Chapter 227 Sgf 7 Pt 2

• I turned and looked. His eyes had gone quiet again. Controlled. He had already put the decision back in its box. He brushed his thumb across my mouth and wiped a smear of lipstick I hadn’t noticed. Then he kissed me, not fast this time. Slow. One kiss to seal.
• “Go back to your mother,” he said. “I’ll leave through the side.”
• I nodded and tried to breathe like a normal person. He adjusted my strap and checked my zipper. He slid the bolt back and cracked the door. Voices still drifted near the front. He went left, into shadow, and was gone.