Locke Katica by Breach

Author:Breach
Format: epub

Chapter Twenty One

Roan sat in the armchair in his room, the laptop balanced on his knees as he scrolled through his e-mail. He hadn’t heard from Kethic in a couple of weeks and the wedding was growing steadily closer. If they were even still going through with it. Roan trashed the accumulated junk mail and clicked over to a local weather site. No storms in the forecast. He sighed in relief. Last week’s had just about been his undoing. He had waited long enough for Ishaan to fall asleep—on a normal night, he would have been asleep. If Roan had gone in without checking...

A soft knock on his half-closed door roused him from his thoughts and he glanced up as Ishaan stuck his head into the room.

“What’s up?” Roan asked.

“Payday,” Ishaan said, tossing a handful of coins onto Roan’s bed.

“Thanks,” Roan said as Ishaan started to withdraw. Roan opened his mouth and started to speak, then hesitated. He wanted to just let Ishaan walk away, like he’d been doing for days, but it had to be done. “Hey, Ishaan?”

“Yeah, what is it?” Ishaan asked, stepping back into the doorway.

“Do you need to go to Devaen any time soon?” Roan asked, the words flat and lifeless on his tongue, almost spoken a hundred times. “I’ve got some errands to do and I could walk, but I thought if you needed to go—”

“Yeah, I’ll give you a ride,” Ishaan said. “I can get a few things at the store.”

“Thanks,” Roan said, a sick sort of weight settling in his gut. Closing the laptop, he stood and set it in the seat of the chair before changing his clothes. He had to do this—he wanted to. It was the best thing for both of them, really. He’d overstayed his welcome and it was time to move on before anyone got hurt.

Roan sighed. Too late for that.

“Are you about ready?” Ishaan called from the other side of the house as Roan sat on the end of the bed, tying his boot laces.

“Just about,” Roan replied. He gathered up the coins off the bed, took the rest of his savings out of his sock drawer, and grabbed his jacket. He was standing at the front door jingling the money in his pocket when Ishaan came out of his room. Roan’s gaze devoured him from head to toe—the raven black hair falling carelessly to his collar, the tight blue T-shirt, the faded jeans—

Roan looked away before Ishaan noticed. He shouldn’t have been staring; there was nothing unusual about the way Ishaan was dressed. He silently followed Ishaan out to the barn and helped roll the cloth cover off the car. As Ishaan drove the five miles into town, Roan sat slumped in the passenger’s seat, staring out the window and trying to think of something to say to break the silence, but he was afraid anything that came out of his mouth would just sound fake.

When they finally reached Devaen, Ishaan slowed to a crawl and stopped in front of the general store.

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