Page 49 of Falcon

Chapter 11

Faith

“So it happened just like that? In that middle of the gym?” Rose asks, with wide eyes as she sips on a glass of moscato, her feet tucked up under her on my sofa.

“Well, we weren’t in the middle of the gym. It was a back room with a big sparring mat and mirrors he reserved for us.”

“Regardless, holy fuck, Faith!” She swats my leg. “That’s so hot. I can’t believe he didn’t try to push it further.”

“Not at all. It all happened so fast and it just, I don’t know. It was the most erotic thing I’ve ever done in my life.” I lay my head back on the sofa.

“I feel a but in there somewhere.”

My best friend knows me so well. “But, I can feel myself getting attached to him and that’s scary.”

“You’ve only known him a just over a week, Faith. How could you be falling for him?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. I just know what I feel. It doesn’t make any sense, but I’m trying not to question it too much, because it really doesn’t matter.”

“Why would you say that?” She reaches for the wine bottle on my coffee table and tops both of our glasses off.

“Because he’s supposed to leave soon, I think. About a week or so. What’s the point in thinking about any of this too much? I should just have fun with him while I can and then reminisce fondly. Right?” I am grasping at this point, begging Rose to tell me I am not wrong for wanting to enjoy this while I can.

“Are you sure that’s something you’re going to be able to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you going to be able to really have fun, with him leaving looming on the horizon? If you can, then I say go for it. If you don’t think you can, I’d rather you stop now. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I shift around on the sofa to face her and lay my head over on the sofa back. Can I just have fun with Falcon and bid him farewell in a week? It’s not something I’ve ever done before, so I don’t have any past experiences to go off of, and I know for sure I don’t want to stop seeing him yet, so the only logical answer is to try. Right?

“Rose, I’ve spent the last five years of my life living at seventy percent, when I thought I was living at ninety-nine. I have had fun over those years, of course, and I have made amazing memories, but there’s something different about him. I’m not in love, not at all, but he makes me feel so…alive. And I’m not ready to lose that yet.”

“And what happens when he leaves?” she asks, with a tilt of her head. “What then?”

“I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Live life one minute at a time, right? Isn’t that what you always tell me?”

“One minute at a time,” she says, with her glass raised toward mine and we clink before taking a drink. “Where is he tonight, anyway? I was hoping to sneak a peek.”

“He went to dinner with Case and Nora. They wanted to take him somewhere on the island down by Amelia and Grayson.” I check my phone, seeing if he has texted me. He hasn’t.

“Look at you,” she says, with a grin.

“What?”

“You’re smitten, babe. Full on. It’s adorable.”

“I was just checking the time. See.” I flip the phone around like it proves a point. “Nine fifteen.”

“Yeah, okay.” She rolls her eyes.

As if on cue, as if I planned it, my doorbell sounds throughout my house.

“Umm,” I say in confusion, as I place my glass on the coffee table.

“Expecting someone?” Rose asks.

“No one at all.” I stand from the sofa and go over to answer the door

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