I got up on shaky legs and told Chris goodnight numbly, then I headed for my room.
The room was dark but my thoughts were vivid bursts tearing through my mind and heart.
Dawn came, and when I knew Chris had returned from his time out on the water, I got up. Chry was still asleep but I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before he woke. I caught Chris in the kitchen drinking water and since Ky wasn’t down here with him, I knew this was my chance.
“Will you watch Chry for me for a little while, please?” I asked once he noticed I was there.
He looked at me like he knew something was going on inside my head but he didn’t ask.
“Yeah, no problem, Ingram,” he said and moved to wrap me up in a hug.
“Thank you,” I said hugging him back tightly. “I will return shortly.”
Then I was off to beat down Mouse’s door and get some answers. If he didn’t want this well, then he was going to have to tell me to my face.
And that was exactly what I did once I drove to the compound.
“Mouse,” I called out as the side of my balled up fist pounded against the cool door. “You open up this door right now.”
I sounded like a crazy person and probably looked like one as well.
“Mouse, you can’t just brush me off and ignore me like this! If you don’t want to do this then you need to tell me to my face. I think I deserve that much.”
Pound.
Pound.
Pound.
“You can’t treat people this way.Iwill not letmyselfbe treated this way.”
Pound.
Pound.
Pound.
I had a good idea that he wasn’t even in there but I kept going. Maybe I simply needed to get it all out. The hurt, the anger, it had been building for days now.
“Ingram.”
My head whipped to the side and I found Iron standing there looking at me with a soft expression on his face.
“Iron, I’m sorry. I do not wish to disturb your place but I need to talk to Mouse.”
“He’s not here, Ingram. I’m sorry, honey,” he said and the sadness in his tone told me he meant his words.
“Where is he? It’s been five days that I haven’t heard from him. Nearly a week. He… I finally gave into my heart and now he is ignoring me.” I hadn’t really meant to say that last part out loud, but there was no taking it back now.
My chest rose and fell and it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“He told me he felt the same…” I said under my breath and felt like I’d somehow been made a fool of.
I didn’t want to see it because I would have sworn that Mouse was not that type of person.
Oh, no. Now I was crying.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Iron said and though I didn’t know the man very well, he moved forward and wrapped me up in a comforting hug. “Look, I can’t tell you anything. Honestly, I don’t know much of what is going on. I just heard from him myself.”
