Текст книги "Take Me"
Автор книги: T. A. Grey
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Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 23 страниц)
They locked eyes. He did not come after her and she did not tell Zeke to stop the car. They watched each other until they swung around the bend and she could watch no more.
She’d left him. They both knew it, and she wasn’t even sure why she did it.
Doubt.
Zeke reached over and gave her thigh a pat. Felicity jerked her leg away. “Ah, there, there, darlin’. Ole’ Zeke’ll take care of you now. You want away from Dom? Away from all this?”
His offer was like a prayer answered.
Felicity could stop all of this. She could get out of this car and go back to him. It wasn’t too late to fix this, to tell Dom that she had been acting irrationally but she felt better now. To tell him that she wasn’t terrified about all of this.
But it would all be a lie.
So, Felicity met a pair of bright blue eyes that wavered unsteadily with knowledge she did not quite understand, and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
Zeke tossed his head back and laughed. The laugh sounded very much like he’d just gotten something he wanted.
Chapter 24
Everyone in the room stood still as if they were trying to become one with their surroundings by melding into it.
Tense didn’t begin to cut the atmosphere of Dominic Blackmoore’s office only hours after his bruid abandoned him at their mating ceremony. Even the air noticed the tension and slowed itself. becoming stifling. No one dared to breathe loud or speak up. Dominic’s brothers simply stared at the wall, at the floor, or at the ceiling, anywhere but in his eyes. Eyes that bordered on violence.
Dominic leaned forward, the leather of his desk chair squeaking as he grabbed the decanter and poured himself another glass. The thick, viscous fluid laced with spirits settled in his body like fire, a fire he stoked with each fresh swallow. His glass clinked on his desk as he slammed the empty cup down.
“I want her found.”
“I’ve already got a team on her,” Grayson said.
Dom stared into his empty glass, and then poured another. “You won’t be able to find her,” he found himself saying. It was as if none of this was happening and he was in someone else’s body dealing with the pain and loss. It couldn’t have been Felicity he saw willingly running from him. He’d seen everything he needed to in her eyes—the fear, the panic, the pain.
She left me.
“Then why bother sending a team after her?”
“Because I said so.”
Vasilius sucked on the end of a cigar. A cloud of smoke billowed around him as he spoke. “We can never find the alpha when he wants to hide. We already know he’s ditched the car. One of the boys spotted it on the side of the highway.”
“I’ll get a team out there.” Grayson pulled out his cell and made the call.
Lucas pitched in his ideas; most of them filled with worry over her being alone with the wild alpha. A man whose sanity was in question.
Dom listened to all this but the voices sounded as though they came from the back of his head. From some faraway distance at the end of a long tunnel.
In his whole life, very few things had ever surprised him. He preferred life this way. Surprises meant he couldn’t prepare for what was about to happen. Unpredictability, not knowing, these were legitimate fears that could eat at him until it consumed him. To ensure that surprises, especially ones he was not capable of dealing with, didn’t happen he planned. It all stayed in his head, but it was there. A neat little plan with all the possible consequences to any circumstance that might warrant it.
Tonight, the night he’d mate with Felicity Shaw, his list had covered the possible consequences.
But not this kind.
His glass started shaking on his desk. He watched it with mute interest before finally pulling his thoughts away to find the cause of it. Looking down, he found his leg brushing up against his desk, and it was shaking so hard he’d been moving the desk.
He jerked his leg back and poured another drink. A light-headed rush swam through his head, muddying his thoughts, making them fuzzy.
He’d prepared for every possible outcome tonight. He’d been prepared for Helena which had been the obvious danger. He knew she’d most likely make good on her threat if only to piss him off, and so he found a way to trap her. He’d had his lawyer draw up a document cutting off her financially. With separation, the male had to pay his bruid a yearly allowance based off the life she’d been accustomed to. If he broke the contract, which he’d been prepared to do tonight, then she could sue him over it. However, after his lawyers were through with her she’d have no money left to hire her own.
He had planned to use the money against her if she dared to challenge Felicity. The only thing Helena valued above herself was money. Money was her power. He’d even prepared himself for the instance in case Zeke, or any other male for that matter, decided to challenge him for the rights to Felicity. He’d spent half the night training with his brothers, fighting until his knuckles bled and his ribs ached and bruised. He’d had to sit down, drink blood, and heal up before he returned to Felicity later that morning so she wouldn’t know. He didn’t want her to worry.
