Wasted Love with You (Wasted Love 1)

I have a feeling it’ll never return.

Ryder’s recent words—“I’ll never let you go to jail”—are running through my mind, but they’re lagging several laps behind my sanity.

No matter how much of a dominant pull he has over me when we’re together, no matter how easily he can disarm me with one long gaze from his deep blue eyes, I refuse to ignore this latest warning sign.

This is the end, Autumn. Walk away this time before it gets any worse.

As the train zooms past another stop, my phone vibrates with a phone call.

Ryder.

I stare at the screen until it goes to voicemail.

“Miss, Mr. Rochester isn’t the slightest bit understanding when it comes to tardiness.” The driver approaches me with his hands up, like I’m a feral animal. “If you want to remain employed, you need to do as I say from this moment forward.”

“What happened to the last person who quit this job?” I ask. “Help me by answering that first.”

“We’re only twenty minutes late.” He’s not on the same page at all. “I’ll tell him that this is all my fault, and he’ll take it out on me. What do you say?”

“No.” I shake my head and clench the handle of my duffle bag. “I say, hell no.”

“Miss Jane, if you could just—” The words stall on his lips as my phone vibrates once more.

Ryder.

Again.

Then again.

I don’t answer.

The driver’s phone sounds next, and his face immediately pales.

Unlike me, he doesn’t ignore it. He holds it up to his ear.

“Yes, Mr. Rochester?” he answers. “Yes, I picked Miss Jane up on time this evening, sir…”

He presses the phone against his chest, looking at me as if this is a life-and-death situation. “Do you want me to tell him the truth or not, Miss Jane?”

“You can tell him that being chained to a black briefcase with no details is a no-go for me,” I say. “You can also make him aware that even though I never agreed to it, I would like to make it abundantly clear that I do not work for his estate. I’m done walking around without answers to my questions.”

“So, you want me to speed up the plans for your funeral?”

I say nothing. I just stare at him as he returns to the line.

“She requested to stop because she was feeling slightly ill, sir,” he says. “Yes, I know that I should’ve called you first… Yes, sir. We’ll be there within fifteen minutes.”

“Now approaching Seattle-Tacoma Airport Station.” A loud voice suddenly sifts through the train’s speakers. “If this is your stop, please follow the signs for ticketing and TSA checkpoints.”

“I have a backup car in the garage here and it won’t take us long to get there,” the driver says. “Shockingly, Mr. Rochester doesn’t even sound that upset. Will you follow my lead?”

I mentally calculate how much money I have on all my credit cards, how many weeks it’ll take before I see any settlement money from the divorce, and how many red flags I’ve caught this month.

Make the right decision, Autumn…

“Sure.” I nod as the doors suddenly glide open. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“Oh, great.” He lets out a breath. “Thank you, Miss Jane.”

“You’re very welcome.” I look at the timer above the doors. “Maybe it’s all in my head and I’m worried about nothing at all.”

“Glad you’re coming to your senses. We’ll need to stay on the train until the next stop at the garage, so—”

I rush past him just as the doors start shutting, slipping through the crack before he can finish the rest of that sentence.

“What the fuck?” His eyes widen. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Thank you for making this easy.”

“Stop! Stop the train!” He beats against the glass, yelling and cursing as the tram takes off without me. The last of his words, a pained—“You’re signing a death wish!”—echo against the steel walls.

I’ll take my chances…

Not wanting to waste another second, I rush toward the terminal.

The metal handcuffs rub against my wrist with every step, and the briefcase knocks hard against my knees.

I don’t know what’s inside the briefcase, but whatever it is will soon be abandoned and forgotten. Along with the previous chapters of my life with Nate. Along with the new pages I started to pen with Ryder, despite how promising they seem.

Well, seemed.

End of Episode 19

Episode 20

Autumn

The ticketing zone is a ghost town.

Travelers are rolling their luggage toward clear lanes of security, TSA agents are laughing and passing around a cell phone, and a Whimstery Cafe barista is juggling stuffed coffee beanies.

Walking from airline to airline, I squint at the overhead screens to see which one is currently offering escapes closest to my hometown.

Delta…

I make my way to a kiosk and try to purchase a ticket. As I’m typing in the final destination, my phone sounds with a call from an unknown number.