His chest heaved. His hot, ragged breath came through flared nostrils like fire. He looked like a bull getting ready to charge. If I didn’t leave right then, I knew I would probably never get another good, clear chance to walk away.
I took a step back and broke the tension between us. His body immediately relaxed, and I knew I was doing the right thing. My heart immediately stopped pounding as hard in my chest. It was obvious to me then that we were bringing out the worst in each other. While our passionate sex was amazing, that same passion drove tensions between us. Ours was a one-way street to disaster, and I couldn’t let it get that far. I had to get back to work.
“You’re right about one thing,” I told him.
“What’s that?”
“I got too involved. I tried too hard to understand the events surrounding yours and Dimitri’s relationship. I’m not cut out for this kind of work.” I started walking towards the door, but a giant tattooed hand landed on it in front of me. He held it closed so I couldn’t even open it.
“Where are you going?” he growled behind me. He stood close enough that I could feel his body heat. It tugged at me. It tried to pull me back to him, and at any other time, I would have welcomed the embrace it promised. This was not one of those times, however.
“I’m leaving you to your work,” I answered without turning around. I closed my eyes and silently begged him not to pull me back. If he had even tried to hold me back, I would have stayed. It was so easy with him to stop caring about everything else. He was already too comfortable for me.
“Okay.” I heard the resolve in his voice, and I felt the weight of his hand lift from the door.
I opened my eyes and opened the door. There was no way it was going to be this easy, I knew. As I stepped into the hallway, I waited for him to say something, anything, to stop me. He remained silent behind me as I walked away.
After making it about half way down the hallway, I felt his hold on me start to slip. The inertia that pulled our bodies together failed, and I was let go. I was able to break free. At the stairs, I turned back and expected to see him standing in the doorway watching me, but he was nowhere to be seen. He had retreated into the room, away from the door.
I hesitated before I took the first step. I knew that once I started, that was it. Once I took the first step away from him, I would not be able to turn back. I glanced down the hall to his door one last time and realized that I had indeed already taken the first step in walking away from him, from this.
At the second floor, the clubhouse, I kept going. I walked around to the stairs leading down to the garage, and for a brief moment, for just a split second, I considered going downstairs and helping Dimitri out. I didn’t, though, because I figured those two deserved each other. Furthermore, I didn’t need to know how their story ended. My story ended here, I had decided.
I fished out my phone as I hit the sidewalk. I ordered a cab to meet me at the corner. I wasn’t going to settle for waiting for one to come by. As I reached the corner, I looked back. No one had followed me. No one stood outside to watch me leave.
I was finished, and not a moment too soon! If Gage had found out about the drug deal, I could have easily wound up in the same position as his old girlfriend. I could have found myself in the middle of the whole thing. I had a life to return to. I had a future ahead of me.
I hesitated with the cab door open because I also had my mother’s medical expenses, and the money Gage had promised me after completing the job would certainly have helped me to catch up. I considered going back and finishing the job, but I had made it this far on my own, without any help from people like Gage Noll, and I would just have to keep pushing myself along until I got caught up. I could do it on my own. There was no easy way out for me. The easy way out required sacrificing too much of my dignity and even my life. I wasn’t okay with that.
Without anything on me other than my phone and a little bit of cash in my pocket, I slid into the back of the cab and told the driver to take me home.
Chapter 18
Gage
I couldn’t believe she actually left. I watched in shock as she opened the door when I let go of it. She stepped through and started down the hallway. I turned away, unwilling to watch her leave. After a few minutes, I realized she wasn’t going to come back in the room. She wasn’t going to fight more with me this time.
I stepped over to a window facing the front of HQ and pulled the curtains back to look down on the street. I watched her walk up to the corner and catch a cab. She was gone. Whatever attraction or desire had brought us together again and again hadn’t been strong enough to keep us together. I let the curtains fall back into place. I hung my head.