Everything had been planned and prepared for. Everything but this.
She was gone.
She left me.
Dominic gripped the glass, stared into the empty cup where drops of blood and alcohol coated the bottom in a thin film, and squeezed. He squeezed with all the anger shaking in his bones until, with a crunch, the glass shattered. Shards cut into his palm. Fresh blood spilled down his hands, mixing with the glass. He stared at the bright red mixture for a moment before turning his palm over and pulling out little dregs of glass rooted in his palm.
“Fucking hell, Dom.” Lucas strode forward, snatched a towel from the bar, and thrust it at him. “Clean yourself up.” He paused to unbutton the collar of his shirt with agitated jerks. Everyone was so dressed up. All for a ceremony that didn’t happen. “Listen, I know you must be freaking but we’ll get her back.”
Get her back. His mind slowly turned over those words like it was an object he could inspect. Get her back? Did he even want that? The answer came swift, hard, and resounding—yes. The word echoed in his brain, in his heart. Yes, he needed her back.
But she’d left.
Why?
The question haunted him, burned him down to his soul. Why had she done it? His mind tried to search for answers. Did she not love him? Was she too overwhelmed? Didn’t she know he’d take care of her? Did she want that damaged alpha instead? She couldn’t have wanted money because she didn’t make out with any.
So the question remained.
Why.
He did not have the answer but he was prepared to find out.
Wrapping the towel around his fist, he looped it and used his teeth to tug on the end until he’d made a knot.
“I’m going to find her.” He stood as he spoke, his words taking command.
He met each of his brother’s bewildered stares.
“You can’t.” This from Vas who looked at Dom as if he was an idiot.
“You wanna watch me?” Dom said, his voice dark.
Vas threw up his hands. “Listen, she may be gone but in about, oh,” he glanced down at his watch, “Five hours polls will open.”
Dom drew himself up with a start. He’d actually forgotten. Amid all the insanity happening he’d actually forgotten that the election would start in a matter of hours. Dom’s gaze found a clock to ensure that Vas wasn’t pulling his chain, but of course, his brother was right.
Had it really been only hours since she left him?
A brisk knock sounded at his study door. His mother entered. Instantly, he knew something was wrong. Something more wrong than the fact that Felicity left him.
“What is it?”
She opened her mouth to speak and then snapped it shut. Walking over to the bar, she found the remote behind it, pointed it up to the TV above the bar, and turned it on.
A news report came on. A reporter stood outside the hall he’d been at with Felicity not that long ago. Paparazzi loitered at the scene making it look as if a major crime had taken place. God he hated them.
However, as the reporter started speaking everyone in the room stiffened, breathing seized.
“Yes, this is exciting news Cameron, not only do the reports say that Ms. Felicity Shaw fled from her own mating ceremony with Dominic Blackmoore, but now we’re receiving word that Ms. Shaw lied in order to get her position with the Blackmoore family.”
The camera cut back to a well-groomed man with white hair combed to the side. His even whiter teeth gleamed under the lights of the news studio amidst his tanned skin. “Yes, by our reports Felicity Shaw lied to get her job. That’s right, the reports are only now coming in from an anonymous source but our researchers are saying they are finding evidence right now that Felicity Shaw did not have previous experience stated on her résumé. So, tell me Stacy, if she did all this to get the job and she ended up with Mr. Blackmoore then what could have scared her off?”
The camera flashed back to the reporter standing outside the hall. “Well, some are saying it’s for fame others for her possible lover to the alpha Zeke Hunter. Some are even saying it’s because of Dominic Blackmoore’s previous relationship with Helena Blackmoore, formerly Helena Garret that caused her to run away.”
Back in the newsroom, white-teeth spoke. “What a shame to leave Dominic Blackmoore standing along on at his mating ceremony and with his presidential election tomorrow—”
The TV cut off. Dom’s mother pursed her lips. “Did any of you know about this?”
Voices rose, arguments grew heated like a dry logged tossed on fire. Dom kept silent, his eyes still locked on the TV. She’d lied on her résumé. The news was hardly a big deal. In fact, the news didn’t bother him at all, but ever trained to perceive possible consequences he knew he’d taken a hit. His whole campaign had just taken a massive hit.
“How bad is this going to be?” he asked.
