Page 46 of Never Again
His fingers curled into his palms, and Franklin’s face transformed into stone when he saw Carlos’s fists.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he warned.
With deep regret, Carlos backed away from the vehicle, but Franklin remained in position, still watching him. When he decided that Carlos had moved far enough away, he opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat.
Carlos heard the power locks engage on the inside.
Seconds later, the vehicle pulled away, leaving him alone on the sidewalk.
19
Carlos hung up the phone in frustration and tossed it on the sofa. Restlessly, he paced the floor.
Where was she? She could at least respond to let him know she received the half a dozen texts and four voicemails he’d left in the few hours since she’d been gone. Had she left for the airport or was she still in the city? He couldn’t stay here. Wondering. Waiting. He’d go mad.
Carlos stopped pacing. Natalie! If Carmen hadn’t gone to the airport, she was probably at Natalie’s.
He grabbed his keys and raced out of the apartment. He drove over the speed limit to Natalie’s place and parked in the underground parking lot. Since he couldn’t get upstairs without being buzzed in, he waited outside her building. At some point, one of the tenants would come out or go in, and then he could slip inside and plead his case from outside the apartment door.
Lucky for him, mere minutes later, Natalie exited the building with earbuds tucked into her ears. She hadn’t noticed him against the outer wall. The same thick twists cascaded down her back as she bounced down the sidewalk to the tune in her ears.
Carlos walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. “Natalie.”
She spun around, and when she saw him, her face transformed into a scowl. She removed the buds, and he heard the faint sound of a hip-hop track. “What do you want?”
This was going to be very, very hard. “I need to talk to Carmen. I need to see her.”
“No and no. She doesn’t want to talk to you or see you. You’ve done enough.”
He fought the urge to yell in anger. “I need to explain the situation.”
Natalie smiled sweetly—too sweetly. Tilting her head, she blinked up at him. “From what I hear, you already explained. There’s nothing more for you to say. Carmen knows what you did and why you did it, and she doesn’t care. You were wrong, and apologizing isn’t going to change that. Leave her alone.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? You did before, with your pockets full of cash.”
Carlos winced, and she looked almost apologetic.
“I love her.”
“If that’s true, then you shouldn’t want to hurt her,” Natalie said.
“I don’t. I didn’t. I made a mistake. She loves me, Natalie. Let me inside the apartment to talk to her. I only need five minutes.”
“I am not going to betray her trust for you. Carmen is a good person, a sweetheart. Her heart broke when you left, and now to find out your absence wasbought…how do you think that makes her feel?”
Her words and unyielding stance revealed the hopelessness of the situation.
“She didn’t deserve what you did. Let her be, Carlos.” Natalie tucked the buds back in her ears and walked away.
Carlos shifted his gaze up the side of the building to the windows above. Carmen was up there. She might even be looking at him right now. So close, yet so far away.
He dropped his gaze to the street filled with cars and shoppers and inhabitants of the buildings, and emptiness filled him. They were supposed to be spending the week together.
Taking her father’s money had been an act of desperation—one he wasn’t proud of—and one he couldn’t explain without a deep sense of shame and regret. Regret that he’d lost Carmen, and now he was losing her all over again.
Gulping back his pain, he put one foot in front of the other and walked slowly back to his car.
