Page 46 of Ghost Ribbon

I glanced at my phone again even though I already knew the time. Almost an hour. My stomach twisted into a tight knot. He forgot. That had to be it. He got busy with whatever terrifying things he did when he wasn’t tormenting me and he just… forgot.

The thought made something weird settle in my chest. Sadness. It was sadness, wasn’t it? I didn’t know why that feeling was there at all. This was good. This was what I wanted. I didn’t want him to pick me up. I didn’t want to be near him.

I should just go.

No one was really here anymore. The last few stragglers had disappeared while I was standing here like an idiot, staring at the road like some abandoned puppy. The sky had gone gray, and now a cold drizzle had started to fall. It wasn’t a full rain yet, but the drops were already soaking into my shirt and making my hair stick to my forehead. I had been standing out here since the final bell, and the chill was already creeping into my bones.

I couldn’t really risk getting a cold. I looked down at my sneakers, watching the little puddles forming around my feet. The water was starting to seep in through the sides. My toes were already cold.

I really should go.

But what if he comes and I’m not here?

The thought stopped me in my tracks. What if Alexei finally showed up and I had already left? What if he got angry? He told me to wait. He made it sound like an order, not a suggestion. And I didn’t really want to test him.

I wrapped my arms around myself, hugging my own body tight as another gust of wind blew rain into my face.

He probably wasn’t coming.

He had probably gotten distracted by something more important than me. Or maybe he had never planned to come at all. Maybe this morning had just been another one of his games, another way to mess with my head until I was twisting myself into knots over him. I should have known better. I should have just taken the bus like I always did. At least then I wouldn’t be standing here in the rain, feeling this stupid, empty sadness that I had no right to feel.

But still… I couldn’t make myself leave.

What if he saw the empty spot where I was supposed to be waiting and decided I had disobeyed him on purpose? The thought made my chest feel tight and small. I didn’t want to make him angry. I really, really didn’t. Angry Alexei was terrifying.

I wrapped my arms tighter around myself, hunching my shoulders against the rain.

I was being pathetic.

I was still hugging myself in the rain, teeth starting to chatter, when a large shadow suddenly fell over me. It blocked out the gray sky completely. My breath caught in my throat. I looked up, water dripping into my eyes, and there he was.

Alexei.

He stood over me like he had appeared out of nowhere. Before I could say anything, his hand shot out and grabbed my arm.

“Why are you standing out here in the rain?” he asked. “You’ve been waiting this whole time?”

I blinked up at him, rain sliding down my cheeks. He seemed mad. So I managed to make him angry after all. Of course I had. I always did something wrong.

He pulled me toward his car, which was parked right at the curb. The passenger door was already open. He guided me inside with a hand on the back of my neck. His touch was surprisingly gentle even though his voice was hard. I sank into the warm leather seat, my wet clothes sticking to me as he closed the door.

A second later he was in the driver’s seat. He reached into the glove compartment without a word and pulled out a pack of tissues. Then he leaned across the center console. One hand came up and tilted my chin up.

He started carefully wiping the rain from my face.

“You could get sick.”

I sat there frozen, watching him. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it.

“I waited,” I said quietly after a moment. “I didn’t want to give you a reason to kill me.”

Alexei’s hand paused. His eyes flicked to mine, still mostly blank, but I caught the slight tightening at the corner of his mouth. He finished wiping the last bit of rain from my chin and tossed the tissues aside. Then he leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his wet hair, pushing it back with clear frustration even though his face didn’t show much.

“You have to stop thinking I will kill you at everything you do. I was late, something came up. That doesn’t mean I was going to hunt you down for leaving.”

“But you told me to wait. And you get angry so fast. I kept thinking if I left you would show up and I wouldn’t be here and then… I don’t know. It would be worse. You’ve done worse things for smaller reasons before.”

Alexei stared at me for a long moment, his expression still mostly unreadable. Only the way his fingers tapped once against the steering wheel gave anything away.