41. Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-One
Rory
A fter the most boring shift of my life, I walk towards the elevator, desperate to go home so that I can sit and mope on my sofa with a good book and a glass of wine.
When the doors open, I stand frozen with shock as I see Leo leaning against the mirrored wall with his phone in his hand.
"What are you doing here?"
He glances up at me, shrugs, and then looks back down at his phone, practically ignoring not only my question but also my existence.
I huff and step into the elevator, too tired and dejected to even care that he hasn't given me an answer.
As the doors close and the lift begins to move, he pockets his phone and glances over at me.
I turn to face him too, raising my brow.
When he still doesn't say anything and looks away from me, waiting for the doors to open, I can't help but allow my gaze to stray to the scar running across his face again.
"Have you ever tried to use any creams or anything on it?" I ask, gesturing to the raised, jagged scar that slices through his eye, despite the fact that he probably already knows what I'm referring to .
He shakes his head in response, kissing his teeth as he impatiently presses a button on the wall as if he's in a rush for the doors to open and let us out.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want it to fade," he states, practically sighing in relief when the elevator comes to a stop and the doors finally slide open.
I follow him down the hall and out of the hospital, but as he heads to his car, my steps falter, and I glance around the dark parking lot ahead of us as fear snakes down my spine, causing my body to lock up.
He looks at me over his shoulders, and then his eyes also dart around, searching for anything that may be a threat.
When he clearly sees nothing out of place, he walks towards me and gestures with his arm to follow him.
My head swivels back and forth, my eyes scanning every person and every car around us before I hurry towards him.
"The scar is a reminder for me," he says, placing his hand on the small of my back and nudging me forward towards the car. "I like that it's permanent."
I don't say anything in response, too distracted by my surroundings to focus enough on stringing a sentence together.
My shoulders relax slightly when we reach his car and he opens the passenger door, waiting for me to get in before he closes the door and rounds the car.
Once he gets in and starts the engine, I finally tear my eyes away from the dark streets around us, feeling safer than I did before now that I'm not outside, and no longer alone .
As we silently make our way through the streets of London, I pull my phone out of my bag and click on Jaylen's contact, opening our empty text thread.
My thumbs hover over the keyboard for a few moments before I sigh and turn my phone off.
"He's waiting for you to text him, you know?"
I turn to Leo in surprise.
"Really?"
"Yep. Poor bastard's checking his phone every few minutes, and each time he sees a blank screen, he looks defeated. It's weird in all honesty. I don't think I've ever seen him look anything but happy."
My eyes fall shut, and I groan as pain slashes across my chest at the thought of how he must be feeling.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it."
"It's okay. I deserve to feel bad," I mutter, turning away from him to stare longingly out of the window as tears swim in my eyes.
I hate that I'm the reason Jaylen is hurting. He doesn't deserve to feel like this, and I wish I could change things, but I'm trying to keep him safe.
Being with me would only hurt him further, and I can't allow that to be his reality.
He'd be in danger with me. We'd both constantly be looking over our shoulders, living in fear, just waiting for my bastard ex to catch up to us and inflict a whole world of pain on us both, purely just because I finally found the courage to leave him.
That's my responsibility, and that's for me to deal with.
Jaylen has no part in that .
He doesn't realise what he's gotten himself involved in by building a connection with me and wanting to be with me.
I can't allow him to be hurt for something that's my fault.
I knew the dangers of leaving, and I had an inkling that Danny would catch up to me at some point, but I never imagined that I would've found such a strong connection with such an amazing, passionate, caring man like Jaylen.
I never should've allowed myself to become involved with him.
I'm only hurting us both.