not that I expected her to.I can’t fix this.I can’t make her forget the way it felt when she saw me scrape out a man’s eyeball.
So I wait.
The police show up.Sirens low, lights off.One marked car.One unmarked.I watch from the rental, hands clenched on the steering wheel, still stained under the nails even after I scrubbed them raw.
They don't look my way.No reason they would.No one saw us together.The cameras caught me checking in under an alias two hours apart from him.Different floors.Separate bookings.Adrian made sure of it.If the hotel’s staff has any gossip to spill, it’ll be about the sobbing wife, not the man in the suit who never spoke to anyone but his wife.
I check in with Adrian.
“Lindy’s clean?”
“She’s good,” he replies.“Nobody’s asking about her.His wife hasn’t mentioned talking to her either day.”
Her name lights up my phone.
Lindy Girl:
I’m heading to the bookstore.Don’t worry.
My throat burns reading it.I nod, even though she can’t see me.Even though I want to drop to my knees and beg.I’d never stand again if it meant she’d stay.I won’t ever let her go, not really.But, to love her I have to let her figure this out for herself.Being with me will never be easy.If I could promise she’d never see me that way again I would, but that’s not a promise I’ll be able to keep.
I walk up to our room and hang a canvas bag on the doorknob for when she’s back and send her a text.
I left the keys to the rental on your door with some cash.I’ll meet you at home.Be safe my darling.
Then I call Adrian.
“Get me wheels.”
“Car is already on the way,” he says.
“Do you ever stop eavesdropping?”
“No.”
The new vehicle is dropped off in front of the lobby an hour later, but I don’t go home because Melinda doesn’t go home.She goes to Victoria’s.I park across the street and watch the lights flick off.Window by window, room by room, until there’s only one.
Atlas knocks on my window before sunrise.
I crack it an inch.“What the hell are you doing here?”
“You need a shower and to sleep in a fucking bed you weirdo,” Atlas says.“I’ll watch her.”Atlas walks around to the passenger side, and I hit the button to unlock it for him.Once he’s inside he says, “Go home Cassius.I swear I won’t leave until you get back.”
“People saw us together.I have no fucking clue who was at the hotel.I never should’ve listened to Travis.Who knows what sick fucks know she’s important to me now.”
“We watched the entire time.If someone noticed you as theMachine, no one spoke about it.Adrian was monitoring every text and email for keywords about you and Melinda.There was nothing.”
“It’s bad enough I could lose the three of you.I don’t need another weakness.”
“It’s a little late for that big brother.”
“I don’t know how to keep her safe.Everything in me says to force her to leave Victoria’s fucking apartment and come home with me, but I have to let her decide.”
“Why?”
“Are you serious?”
Atlas shrugs.“It’s not like you two had a conventional start, what’s a little kidnapping?”