The arguments subsided. Shaking his head, Vas took a long puff from his cigarette and blew it out in a puffy cloud. “Big, I suspect. Rather overestimate the damage than under. With her running like this, it’s already going to be the talk of the day. I suggest we make some statements about your broken heart, shit like that to get people’s sympathies up.”
Dom’s lips curled with distaste. Use her for his own campaign? “No.”
Vas lifted a black eyebrow as he tossed up his arm. “Well what do you suggest? You’re going to take a hit within hours of polls opening, Dom. Nothing’s going to stop that from happening.”
“That may be the case but I’m not using her like that.”
Vas wheezed out a long sigh. “Fine...fine...I guess we can...at least save face with the résumé bullshit. Say we did know about it the whole time. That she hadn’t lied. Cover up for it”
“I don’t care. Spin it if you have to, but I’m going after her.”
His mother’s head snapped towards him then she was stalking towards him, her heels clicking in hard snaps on the floor. “You need to be here. This election is bigger than you or her. It’s about your father’s memory. This is what he wanted from you, why you always worked so hard under him. Do not throw this away, Dominic. Do not. You need to get out there and speak to the people. We’ll get the speechwriters in here straight away and work something out. We’ll find a way to use this to our advantage. Vas made a great point. We can play on their sympathies for you.”
Dom felt his mother’s words like physical blows to his gut. He’d spent years working his father’s campaigns, helping him to read and write bills, and create decisions based off people’s values. They’d been a great team, but since he died, Dom had never been more ready to step up and take responsibility. He craved it like a much needed breath of air after holding it in for too long.
He turned to Vas and Lucas. “The résumé situation is not an issue. As for Felicity, no one needs to know what we’re doing. We’re not commenting.”
Lucas shook his head. “You don’t comment they’ll do the commenting for you. I know all about the media like this. Any chance they get to twist things and make it sound more controversial than it really is they’ll do it. They don’t care who they hurt or how far they have to stretch the truth. This could crush you.”
Dom was already yanking off his suit jacket, pulling off the bow tie, and taking off the suit he would have been mating to Felicity in. “Take care of it but do it any other way than I say and you’ll be dealing with me.”
With that, he strode out of the room slamming the door behind him. Outside, he refused his guard, got in his car, and drove. He drove to the part of the highway where the alpha’s car had been dumped.
He might not have the senses of a were whose nose could smell better than most dogs, but he had something else—Felicity’s blood. Having shared her blood he had a closer connection to her than if they were holding hands. No matter what happened, he’d find her and when he brought her back, whether kicking and screaming or calm and docile, she was going to be punished.
And then he was mating with Felicity Shaw.
Chapter 25
“What have I done?”
She’d meant to ask the question to herself, but the alpha’s exceptional hearing picked up her misery-driven question as easily as if she’d screamed it.
Zeke lifted his head from some brown leather journal he’d been scribbling in and grinned. When he grinned like that the dimple in his chin poked out as well as the ones in both of his cheeks. Felicity rolled her eyes and forced herself to look away. He was a handsome man, but she would not be won by his southern charm no matter how much of it he had in spades. Besides, he kept muttering to himself but none of it made sense and when he wasn’t doing that he was quiet. Too quiet. She couldn’t hear him breathe and when he moved he didn’t make a sound.
“You’ve created a whole lot of chaos, darlin’. Couldn’t have done much better if I’d been the one doing it.”
Felicity rubbed the heel of her palm against her chest where a heavy pain throbbed. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I wasn’t trying to create problems.”
I just needed to get out of there.
It’d been too fast. Maybe if he’d slept with her the night before and they hadn’t ended the night with him yelling at her then things would be different. Maybe if Helena hadn’t threatened her. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe many things might have changed the outcome of last night. In one of those little scenarios maybe she would have had enough confidence to go down that aisle and get mated. But she hadn’t been able to do it.
“Yeah, well you did a great job of it.” He scribbled one last thing down in his book, the ink scratching on the paper. He snapped it shut.
“Where did you bring me?”
He stood and held his arms out to indicate the dark space. “This, Mizz. Shaw is my humble abode. Don’t worry your pretty little skin now we’re underground. That sun won’t touch you today, my dear.”
“Today’s the election.”
