Page 20 of Pervade London
“I know.”
“Did Mr. Bisbee contact you?”
He didn’t answer.
“I feel like you and me…we could be more…” There, I dared to say it.
He let out a sigh of frustration. “You may not like my brand of friendship.”
“Why?”
He gestured with his chin to an archway. “You’ll be able to make it to the street from there.”
“Maybe I want to stay down here with you?”
Xander hesitated. “I’m not sure I can give you what you want.”
“You’ve seen how and where I live. My life is simple. I don’t need anything other than music.”
His expression changed. “We are deliciously wrong for each other.”
“How do you mean?”
“We’re opposites.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t be there for each other.”
“I like you too much.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Goodbye, Em.” He leaped onto the track, barely missing an electrical rail, and walked away.
Go home.Forget him.
Yet I couldn’t keep myself from following him. I clambered onto the track, avoiding the rails.The steel rods could change any second and pin my foot in between, so I leaned on the side and continued on. One misstep and I’d be electrocuted.
I just couldn’t lose him again…
Inside the dark tunnel, I saw Xander leaning against the wall as though waiting for me. Shadows danced over his face. This wasn’t the most daring thing I had done lately.That was inviting a homeless man back to my place a few nights ago. But this was a close second.
“What point are you trying to make?” I asked, my voice echoing around us.
“I come with a catch.”
“What catch?” My flesh tingled at his insinuation that maybe, just maybe, we could be together.
Or maybe I should heed his earlier warning.
Yet he was the adrenaline rush I’d yearned for. The apex of an aliveness I’d long craved.
“Are you a criminal?”
He looked amused. “Other end of the spectrum.”
I gestured around us. “Is this a metaphor for how things will be if we’re friends?”
“It is.”
