Page 74 of Noah's Reckoning

This is the part where I say I won’t forget you. I want to, though. I want to forget what it was like to fight with you, work with you, make love with you. I want to forget all of that so it will stop hurting sooner.

That will make you angry, too. You’ll hate yourself for hurting me, but the thing I realized through all of this is that holding back doesn’t stop the hurt from coming. So I don’t regret anything and I thank you for teaching me that.

Bye,

Olivia

“Fuck that,” I muttered as I crumpled the paper in my hand.

…holding back doesn’t stop the hurt from coming.

I rubbed the ache in my chest. No, it didn’t. It didn’t at all.

Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I started scrolling through my contacts. I found the number I wanted and dialed.

“Sally, it’s Ark. I need some information.”

“She told me not to tell you where she was going,” Sally said dryly.

“You going to buy that shit?”

“Nope,” she cackled. “Because a woman has got Ark Aikens’s number and I never thought that would happen. I’ll send you what I know.”

Now came the hard part.

I had to tell the guys what I was going to do.

* * *

Dyson Camp

Cal

“You sure about this, Ark?” I had the phone up to my ear waiting for his answer. There wasn’t a second of hesitation.

“Surer than I’ve ever been about anything in my life, Cal,” Ark told me.

I sighed and decided there was no point in arguing with him. Ark knew his mind too well.

“Then you do what you need to do. I’ll tell the guys.”

“Thanks, Cal. And Cal… I’m sorry about the whole Vivienne thing. My part in it anyway. It seemed like a lark at the time, but playing with people’s emotions…”

He didn’t need to say anymore.

“Yeah. It can get real serious, real fast.”

Ark blew out a breath into the phone. “Don’t I fucking know it. Take care, Cal. Tell the guys I’ll be in touch.”

The call ended and I put the receiver on the hook. Ark had made his decision and I knew it was final.

Another one bites the dust.

I swiveled in my chair and found the picture of us on the shelf.

“Can you believe this, Sarah? Hell, a month ago Ark would have said he hated Olivia.”

I huffed. No matter how many times I spoke to her over the years, she never answered me.