“Don’t I know it? Do I need to ask who you’re voting for?” He laughed at his own joke and proceeded into the next room. It had three large TVs on the wall, two opened laptops sitting on a table and several other weres. She hadn’t even felt their presence. How could weres be so quiet? They lounged on the couches, of which there were many. The big room had three couches plus four sofas and enough floor space to sit a small classroom of children.
And judging by all the news reports VNN, V News Network, CNN, and other channels the race was already on. The sound stayed muted but black-and-white subtitles scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
A picture flashed on screen of Dominic and then her breath caught as a picture of her running from the hall came across the screen. Oh god. They were already talking about it. The reporter speculated about whether this would affect the election for Dominic. Felicity realized for the first time just how dire her decision was. She might have cost the whole election for him.
“I have to go.”
No one turned to her. No one spoke.
Louder, she said, “I have to go! You have to take me back. I need to speak with them and set things straight.”
Zeke touched a few buttons on the remote and the sound came on. “I don’t think so, Mizz. Shaw.”
“What do you mean? Just show me how to get out of here and I’ll leave.” She’d followed him deep into the woods after stopping at some non-descript part of the highway. Sure it’d been odd but she’d been desperate. In her world desperate outweighed odd by a lot. They’d walked on for quite some time but she hadn’t paid much attention. She’d been too numb from all that had happened. Her mind still reeling from shock at her own decision. When they’d stopped suddenly and he pulled open a wooden door in the ground she’d blinked and followed him down the ladder. All she knew now was the alpha Zeke had an underground layer.
He tsked. “Don’t think so, shuga. That man of yours is about going ape shit, I ‘spect. He’s going to try to find you.” He gave her a slow smile, but this time it gave her a chill down her spine. “He won’t though. No one finds me unless I want them to.”
“Why would you want to keep me here? I’m nothing to you.”
His men chuckled and gave her approving smiles as if to say thanks for the laugh, lady. She glared back at them.
“Listen, I’ve known Dom for a long, long time. That man...” his voice trailed off as something on his laptop caught his eye. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he muttered. His fingers flew across the keyboard like rapid fire. Then he tossed his head back and laughed, the sound maniacal.
Felicity took a step back. “I want out of here.” She made her voice firm hoping that would do the trick.
The alpha didn’t even spare her a glance. “Good luck. You’re welcome to try to get the hatch open. Even if you somehow managed to do that, which I doubt, then you won’t find your way back to the road.”
One of the weres nodded his head in affirmation of the alpha’s words.
“At least let me call him.”
I have to fix this. I never meant to hurt his campaign.
Zeke turned to face her. Gone was the smile, the humor in his eyes. In its place was stoicism, a man who would not budge if a god struck him. “You don’t get it, do you? You’re mine now. Dom’s going to be running around like a chicken with his head cut off and while he’s doing that, I’m going to make sure the news is running ads about your little résumé lie, your little runaway bruid fiasco, and while that happens my points are gonna go up. So, darlin’, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. Have a seat.”
Like a heavy weight pressing on her shoulders it finally dawned on her what she’d done. Dom probably thought she left him for Zeke. He’d be an idiot if he thought that but the possibility was there. She loved him, crazy loved him with all her heart. A tear slipped down her face and her breath hitched. She shouldn’t have left. She should have run down that aisle to him not away from him. He would have kissed her, pulled her close, and made her feel like everything would be fine.
But she’d done none of those things. She’d run the other way in a storm of panic and anxiety that had gripped her with its cold fingers. Now she had to fix this shit-storm she’d caused. She had to repair the damage before it was too late.
With all the dignity she could muster, she walked back to the ladder that she’d climbed down not that long ago. Then she climbed up the stairs in her red gown that Dom probably would have liked and proceeded to jam her shoulder into the hatch with the intention of not stopping until she got out of here.
Chapter 26
Sweat dripped down his forehead, curved around a wrinkle at the corner of his eye, and then dipped onto his eyeballs. With a hiss, he blinked at the salty burn over his retina.
He’d long lost his shirt. What had been a crisp white linen shirt pressed into perfect creases from an iron had turned into something a dog would love to roll in. He’d searched every inch of the forest, but he was losing time. The sun was coming. He could feel the heat of it like a lamp on his skin though. He didn’t have much time before it ascended the sky.
The earth kept turning when he wanted to roar at it to stop. Just stop for a few hours. He needed time. Time that he couldn’t get back.
Where was she?
