“Go use the bathroom, Harls. I’m still here.”
I nod even though he can’t see me, and I do as he says. When I come back, I flick the lamp off and slide beneath the blankets.
“I’m back.”
“Good.” The tenderness in his voice is calming and soothing, the same way it always was when he whispered goodnight to me and kissed my hair when we went to bed. Two nights without it. Two nights missing him.
Missing everything.
“Now close your eyes. I’m going to stay on the line until I know you’re asleep.”
“You don’t need to do that,” I say into the dark.
His voice fills the room, chasing away the shadows. “I do, Angel.”
And as I close my eyes, the gentle chords of his guitar carry through the phone’s speaker, followed by his deep voice singing a song that I’ve heard on the radio, Jason Mraz’s “I won’t give up.”
He’s singing it to me. He couldn’t make it any clearer. He doesn’t want to give up on us.
But he has to. Otherwise, he could lose everything.
I screw my face up tight and bury it in the duvet to muffle my crying as I listen to him. Every word is impregnated with meaning. Every syllable, a promise to me that he will fight for us. But he doesn’t know what he’s fighting against.
The song comes to an end, and I freeze, afraid to move or speak.
Afraid to do anything.
I’m not strong enough to lie to him in this moment when he’s just opened his heart so honestly to me.
So I say nothing. I do nothing.
Reed stays on the line for a long time, probably trying to work out if I’m asleep.
Then finally his voice cuts through the night.
“Harls, I lo—” He clears his throat, thinking better of whatever he was going to say, and simply says, “Sleep, Angel.”
Then he hangs up.
Chapter twenty-nine
Reed
Iwalkaroundthecorner toward my office and can make out Stuart on a call with someone.
“I’m glad you agreed to it. I know someone else who will be extremely happy to see you.” His laugh echoes down the hallway, and as I turn the corner, he’s leaning back in one of the chairs that surround the meeting table. His eyes meet mine and his expression remains unchanged. But I sense that he wasn’t expecting me yet. I stepped out to get us both a coffee, my turn this time, and the line was unusually non-existent. I’ve been gone half the time it would usually take.
“Okay. See you later.”
I place his cup down on the desk in front of him as I walk around it and place mine down, unfastening my jacket before sitting down. He takes a sip without meeting my eyes.
“Thanks. You even got it right. Hot and dark, just like me.”
I smirk and shake my head. “Don’t you mean bitter and ready to scald if mishandled?”
“Ouch. You just described my ex-girlfriend.”
I run my hand over my jaw, amusement creasing my eyes and quirking my lips.