Ryan Hunter

away. And Tony did, too. His face scrunched with lines of aching, he pushed past me and climbed out the window.
    I waited until he disappeared in the dark garden. Then I slowly turned around to Liza. A stream of blood ran from my nose down to my lips. Wiping it away with the back of my hand, I told her, “I really didn’t—”
    “Stop it! ” Liza raised both her palms rendering me silent. “I don’t know who of you two disgusts me more tonight. Leave me alone. I’m done with you.”
    She couldn’t mean it. All the crap that Tony had told her tonight—she must realize that it was nothing but a goddamned lie. “I didn’t come because Mitchell asked me to. I came because I wanted to see you again.”
    “Yeah, right. As if I would believe that. Distraction, huh? Tell me, did I look so miserable that you thought I depended on your mercy?” There was a tiny tear glistening on her cheek as it fell down. “Or did you really just want to get me into bed?”
    Coping with her accusations was one thing I could deal with. But seeing her cry was something entirely different. It was too much, and I didn’t know how to handle it. Not when I was the one who made cry. I pinched the spot between my eyes. “Cut the crap, Liza. You know that’s not true.”
    “Leave.” She wiped the single tear away, and when she spoke next, her voice was steady. And stone cold. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
    No. Please, no ! I couldn’t leave her now. There must be a way to get things straight between us again—to convince her that I never intended to only play with her. But that my heart was in that game from the very first moment.
    Her gaze only hardened, making sure there was no chance for us. Not anymore.
    My heart ached, and so did the rest of my body when I walked toward her. Leaning down to brace myself on the bed on either side of her, I searched her face one last time for a flicker of hope. There was none.
    All right. I had lost what I never really had. And that little bit of hope she’d awoken in me those past few days made the pain unbearable. “For a minute there, I thought I stood a chance. But I guess in the end, Mitchell will still be the lucky one.”
    Closing that last inch of distance between our faces, I inhaled her pure, beautiful scent one last time. She didn’t back away from me, but her eyes said she wouldn’t tolerate the tiniest touch right now.
    I grabbed my cap from behind her and straightened, pulling the brim deep down my face. “See you around, Matthews.”
    Pivoting, I strode toward the open window, climbed out, and jumped from the shed. There was no one holding me back. No one telling me to come again tomorrow, so we could talk. No one to say goodnight. There was only a hurting girl who closed the window after me.

Chapter 12
     
    I HAD NO idea where I was going, but I knew going home wasn’t an option for me right now. Racing the car along the highway, I tried to blast my mind free with the music turned up to a deafening level. I was out of town before I knew it, heading south.
    No one I knew lived in that area, so at some point I just skittered the car to a halt on an empty parking lot and climbed out. The headlights sliced through the pitch-black night, falling on calm waves rolling to the shore. Sand gnashed underneath my shoes as I walked down the stone steps and crossed the beach toward the sea. Shortly before the sand got wet, I sat down, hugged my legs to my chest, and rested my chin on my knees. I stared out at the ocean, trying to make sense of something I couldn’t understand.
    Why was it always the things you wanted most that you couldn’t have?
    No one was there to give me an answer.
    After some minutes, the Audi’s control system cut the lights and left me brooding in the dark. I didn’t move…for hours. Until the sun crept up behind me and slowly warmed my cold and stiff body. My phone went off in my pocket. I had this hurtful hope that Liza wanted to talk to me. But it wasn’t her. The display flashed Mom. She had probably realized that my car wasn’t around the house and got worried. I didn’t answer the call, but I got to my feet and dragged my hurting self to my car. Half falling asleep, I drove home.
    Before getting out of my car, I cleaned my face from all the blood, because I didn’t want to scare anyone. But the split lip and swollen nose would give me away, no matter what. As I slipped in through the front door, the big grandfather clock in the