Page 65 of The Backdraft
Before I registered what I was doing, I was calling Darcy.
“Hello?” Her voice was thick with sleep.
“Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I forgot what time it is.” I inwardly cursed myself.
“Arch, it’s eight in the morning, not four. I should wake up anyway. What’s up?”
“Can I come over?” I asked, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.
“Yeah, of course. Is everything okay?” Concern laced her tone.
I exited the building. “Everything is great. I just need to see you.”
“I’m here.” Her response had me smiling as I swung my leg over my motorcycle.
“Good. I’ll be there in ten.”
TWENTY SEVEN
DARCY
The second I got off the phone with Archer, I had sent a text to the group chat with Shayna and Linnea. He never called to ask me to come over, it was always a text. I was trying not to freak out, but the feeling that he was going to break up with me, despite the fact that we weren’t officially together, had my stomach sinking like lead.
Shayna:Keep us posted!
I read the latest text right as Archer knocked on my door.
“It’s unlocked!” I shouted from the couch.
Letting himself inside, he scanned the apartment until he found me. “You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked. What if it wasn’t me?” He flipped the lock, then bent to take his boots off.
“I knew it was you. I heard your bike.” I watched him walk over and sink down onto the couch next to me. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his body held none of its usual rigidity. I knew he was coming off his forty-eight, but he seemed more tired than usual.
“Do me a favor, and please lock your door. If not for your sake then for mine? Please?” The sassy retort died on the tip of my tongue with one look at his expression. Something was bothering him, and that made my original anxieties surrounding his visit worsen.
“Sure,” I said, my voice coming out a little too reassuring. I dialed it back. “So, what’s up?”
He turned so he was facing me completely, his knee brushing mine, but he didn’t move it. I hesitantly let myself take that as a good sign. If he was here with bad news, he wouldn’t touch me, right?
“Chief Abrams offered me the lieutenant position this morning.”
My heart plummeted down to my leadened stomach. So, I was right. He’d come over because we’d fulfilled both ends of our bargain, and now it was time to discuss the break up. It shouldn’t have been a surprise because it was the original game plan, but wait, no, it was a surprise. I wasn’t about to gaslight myself into thinking I’d made up everything that had happened between us that felt like more than fake dating. That felt likemorethan two people using each other to achieve separate goals. Breaking up might’ve been the original intention, but we’d let each other in, or we’d started to at least. The reality that he was sticking to the terms of the deal when I wanted to shred it, burn it, launch it into space, or all of the above, was disheartening. Which left one thing to do: play it off like this wasn’t going to hurt me. At least long enough for him to leave. Then I could cry.
“Congratulations. So, how do you want to do it?” I pumped my voice with all the detached nonchalance I could muster, and waited for him to answer enthusiastically with ideas.
But his face contorted in confusion, his posture stiffening. “What? What are you talking about?”
Pulling my knee back so that it no longer touched his, I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. Ponytails were like brass knuckles for women. “Our breakup. How do you want to do it?”
“I—I don’t.” Confusion, concern, and something that resembled hurt warred for dominance on his face. “Do you?”
It felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over my head, and now I was equally as confused as he was. “Wait. You aren’t here to talk about ending our deal?”
He shook his head as if trying to clear all his thoughts. “Is that why you thought I was coming over?”
“I suspected it was. Then you said you got the promotion and I figured that’s what that meant,” I blurted, caught in an emotional limbo, not knowing if I was supposed to be angry, sad, or relieved.
Archer’s features softened, a chuckle rumbling in his chest. “No, Darcy. I came over because I told the chief I needed to think about it because I don’t know what to do.”
