Page 66 of The Last Call Home
My lips curve into a dark, dangerous smile.
“I fucking dare you.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
Delilah
If this iswhat leaving feels like, no one warns you how much it aches in places you didn’t even know could feel.
The rearview mirror is too damn small to hold everything I’m driving away from.Too narrow to reflect the things I saw back in that cabin—the way Malerick looked at Cassian like he was seconds from coming undone, the way Cassian touched me like he was still surprised I didn’t walk away after everything that was said.
The near-touches.The glances.The tension vibrated through the room with every second we pretended we weren’t on the edge of something that could rewrite all of us.
We didn’t fall apart.
We didn’t fall into bed either.
We chose something harder.
To try.
To be honest.
To give whatever this is space to breathe before we crush it under years of silence and bruised history.
It should feel noble.Mature.
But it fucking hurts.
Because I’m not walking away from something casual.I’m walking away from a table where we laughed, where we told the truth with our mouths full of pasta and our hearts cracked wide open.I’m walking away from a kiss that didn’t ask for anything except more, and two men who, for the first time, didn’t hide behind it.
And I’m doing it on purpose.
Because this isn’t about instant gratification.It’s not about how badly I want to climb back into that cabin and press my body between theirs and say fuck it to caution.
It’s about doing this right.
This involves allowing them to confront one another, truly see one another—without my presence in the middle acting as glue, gravity, or distraction.
It’s the bravest thing I’ve ever done.
And yet, it still feels like loss.
Like slipping out of something soft and warm, only to step barefoot into the cold.
I grip the steering wheel tighter like I’m trying to wring sense out of the leather.
The important thing is that they need space.That’s the story I’m sticking to.It’s what I told myself when I stood up and said my polite goodbyes.Well, that and Mom is waiting for me.This whole ‘I’m going to meet with Simone since she’s back in town’ sounded like a perfect excuse.I just hope Mom and Simone don’t have the chance to chat anytime soon.
Yes, I threw my old friend under the bus.That’s what she gets for coming back to town and not letting me know she was here.I had to go to the doctor to have a physical to learn she’s here—the bitch.I’m happy that I have more friends in town, but I’ll make her regret not telling me anything.
You know what I’m not so happy about?Leaving Malerick’s house with just one kiss goodbye from him and another from Cass.I understand though, they need time.
Time to fix whatever cracked between them before I even showed up—more like before they walked into my life with their infuriating emotional whiplash.
It’s the mature thing to do, right?
Not wedge myself between two men with unresolved history and enough trauma to fuel a television show with lots of drama and hopefully full-frontal nudes.I’m not some romantic referee with a clipboard and a whistle screaming, “Kiss and make up, boys.”
