"I have a better idea," he says.
"I don't know if there's a better idea."
"Barnes and Noble. Saturday."
"Can't."
"In the morning?"
"I shouldn't."
"Why?"
"I have a thing." My stomach tightens when I think about Saturday. About Cody's dinner. About the gates closing behind my car, and Cody seeming to be so well that he might…
"A thing."
"Yes."
"Surely it doesn't take all day."
I exhale, not wanting to explain how the energy I have to build to be with Cody will, in fact, take all day.
"I should go." I pull out of his embrace, stepping around him. I move toward the mouth of the alley.
"Wait."
I stop.
"You didn’t give me your number."
I turn and look at him standing there in the alley in the gray afternoon light, his hair slightly askew from my fingers, the smile gone, but the trace of it still somewhere in his face.
I shake my head and walk, feeling a sting in my gut.
"Why?" His voice behind me, closer than I expected — is he following me or just leaving the alley?
"For your safety, Theo. This is goodbye."
I walk quickly across the street.
My throat hurts.
My eyes sting.
I reach my Range Rover and get in. I sit in the driver's seat with my hands on the wheel while my heart pounds, and then the passenger door opens.
Theo gets in and closes the door.
“What are you––”
He kisses me.
His mouth is on mine, cold from the outside air, and then his tongue fights against mine. I make a sound I didn't mean to make, and his teeth find my bottom lip. I grab something — his jacket, his arm, I don't know, I need something to hold onto.
"Theo," I breathe when he pulls back a fraction.
He kisses me again. Deeper. His hand wraps around my throat, not tight, just present, pulling me toward him like there's somewhere more to go. I go.
