What time is it?I wondered as I tried to move, but his arm was locked in place.
“You’re not getting rid of me just yet,” River’s stern, unbending voice whispered into my ear. “Just a little more, then you can go as you please.”
He was singing a different tune. Could he really be serious this time?
“You’re really going to let me go?”
“I am,” he stated, unfaltering.
Good, because I didn’t plan on staying in his bed.
“You probably wish that I fall in love with her, huh?” he asked out of the blue, breaking me out of my damning thoughts.
Wish? Hardly. But it seemed going back to that wretched Hailey would make him feel like a man, so he could go ahead and get on with his life.
“I won’t care.” Maybe they deserved each other, the lying lot.
He laughed mockingly. “I know. You don’t have to say it. I already know you don’t give a flying fuck if I die tomorrow. I get it. I’m nothing to you.”
“Then why do you keep me imprisoned in your arms!”
“Because this will be the last time. I’m quitting you, too.”
His words stabbed deeply into my heart. It was moronic since I kept telling him that I wanted him to leave me, be with someone else. However, it was different when those statements came out of his lips.
Not wanting to dwell on the madness that ensued in my mind, I felt suffocated. Like a knee-jerk reaction, I had to get away so I could breathe.
“I have to book my flight for tomorrow.”
River was still unrelenting as I tried to yank his arm away to no avail.
“I’ll have a jet ready for you. I’ll take care of it.”
Damn him. Why did he still feel the urge to take care of me after all that’s happened?
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he reassured me before I felt his lips against my ear, freezing me in place. “Promise me something?”
“What?” I croaked out, still holding my breath.
“Don’t marry unless the love is greater than ours.” His words intonated emotions that weren’t being spoken out loud.
His request would prove to be difficult.
“I promise,” I lied.
What else could I say? I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t going to love any man the way I loved him. It was impossible to replicate this beautiful madness. He knew that. I knew that.
I stayed awhile. Five hours to be precise, before it was time for me to leave.
River delivered. While we were in bed, he managed to get everything done with a quick phone call. He didn’t see me out, but I knew when I left his room, he was wide-awake, though pretending to be asleep. We didn’t exchange good-byes because how many times did we have to put ourselves through that? Our silence said it all.
Anton had all the markings of a man who had the time of his life, sleeping with his mouth open with slight drool leaking out. I kissed his forehead before wheeling out my belongings. There was a limo waiting for me, all thanks to River, to take me to the airstrip.