A Decade For Nothing novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: In the Rain
Levi's POV
The storm broke at seven, and Lydia arrived at ten past, soaked to the skin.
She stood in the hall outside my door with water running off her braid.
She did not step over the mat.
"Come in," I said. "Please. You're dripping on the carpet."
"No."
"Lydia."
"You said I would stand in your doorway and hear no." Her voice was low and shaking. "I stood here the night of the gala, and you said no. I stood here the morning after, and you took a coffee through a gap."
"I know."
"So I'm asking you again. Say no."
I stared at her.
"Say it," she said. "It's what you do best. You say no to everything you want so nobody gets the chance to take it from you."
That one went in under the ribs.
"That isn't fair."
"You gave me three terms. I did all three. I said it to every person, I walked out of my father's house, and I stood in your door." Her chin lifted. "You don't get to keep the third one forever. A term isn't a lock, Levi. It's a test, and I passed it, and you're still holding the door."
"I'm holding it because I'm scared," I said, louder than I meant to.
"Of what?"
"Of you!"
My voice rang down the empty hall.
"I have been scared of you for ten years," I said. "I sat across the table from your father and I took it because I thought if I made one demand, you would pick him. You always did. You picked him at the altar."
"I picked a lie he told me."
"It's the same thing!"
"It is not the same thing!"
We were both shouting by then.
A door opened somewhere above us and closed again.
Lydia turned and went down the stairs.
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