He kept moving, flying with all the speed his supernatural body had and startling squirrels and the like in his wake. He would find her.
What if you can’t? What if she’s gone for good?
With a vicious growl he slammed his fist into a tree. It cracked down the middle like a lightning strike, and then split apart as it crashed down to earth. Breathing like a rabid animal, he circled the forest, his eyes searching.
Searching for what though?
Anything! A piece of her clothing, a strand of her beautiful blonde hair, a tickle of her scent clinging to a branch she’d touched.
Zeke is too good, doubt said. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.
He couldn’t stay idle. There wasn’t enough time. Soon the sun would come up and he’d have to make quick work back home. And then what? Grayson’s men would continue their search using were guards but still.
If he didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be.
“FUCK!” His shout echoed through the forest. The sound a hollow version of himself.
The car at the highway could all be a trick. He could have had one of his pack come pick him up to throw them off his trail. He could have taken her across the highway to the other side. It might be more dangerous, but the man was mad and capable of anything. Dom wouldn’t put much past him.
He fisted his hair, tugging until the strands pulled and snapped as he gritted his teeth, gnashing. How could she do this to him? Dom barked another curse then continued his search through the forest. He would find her, and when he did she would pay and the price would be high.
Sweat ran down his chest, smearing the dirt and grime on his body into an oil painting of color. The phone in his pocket beeped. He didn’t stop running as he pulled it out. The message was a text from Grayson.
All it said was: Sunrise.
The sweat didn’t come from the strain in his muscles or the pounding work of his lungs and heart. No, it came from the scalding heat. From that orange glow that began to rise so far in the distance.
He couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t find her.
Failure coated his tongue with a sour taste.
He turned back, running away from it—the sun, Felicity, his election.
Blazing heat scored his back like burning flames as he left the forest a shirtless, dirty bum. The open light seared him until tendrils of black smoke drifted up around him. He gritted his teeth and braced his legs apart, muscles bunched hard and shaking as the pain consumed him.
Yes, this was better, better than the pain of dealing with what she’d done.
The sound of a car pulling up didn’t even make him open his eyes. Not even when he heard Grayson’s voice, deep and raspy; his breath smelling of cigarettes.
“Come on, man. Let’s get you home.”
He was helped into a car, shut in, and he didn’t feel a thing as he gazed out at the forest.
* * *
Why was it when terrible things happened time seemed to pass so much slower? Time was a bitch. It wanted you to feel every single second of agony, to see all the details of what a mistake you made. Yet, during the most exciting time of your life time seemed to try to fly by so fast you couldn’t stop and simply enjoy the moment. Felicity hated it and if time was human, she’d kill it.
Time was all she had. None of it allowed her to open the hatch, which after four hours of trying to open it, one of the weres finally came in and told her they’d latched it from the outside too. A big metal bar was across the door so it wouldn’t budge. Nice. Of course, they’d had four hours to tell her this but they hadn’t. They’d let her cry and hurt as she tried to get the blasted door open to get free. To get back to Dom and explain. It still wasn’t too late.
For some reason a terrible thought struck her that if she allowed the sun to come up without explaining herself to Dom then something awful would happen.
But she hadn’t gotten it open and they wouldn’t let her go. So she’d spent all day sitting on a sofa watching the news. Dom’s points dropped and dropped as more pictures of her popped up. When pictures of her mother on the beach with her boyfriend came on screen she’d nearly cried. They were digging into her past and searching for every piece of dirt on her, and finding it.
They called her a liar, a whore, a gold-digger, and anything else that came to the reporter’s little minds.
It wasn’t true, at least not mostly true since she had lied some, but it hurt all the same. As the hours passed like fine grains of sand moving through tar, she could only sit by and watch Dom’s numbers come in, lower and lower.
She never even got out to vote.
Judgment came at ten o’clock that night. VNN reported Zeke the winner. The men cheered, or roared, more like. And it was all her fault. She’d done this. Her fit of anxiety had cost him a whole election.
Will he ever forgive me?
She sucked in a hiccupped breath. How could he ever forgive her? She’d ruined his dreams over her stupid fears and panic. Oh god. Clutching her knees to her chest, Felicity buried her face in her knees to hide the tears.
She needed to apologize but how? No amount of explaining, apologies, or gifts could give him that election back. Nor could any of it take back the pain and frustration she’d caused him.
