Page 66 of Leah

“Imagine if they put their genius to actual use. They could have solved world hunger.”

He laughed again and glanced down at his watch—a watch that wasn’t the size of a fist like Rome’s. It was mid-day. We’d been out for hours, and now we were stranded, letting the situation sink in.

What were the odds, really?

Clearly high.

Then again, this could have been fate’s intervening hand. It’d have been nice if the bitch had done something less evil than stranding us in a rough area, just far enough out of civilisation that anything could happen.

I hoped my sneakers weren’t going to be found on the side of the road.

I dug my phone out of my pocket. “Who should we call and grovel to? There’s Rome, and there’s Melanie. We can flip a coin if we’re unsure. Rome will be angrier at you, whereas Melanie will tear my ass a new one.”

He smirked. “Why would she tear your ass a new one?”

“She’s been warding me away from you.”

“Ah, that’s right. I’m the bad guy. That’s nice.”

“You’re not a bad guy.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going to forever be branded the asshole that hurt you, Leah. So, yeah, I’m definitely the bad guy.”

I sighed and turned to him. “Carter, it doesn’t matter what people think.”

“It matters what people think when they’re close toyou,” he replied sternly. “And I’ve been in the dark the last three years because nobody wants to let me know how you’ve been. It wasn’t easy being shut out like that. It especially wasn’t easy knowing you were avoiding me, too.”

“Hey,” I suddenly said, grabbing at his arm. “I’m here now, and that’s what matters. We just had an amazing day together. Let’s not ruin that, alright? Let’s keep this positive.”

He stared at me for a moment, sighing in defeat. “You’re right.”

“Forget Melanie. How about we just call Rome?”

He idly scratched his jaw, staring from one side of the road to the other. “How about we call neither?”

“Neither?”

“Yeah, let’s just walk and see where it takes us.” Turning to me, he added sheepishly, “I just don’t want this to end. The second we bring people we know into the mix, it’ll be like we’re back to the present, and I’m loving reliving the whole past thing and pretending it’s just us again. Right here and now, I’m just Carter and you’re my Leah.”

You’re my Leah.

Fuck. I was fucked.

My body warmed. “I’d like that,” I quietly agreed.

“Good. Let’s go on our little adventure.”

*

The adventure sucked. I’m not even going to lie.

It was a miserable walk.

The humid air was stifling, and it felt like any moment the skies were going to finally burst with rain. Lord knew I needed that rain! I felt my thighs rub together uncomfortably as I got covered head to toe in sweat. All those nights on the couch had resulted in a body that couldn’t hack a bit of walking. I needed to hit the gym.

Regardless, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. There wasn’t one moment of silence between Carter and me. We fell into a never-ending conversation. It really was as though we’d been plucked from the present and thrown into the past.

We didn’t pay attention to where we were going. We didn’t care, either. At one point, Carter took his hat off and put it over my head, wanting to shade me from the sun’s bite.

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