Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 214

Five Days to Go

The car door is heavier than I expect. Like a metaphor for the way my heart feels,

how my

feet feel as I lift them with every step.

I sit down and the door closes with a loud thunk. At this point, all I can hear is the steady

beat of my heart in my ears. Pounding.

Zaid doesn't look at me. He's facing the window, his breath heavy, like he's struggling with his own control. His eyes watch the houses, his lips moving like he's chewing on

them.

I click my seatbelt into place, the sound loud in the quiet. My thoat feels thick, dry and I

wonder if I'm even going to be able to talk.

He still won't look at me. His hands are on his lap, clenched and still.

So I decide to break the silence, my soul still sore from the barrage of feelings his words

caused. "How'd you know I wanted to go somewhere green?"

That gets him.

He turns, slowly, and when his eyes meet mine, those dark, beautiful eyes that I haven't let myself stare into the past couple of days, I feel it like a hit to the chest. His frown pulls slightly deeper, confusion settling across his features.

I look down, swallowing the heat rising in my throat. “I overheard some of your

conversation with Jake."

nostrils flaring like

shake my head quickly, giving him an out. "It

find a place I

little. I watch as he looks away and shrugs. "You always say

miss the

down at my

a word, he picks up his phone

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Five Days to Go

gasp. He has a website pulled up, a dozen

single one of them

air leaves my

the tears already slipping past my lashes. "How did you know

face, like he's in pain. Like he can't breathe. Like he wants to run as much as I do. His hand twitches on his lap like he wants to reach for me, and I feel my whole body lean an

your dad from there?" he

my bottom lip to

me, breathing me in. Then, barely above a whisper, he says, "I listen to you, even when you

God.

look away, trying to breathe around the knot in my chest. But it doesn't ease. Because he's here. And I'm here. And we're driving across the country, together, toward something that could

road trip

long will it take us to get there?" I ask, my

haven't fully swallowed down.

to me,

Five days.

imperceptibly, but it's not from the cold. It's from the weight

that means.

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Five Days to Go