Something brushed her ankle. Sniffling, she pulled away to see Zeke had dropped a cellphone next to her. He stood over her, grinning.
“Go ahead, give him a call. I have a victory celebration to get to. You’re looking at the new president of the vampire and weres.” He flicked up an imaginary collar then strode away.
Felicity stared at the phone for far too long before gathering enough courage to pick it up. As she began pushing the buttons to dial him, she quickly hit text instead of dial. She couldn’t handle talking to him. What if he didn’t answer the phone?
What if he did?
She couldn’t deal with it right now. Texts were safer.
Her fingers hovered over the little buttons. What did she say? How to begin? “I’m sorry” seemed so very inadequate for the damage she’d caused.
So, she started with something else.
I know you hate me but I love you.
Send.
She held her breath and stared at the screen as it darkened. Would he write her back, ignore her, or pretend he didn’t get the text?
Her answer came exactly four minutes later. Four minutes which felt more like an hour. The phone beeped. Like ripping a Band-Aid fast to get the pain over with she quickly hit the button.
Where are you?
She stared at the words for several long minutes. What did he mean? Did this mean he wasn’t angry? The thought lifted her spirits but she knew the likelihood of this was near zero.
With Zeke. I tried to leave but he wouldn’t let me. I’m sorry...
Her heart pounded, making her chest rise and fall in great heaves. Wet tears streaked her face. God, this hurt. Her heart burned with a fierce, aching pain like acid had been poured on it.
How inadequate her words looked. It didn’t begin to summarize how freakishly, incredibly, monumentally sorry she was for screwing up, running away, and hurting him. For so many things...
I’m upset with you.
Uh-oh. Felicity shook her head. Well of course he was. Hell, she’d be if their situations were reversed.
I know. I’m REALLY sorry. We need to talk in person, please.
“All right, darlin’ it’s time to get goin’.” Zeke pulled her to the hatch. He climbed up then rapped his knuckles on it in what sounded like a very specific cadence. Sure enough, a few moments later metal screeched and moonlight spilled into the square door.
“You had someone up there watching it the whole time?”
Zeke didn’t answer, just hopped up and out leaving her and the rest of his men to follow. She kept the phone squeezed tightly in her fingers. It beeped as she received a text. It took everything in her not to open it halfway up the ladder and start reading.
The moon hung high in the sky, the air held a crisp chill that brought goose bumps over her arms making her shiver.
With a rakish grin, Zeke waved towards a tree. “Tie her up over there.”
“What!” She barely had the words out before his guards grabbed her, overpowering. Big, strong motherfuckers.
They wrapped a heavy length of thick ochre rope around her waist and arms. They used enough that even with her vampire strength she wouldn’t be able to break it. At least, not any time soon. She’d have to work at it. Maybe with enough struggling she could loosen it.
Zeke stepped in front of her, his stance wide, grin almost contagious. Felicity glared at him.
He threw up his hands. “Hey now, save the death glare for someone else. I’m leaving you with the phone. Now you might have to use it one handed but I think you’ll find a way.” He gave a low, sweeping bow then lifted his head to wink at her, chunks of blonde hair swept over his tanned brow. “Until next time, darlin’.”
Zeke let out a howl that lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. It wasn’t human. In the next instant, they morphed. It was the only way she could describe it. The alpha transformed the fastest, his face elongating into a muzzle, arms growing longer, heavier with dark muscles and black talon-like nails. They were two-legged creatures, the weres, but ran fastest on all fours. They each stood over six feet tall, shaking from the transition like a wet dog getting water out of their fur. Their furs matched the color of their hair. Zeke had a golden yellow fur with brown tips around his face and black paws.
With another softer howl, the team dropped to all fours making the earth shudder then took off into the night.
This was it. She only had herself right now, and she needed to make things right. Her heart beat like a kid pounding on a drum. It was awkward handling the phone with one hand but she managed to turn it so the screen faced her. She read the last message he sent, then her stomach bottomed out like she’d drifted down a steep slope on a roller coaster.
Just get home.
Not the words she was hoping for. She let her head fall back against the tree. What did she expect that he’d accept her apology with a quick laugh and a smile and move on? She knew how much he’d wanted to win. As of right now she didn’t know what he was more angry at, the fact that she left him at the ceremony, that she’d lied on her stupid résumé which got her the initial interview, or that she’d cost him the election.
