Page 11 of Leave Me (Touch of Death 2)
“I shot you and ran away. I want to be here. How much clearer do I have to be?”
His jaw tightens, and his eyes flash with something volatile. “I did not forget. But I will forgive your stupidity.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“What else would you call this?” He swipes a finger beneath the morbid claim on my skin. “And you’re willing to die for this cause?”
“He killed my father.”
Sasha closes his eyes, and a slow breath hisses from him. “What if he didn’t?”
“What?”
“It was likely one of his men,” he explains.
I frown, confused as to why he would even mention that detail. “Under his orders,” I say slowly. Annoyance gnaws away at me, and emotions I thought I had buried rise up. “Why are you even here, Sasha? You made it very clear I’m nothing more than a job to you.” I hold his stare, and his jaw tics. “Consider yourself relinquished of your duties.”
I expect his cold rage, but instead he drops his forehead to mine intimately. All the hurt, rejection, and betrayal hangs in the air between us, entwined with a deep longing that I wish I could just…stop.
His hands clasp my face before his lips slam over mine forcefully, full of desperation and a kind of passion I didn’t know he possessed. For a moment I still, torn. I consider pushing him away and putting a stop to this, but of course, I don’t. I’ve always had a certain weakness for him and probably always will. So instead, I kiss him back because ugly words are not enough to mask the truth of the heart, and mine is screaming out for him, spluttering in my chest like a lovesick teenager. That invisible thread that I’ve tried to ignore snaps tight between us. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than his kiss, his touch, his acknowledgement of…whatever this is. Now, I need him to slip back into the shadowy fortress of his own disciplined denial because I don’t know that I have enough will power for the two of us. My head and heart collide, but eventually, my head wins out, and I pull away. Rapid breaths wash over my face, and his eyes remain closed, his brows pinched as though he were in physical pain.
“You’re not just a job.” Those icy blue irises flash open, so vulnerable for just a second. And then his expression shutters as though emotions never even occurred. He steps away from me, and I instantly feel cold without him.
My legs twitch with the urge to follow him, but I force myself to remain rooted against the wall.
“Goodbye, Adelina.” Two words that unexpectedly crush my soul.
“I’m sorry,” I breathe. The words are flat, inadequate. “I’m sorry,” I repeat, stumbling forward a step involuntarily.
He retreats step by step, his expression turning to ice. All traces of warmth and affection disappear in the blink of an eye, and I suddenly can’t recall what that warmth ever looked like. Sadness creeps over me because I know this will be the way I remember him. Efficient, inhuman, and distanced. And he’s not those things. Not really. My eyes prickle with tears, but I bite the inside of my cheek, forcing them back.
In a single breath, he slips behind the curtain, and the room is silent once more.
“Sasha.” I dart after him. The balcony is empty, and as I glance over the stone ledge that surrounds it, I see nothing but darkness. The breeze catches in the curtains, sending them tumbling around me in a mess. I wait, listening intently, but all I hear is the beat of my pulse against my ear drums. No security lights go off. He’s just…gone like a ghost, an apparition in a dream. My chest squeezes painfully, and I swallow hard. It feels so…final, and I feel the weight of that deep within me.
Pain rips through my chest, stealing my breath and almost bringing me to my knees. Heartbreak—very real—consumes me. Whatever strange and tenuous bond once existed between Sasha and me is now severed. I can sense it like the falling of an axe, leaving nothing but a fresh cut behind. And I’m bleeding, hemorrhaging all over the pristine purity of what was once an innocent kind of lust in a tainted world.
I stumble to the bed, and I allow myself to crack just a little. Tears break free, trickling silently down my face. I grieve all over again, for another man, another protector… another love.
Golden sunlight pours through the balcony doors, warming the exposed skin of my legs and seeping through my thin cotton sundress. A shiver wracks my body as a drop of cool water falls from my wet hair onto my shoulder.
I wait and wait. Finally, there are footsteps on the other side of the door. The lock clicks open, and the handle pushes down. I launch across the room, reaching the door just as that arm snakes toward the side table with a plate of food.
