Thames smirked. This fucker knew he’d be in his car from the start.
Thames retrieved the car key from his pocket. Locke already had his hand open for it when he looked up. He passed it to him and Conor turned to go.
Opening the door, he departed with, “Could have put me in a nicer place, you cheap fuck.”
He caught Locke’s smirk as he stepped out and slammed the door shut. It was misty, the streets were wet after an evening of light rain. He turned in the direction of the motel office when he heard the car window rolling down. It was almost too dark to see the inside of the car, but the dashboard lights were enough to make out Locke’s face.
“She waited for you, Conor,” he abruptly declared, sombrely. The sentence was so random, so out of leftfield, Thames was knocked speechless. “Just so you know, she never moved on.”
He felt his chest swell. His throat was almost too thick to swallow. Locke rolled the window up and reversed out of the parking lot. Thames watched the car disappear down the street, his tired legs rooted to the ground.
It was so cold he could see his breaths cloud around him. He walked to the edge of the parking lot and stared down the empty streets. It must have been close to two in the morning now. He was so wrecked, so tired, his bones stiffened from the cold.
She waited for you, Conor.
There it was, another crack in his wall. A deep jagged line, cutting through the apathy. He had tried to let her go all this time and failed so spectacularly. The rage that coursed through his heart at the idea of her moving on was suppressed so deep inside him, buried in layers of apathy and indifference. It was the only way to survive all those years in lock-up.
And now, barely twenty-four hours out of prison, he was coming undone.
Because that was the power of Charlotte Miles. She gripped him then, she gripped him now; he was tethered to her like time was just an outside force with no influence on their love.
He looked over his shoulder at the motel, glowing with the promise of warmth, of rest, of a temporary sanctuary. Then he looked back at the streets, swallowed up by darkness and the unknown.
Which way was he gravitating towards?
What unidentified emotion was giving him that pull in the obscure direction?
Letting out a long breath, Thames moved, taking measured stiff steps into that great unknown.
Into the darkness.
Chapter Seven
Charlotte
It was three in the morning, and I couldn’t sleep. I felt every second of every minute of every hour. I tossed and I turned, and I stared out the window into the dark night. The skies were cloudy, the rain had picked up again, gently pattering on the windowpane.
Every part of me ached to see him.
There was no escaping the great pull I felt. Constantly the pulse of it forced me out of bed and in the direction of the window. I stared out, forehead pressed against the glass, wondering if he was closer than I could see.
Closing my eyes, I tried to feel him. He felt tangible to me now. For so long, he was out of reach, and now it just felt surreal to know he was here.
You wait so long, and then the time comes, and it isn’t anything like you thought it would be.
Energy pulled me away from the window. Unfocused, I grabbed my grey cardigan off the dresser and threw it on over my pyjamas. Utterly exhausted, I trailed down the staircase and to the front door.
When I opened it, a gust of chilly air hit me. I shivered as I dug my feet into my slippers and stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door behind me. I didn’t turn the porch lights on. I stayed hidden in the dark, searching for any sign of life.
I wondered where he was. I nearly cried thinking he might be cold and alone. Or maybe he was warm somewhere. Maybe he was lying in bed, trying to accept his new surroundings.
I wished he would have come to me.
I gulped back a wave of sorrow as I stepped off the porch and walked the small cobblestone path through the front yard. The leaves crunched under my feet and the wind whipped overhead, carrying the leaves across the lawn and onto the road.
I followed the leaves off the property and stood outside my house, arms