Page 25 of Heartstruck at Dawn
Shit. I couldn’t catch a break.
I fled the rooftop and made my way down the stairs, but I heard the door pounding from afar, followed by the sound of fast-clicking shoes that rushed down to the fourteenth floor. I pushed the down button more than a few times.
Come on, come on, come on.
The elevator arrived, but thosedoor closebuttons never actually close the doors any faster.
William caught the closing doors, prompting them to open up again.
“Hi,” he said plainly, extending his hand to me as if I were trapped on the elevator, and he was there to save me. “I’m back from hell. Come. I’ll tell you all about it.” He offered me a tight-lip smile.Asshole.
“I’m a regular,” I replied, leaning back and sipping on my alcohol-free water. “So there’s nothing much you can tell me about it.”
William snorted.
The last time I had anything to drink was at William’s house in the Hamptons. At least I was reasonable on that end. Having sharp senses around him was always helpful. I knew how sneaky he could be.
“Weren’t you headed for the rooftop? I’m sure we can share it.” He threw one of those annoying smirks of his at me.
William was still holding his hand out, offering it to me. His fingers swiveled back and forth, urging me to step out.
The idleness triggered the elevator’s long alarm, and the doors started closing at a painfully slow rate. William grabbed my hand and pulled me out, making me gasp.
“I’m out, now what?” I sipped on my water again and raised a bored eyebrow at him.
“Now we go to the rooftop.” He wanted to start ordering me around already.
“No.”
“No?” He made it sound like he’d just arrived from Mars instead and was getting familiarized with words.
“You don’t want to be anywhere near me right now,trust me.” I summoned the elevator once again. But it didn’t open up immediately. It must’ve gone down to pick up someone else.
“And—why would that be?” he asked, his head tilting.
“Because I can’t even stand myself right now.”
“Let’s work on getting that fixed then.” He walked up the stairs, and I followed him because I’m a half-human half-magnet type of person. And the only logical explanation was that William had to be made of iron.
We walked to the far end of the rooftop, and William looked up at the sky and laughed a brief, leveled laugh. “That moon,” he said, pointing up.
Waxing crescent. I’d become a moon expert.
You could barely see it, but it was there.
That moon,indeed.
“Nothing beats the full moon,” I chirped, hoping to irritate him.
Lies. The crescent moon was now my favorite moon, of course.
“You’ll come around.”
We stood in silence for a while, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I’d missed him. And having William standing beside me was doing wonders for my state of mind. I could feel myself relaxing. Although I still hated him for ghosting me a couple of months ago and getting back together with Erin.
His hand played with mine while I held onto the railing, but I flinched away from his touch. He had a girlfriend, and I wasn’t going to participate in this type of dynamic. I was only here to talk.
“Willthis…” he whispered, attempting to touch my hand again, “make anyone angry?”
