****
Loren
I bite down on my lower lip to keep the sob from exploding out of my throat. The cabbie is yelling something in Arabic, and clearly not paying a lick of attention to me in my heartbroken state, but I have to hold it together, or I’ll never survive.
The rush of emotion I felt this morning when Brax walked into the coffee house…I can’t even put it into words. The second his deep-set brown eyes locked on mine, I felt safe and secure. Loved. The hardest part was keeping myself from jumping into his strong arms, the arms I’d missed for the past six weeks, the ones I’d feared I’d never have wrapped around me again. But someone is always watching, so I’ll have to wait a bit longer.
He came back, just as he’d promised. He was always so much stronger than me. It’s one of the reasons why I fell so hard for him in the first place. Braxton Matera always had such tight control over every situation. Nobody could shake him. Ever. Cold as ice, too. At least, that was his reputation. But he was anything but that with me.
I never believed he’d return. As much as I wanted to trust that he’d survived that night, I knew it was near impossible, even for him. Those people were too dangerous, too evil, too unforgiving.
It feels like an eternity before the cab pulls up in front of my apartment building. I throw some bills over the seat and push open the door, scouting the desolate tree-lined street. I’d have never been able to afford this place if it hadn’t been for Braxton. I guess guys in his line of work are always prepared, just in case they need to make a rapid middle-of-the-night disappearance, like the one I’d made.
He thrust a wad of hundred dollar bills and a piece of paper with a handwritten address on it into my still-shaking hand, which was freshly bandaged. “You know what to do. Go to the place we talked about. Make sure nobody follows you.”
“But, Brax…I can’t do this on my own! I need you!” My teeth chattered, even though the evening air was warm.
His rough fingertips grazed the side of my face. “You’re so strong, Loren, such a fighter. I know you can do this. Run. Now. Don’t ever look back.”
Tears stung my eyes. The pain I’d endured earlier that night was nothing like the torturous ache in my chest, the one caused by my heart breaking in two.
“They’ll kill you if you stay,” I whisper.
“Staying is the only way to make sure we can have our happy ending. I need to make sure this ends before it’s too late for either of us.” He leaned closer, his breath fluttering against my cheek. “Leave, Loren. You have no other choice.”
“Will I ever see you again?” The words reverberated between my ears, clanging like symbols, a harsh reminder of the cold, hard reality staring us both in the face. If I left, it could be the last I’d see of Brax again.
“Trust me, I’ll make it back to you. In the meantime, you need to start over. It’ll be a brand-new life for you. For us.” His lips brushed against my trembling ones, sparking a tiny flicker hope, one that I wanted to extinguish the dread that had taken residence in my gut.
A brand-new life.
With all the baggage of the old one.