Page 50 of Under Water

I smile and let him go, looking over his shoulder at Neal, who’s watching us with his beady, angry eyes. “You wanna stay for the show? I mean, I didn’t think sharing was your thing, so⁠—”

“Rune,” he whines, and Rune closes his eyes. “Are you fucking serious right now? You’re actually cheating on me?”

“I need you to leave,” Rune tells him. “And don’t forget your papers. They’re already being filed with the court, with your signature. So go talk to your lawyer. Or just show up ready to agree to the terms. This needs to be over.”

“Fuck you,” he spits, but he stomps across the room and picks up an orange envelope, tucking it under his wrist. Then he gets closer and bends down to pick up a bag that’s fallen on the ground.

“Don’t fucking touch that,” Rune snaps.

Neal looks like he’s going to ignore him, so I turn and lift a brow. He holds eye contact another second before giving up and slamming the door on his way out.

Neither of us moves for what feels like an eternity, and then Rune turns, calmly walks to the kitchen table, sits down, then screams into his palms. The sound is muffled by his skin, but the emotion in the sound is raw.

When he’s quiet again, I take a few steps closer. “Rune?”

He looks over at me and licks his lips. “How, uh…how…where…” He shakes his head, clearly unable to go on.

“Do you want some water?”

“No. I want to get the fuck out of here. Do you have your car?”

I shake my head. “Left it at the station.”

He stands up and digs into his pocket, tossing his keys at me, which hit me in the chest and slide to the floor. As I snatch them up, he grabs the fallen bag and tucks it under his arm with a heavy sigh.

“How are you here?” he finally asks.

“Teddy told me where you live,” I said. “And before you get pissed at him, I forced him to tell me. I thought you were in trouble.”

He swallows heavily. “How did you know?”

“Uh. You called me,” I say.

He frowns. “No, I didn’t.”

I hold out my phone, which is still connected to the call, and his eyes widen before he takes his out of his pocket and stares at the screen. He blinks slowly once. Then twice. Then he hits the button, and the call disconnects.

“Pocket dial,” he rasps.

“Yeah.”

“How much did you hear?”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I shrug. “No words, just voices. I recognized yours and Neal’s. It sounded like maybe you needed some backup.”

He lifts his hands to rub his face again, and his fingers are shaking like he’s out in deep winter. “Can you drive right now?”

“I am perfectly capable of driving. Also, I’m off work. I gave Rook my hours so I don’t go into OT. I can take you anywhere you want to go.”

He meets my gaze. “Somewhere quiet. Know a place?”

“Actually,” I say, immediately thinking of my brother. “I do.”

The gate’s open when we get to the property entrance for North and Leo’s house. It’s still in a state of, well, some repair, but Leo had hired a crew to do cleanup and landscaping, and it looks amazing.

It’s not visible from the road, but around the back is a pebbled path that leads to an enclosed gazebo in a small clearing of trees. The gazebo is set up with a swing bed, a fireplace, and a ton of plants that Leo has been working to cultivate.

He’s also currently breeding pollinators to help his garden so there’s a small section where he’s feeding caterpillars, and his beehive is still getting established a few hundred feet into their field.