Sawyer pushed her chair back from the table and bolted from the restaurant. Belatedly I shook off my surprise and moved to go after her, as did Leo, but Sunny got up and waved her hands at both of us.
“I’ll find her. Tallulah, you go to the Luxor, I’ll meet you there. Leo, I’ll call you when I calm her down, okay?”
She didn’t wait for either of us to answer. Instead she left the restaurant and went off in the direction Sawyer had run. It made more sense, honestly, for Sunny to be the one to soothe her. Between the three of us, Sunny was the warm one, the nurturer.
Leo and I didn’t know the first thing about comforting others because no one had been around to comfort us for the bulk of our lives.
“That was maybe a bit harsh,” he commented, once Sunny had left.
I glared at him. “They don’t exactly come with a handbook, Leo. Or did you find a copy of Temperamental Teens 101 in your room that I didn’t get?”
He took a sip of his coffee, his expression totally unreadable, then set his mug back down. “You think yelling at me is going to make you feel better?”
“When did you turn into a psychologist?”
“About the same time you started caring about that kid, I’m guessing.”
I huffed, like I was going to argue, but the fighting words never came. He gave me a knowing smile, and I wanted to slap it right off his face.
He said, “It’s okay, you know.”
“What?”
“Caring about people.”
My shoulders sagged, and I looked down at the table. The words were a shot right to my sternum. How long had it been since I let myself care about anyone? I’d spent so much time holding people at a distance, and now suddenly here they were. Cade, Sunny, Leo, Sawyer. All these people and all these…feelings.
“Maybe I don’t want to care,” I replied quietly.
Leo put his hand on my shoulder, then playfully cuffed me on the chin. “Too late, kid.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I saw Cade lingering at the back of the seating area when I got to the Luxor. He was in another nice suit, his arms covered. This one was a dark navy blue that made his olive complexion look warmer somehow, in spite of the cool tones.
I navigated my way through the crowd and dropped into the seat beside him.
Just like Sunny had said, the security surrounding the convention had tightened significantly. Reporters were queued up outside with police officers and explosive-sniffing dogs going through camera bags. Every cleric or civilian who wanted to get into the hotel was being subjected to a thorough bag search and a full-body pat-down.
Inside the hotel there were armed officers patrolling the lobby and the upper levels. Every exit had at least two guards standing at the ready. The Starbucks had been closed for the day, as had the lobby gift shop. It looked like they were trying to limit the number of extra bodies who had access to the space.
I was amazed by how completely they had erased any record of the day before. All the broken glass had been replaced. The front entrance had been cleaned and scoured, and there was no sign of char marks or anything that might have suggested the explosion had taken place.
If I hadn’t been standing here the day before when it went off, I never would have known.
Still, they couldn’t erase my stitches. They couldn’t wipe my memory.
Even with a room filled with armed men and everyone being checked before they were allowed entry, I still didn’t feel safe. A lump was building inside my chest, and the sensation that something terrible was about to happen hung over my head like the proverbial sword of Damocles.
Cade glanced at me when I sat down, but he was so skilled at schooling his expression he didn’t smile or react in any way to my presence. I let myself get briefly distra
cted from my doom and gloom long enough to wonder if he might have heard me the night before when I told him I thought I loved him.
If he had, would he bother saying anything?
It wasn’t like we could have a perfect, ride-off-into-the-sunset kind of future. Maybe if he did love me back, it would be easier for us to not know.
I smiled at him.