Page 59 of Kings Fear No One
The others laugh. Hope gives Ozzie a kiss on his cheek like he did to her minutes ago.
“We should be taking pointers from these two,” Ozzie goes on, jutting his chin at us.
My insides freeze into ice. All while my skin burns.
The attention of the rest of the table shifts to Logan and me, and my voice goes out. I pull my lips into a polite smile and place my hand over Logan’s clenched fist on the table.
“We’re just… figuring things out.”
Logan snatches his hand away and rises to his feet. “Smoke break.”
The rejection was bad on its own. It stung enough when Logan’s rebuffed me in private. Just between the two of us.
But in a full restaurant? As six other pairs of eyes sit and watch it unfold live?
I feel like I’ve been slapped across the face. Heat prickles across my cheeks, leaving my skin warm all over again.
After such crippling embarrassment, what else can I do but excuse myself?
I slide out of my chair and ignore everyone who calls my name. Logan went out the side exit. I follow after him, my pulse pounding in my ear.
Humiliation can’t begin to compete with the panic that explodes from inside the instant I lose sight of him.
The restaurant’s so crowded, so noisy and dizzying, that I breathe harder, trying to find my exit. Trying to find Logan.
How could he leave me like this?
…how could he walk off when I’m alone?
He knows I don’t like crowded spaces like this. He knows I freak out easily and get overstimulated.
It’s too much after the captivity we’ve been through.
I’m practically panting for air by the time I make it to the side exit. One of the waitresses coming out of the kitchen asks me if I need help. I merely shake my head and push at the door, praying it’ll open.
The night’s air caresses my skin, providing much needed relief.
I suck in a deep breath and blink around the dark parking lot, lit up by a few lamp posts.
Logan’s not far off. He’s leaning against the brick building, a cigarette smoldering between his lips.
The tears I was holding in earlier begin slipping out. I can’t hold them in another second. Not when I’m confronted by the cold reality. The awful truth that I’ve been hoping against in vain.
I’m such a fool.
He doesn’t want me.
He’s made it clear. Whatever it is that made him stop showing me kindness and affection can’t be undone. He won’t ever change his mind.
I choke on the cry that warbles out of me, then promptly turn away before he can notice. I have no real money, nowhere really to go.
But I start walking anyway.
15
LOGAN
“Teysha? Where the hell are you going?!”
