Page 21 of Love or Leave (Mapleton #4)

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A ntonio's heavy feet moved aimlessly along an uneven path. There was such resistance to his movement that he thought he must be walking through water. But when he looked down, he saw a colourful field full of wildflowers that spanned as far as the eye could see.

A flicker caught his eye, and he looked up. In the clear, dark sky sat gigantic stars, shining bright and beautiful. They were close enough to touch.

He reached out his hand for the top point on the brightest star, cautious at first, expecting it to burn him. But it didn't. It was warm, not hot, and buzzed lightly under his fingertips.

He bet that she'd love it if he picked a star for her.

He grasped it in his fist and pulled, dragging it slowly from the sky. It left a streak of warm white stardust in its wake.

He reached out and broke it loose from the strands of light, then turned, scanning the field. Where had she gone? She'd been right beside him a minute ago.

Hadn't she?

Finally, he spotted her in the distance.

Her soft dark hair stood out against the flowers and starlight.

He called for her, but she couldn't hear him, so he stepped closer, wading through the thick flowers.

The closer he got, the louder she sounded.

Like church bells in the air, floating toward him.

He couldn't wait to see the light in her big brown eyes when she saw the star he'd picked for her. He finally reached her and called her name, but she didn't respond, so he tapped her shoulder.

Knock knock knock.

The sharp sound echoed unnaturally.

Was she… made of wood?

Antonio stared at her shoulder, trying to make it make sense, when another knock rang out.

Cara slowly turned to face him.

And she was—

Max?

Antonio opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Knocking—faster and more urgent now—filled the void.

"Antonio!"

His eyes flew open, and he glanced around disoriented for several seconds. He looked down at the beautiful girl next to him.

Fuck.

He shook his head, trying to separate the incredibly vivid dream from reality.

Another knock reverberated through the room, shaking the walls, and clearing the last bits of fantasy from his mind.

"Ant!?"

Shit.

Antonio reached over, gently shaking Cara's shoulder until she grunted and opened her eyes. Her face seemed to go through the same disorientation and shock he'd just experienced before she shot upright, clutching the bedsheet to her chest.

"Oh my God," she whispered, staring at the door. "Is that Max?"

Antonio nodded, trying to shake the image of her in his bed from his mind long enough to process the last eight hours. It had been a goddamn roller coaster.

"Antonio!" Max shouted again. "You in there?"

Fuuuuck.

"Yeah, one sec." He stared wide-eyed at Cara with a shake of his head, unsure what to say or do.

He'd followed her lead the night before—after she'd told him she wanted to see where things went with Jalen and was only interested in a night of practice sex from him.

He'd gone along with it instead of telling her the truth about how he felt, mostly because he'd realized he had no right to ask more from her.

He'd told her repeatedly that he wanted Fran back.

"Antonio! Open up!"

Now he'd have to deal with the fallout. The very large, furious fallout. He hoped to, once again, follow her lead.

He looked at Cara and waited, but she just stared back. How the hell did she want to play this? Did she even have a plan?

"I'm not dressed," he said, panicked.

Cara dropped her head into her hands, and he realized he was on his own here. He jumped out of bed and her phone fell out of the sheets with a loud crash to the floor.

That had probably been the buzzing star he'd felt.

Antonio rolled his eyes and grabbed it, gently tossing it to her, then he took off around the bed in search of clothes.

"We can't find Cara," Max said through the door. "She came back with you and Adam, right?"

Antonio froze.

Shit.

How was he going to get out of this one?

He looked at Cara. She swiped open her phone and her eyes went wide.

"Ten missed calls," she whispered, then glanced between him and the door, a look of guilt marring her beautiful eyes.

"I think we should just tell him," he whispered back.

Her eyes doubled, and she shook her head in huge, jerking movements.

"Uh, just a second," he called out to Max, then moved in close to Cara.

"I don't see a way out of this," he said. He knew for sure that Max would freak. But he'd get over it, eventually. Right?

Cara stared at him for a moment, her eyes pained, her brows bunched. "I don't want him to know I did this."

The room spun. His stomach rolled, and he thought he might puke.

She appeared full of regret. Why did they do this? Why hadn't he just said no?

He knew why. Because he lov—

No.

He dropped his head to the mattress. Had he ever done something this stupid before?

"We agreed to keep it between us," Cara said.

"I know," he said, trying to process how adamantly she was protesting telling Max and what that meant for them.

Not that there was a them . She'd made that clear.

"Okay," she whispered, breaking him out of his despondency, at least for now. "I agree. We should probably tell him one day. But later. Much later. Now is literally the worst possible time."

Cara gestured down at her naked body covered in a thin white sheet. Antonio fought off the fresh wave of desire that hit him.

"Fine," he said, shaking off the image of her straddling him. "What are we going to do?"

She narrowed her eyes for a moment at him before opening her phone again. Antonio stared at her, hoping she'd fill him in on whatever plan she'd cooked up, but she just silently clicked away.

"Uh," Antonio said, realizing a million years had passed since Max had spoken. "Sorry, I haven't seen her since last night. She definitely came."

Cara smirked.

"Back!" Antonio smacked his face. "She definitely came back ."

He pulled himself together and straightened his face, trying hard to ignore her. If they were going to move on, he'd have to look at her less.

Or never.

He searched the floor for his underwear until he realized he was in his own room, and he had a suitcase full of clean clothes. With a shake of his head, he grabbed clean underwear, a t-shirt, and shorts from his suitcase, and dressed faster than he ever had in his life.

When he heard a loud bing come from the hall, he spun toward Cara.

"Take him away," she whispered with a wave toward the hall, before getting out of the bed and gathering her clothes.

After she made a beeline for the bathroom and was securely hid away, Antonio opened the door.

Max stood in the hall, blocking him. He was staring down at his phone, clicking away. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"Uh, I was taking a shit," Antonio said. That excuse always worked. No one ever followed up with questions after that. "Did you find Cara?"

Max nodded. "She just texted. Apparently, she woke up early and was feeling sick, so she went for a walk. She didn't want to puke in the hotel room."

Antonio nodded. Perfect. "Oh, good."

"Yeah," Max said, pushing a hand through his hair with relief. "I panicked for a minute. Thanks for getting her back safe."

Antonio nodded. "No problem," he said, ignoring the surge of guilt. "There's a café in the lobby, right? Let's go get some coffee."

Antonio stepped fully into the hall, forcing Max to move back, and let his room door close behind him. They walked down the hall toward the elevators together, leaving Cara enough space to dash over to her room and clean up.

Antonio just hoped she left sneakily enough so no one caught her creeping out of his room. Until that point, they'd only lied by omission. They had a chance that morning to come clean. But since they didn’t do that, he’d now actually outright lied. Right to Max's face.

He wasn't sure Max would ever forgive him. Or if he even should.