Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 9 - Saturday

Sang

"Today's event has been planned out really well," Sang said as she and North got ready Saturday morning, trying to keep her voice upbeat. "I think the kids will really love it. Or maybe I should say teenagers? They'd probably be offended if I called them kids to their faces. And call me out on it, since you and I are only nineteen. But maybe they don't know that."

They hadn't seen or heard anything from Mr. Blackbourne's team since Luke showed up at the garage, leaving her wondering what on Earth they were doing. It made sense for them to give North space after he yelled at them, but she also couldn't imagine them sitting around doing nothing. Academy boys didn't do nothing. So were they also here for a mission? Or were they using this time to make plans for how to get North back?

North snorted as he brushed her hair over her shoulder. "We'll be lucky if none of the advisors mistake us as members of the Boys and Girls Club. Especially you, baby. I'm pretty sure some people in town think you're fifteen and I'm some creep for robbing the cradle."

Sang flushed at that. North probably did look older than her, just because he was so tall and broad. But did she really look that young? Probably. Makeup might help, but she didn't like the feel of it. Not because Gabriel always told her girls looked like crap with it, it just wasn't something she could imagine bothering with. "Maybe if I wore high heels?" she suggested. She didn't want anyone thinking poorly of North.

He smiled. "I'm not that concerned about it, Sang Baby." The smile faded as he studied her. "Are you doing okay?"

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Of course I am. You know I've been looking forward to this. I—"

His eyes darkened as he interrupted her. "Don't lie to me."

She hesitated, though she should have known North would never let her get away with deflecting or pretending that everything was okay. "I don't want to lose you." The words were out before she realized it, escaping without her permission. But it was her biggest fear. She trusted North. She absolutely did. But she'd trusted the rest of them too. Believed that they loved her and wanted her. Believed that they really were a family. It took her so long to truly feel it, to truly believe it. And it all fell apart so easily, without anyone really telling her why.

North's eyes flashed as his voice rose, his tone turning harsh. "That's not possible. There's no way I'd leave you, especially not for them. Are you seriously doubting me after all this?"

Her hands tangled in the bottom of her shirt. "But I didn't doubt any of the others before either. I never believed they'd walk away from me. And last night—" She broke off with a flush, not wanting to continue, but it was too late.

North gripped her shoulders. "You had a nightmare, didn't you? And you didn't tell me. What happened in it? Did I leave you? For them?"

She didn't answer. It wasn't quite that, but it was close enough. They were together on an island, just the two of them. They were stranded, but they worked side by side to make things work. And then, one night during a storm, he left. Without a word, without ever looking back at her, sailing away in a tiny boat as Sang cried from the shore that she promised to be better, that she promised she would do it right this time, if he just told her what was so wrong about her.

He growled under his breath before pulling her to his chest, wrapping his arms tight around her. "You're supposed to tell me about those," he chastised. "That rule hasn't changed, even if you don't get them like you used to." Then his voice turned bitter. "Of course seeing one of them again would set off the same abandonment nightmares you had after they walked away."

She still didn't say anything, hating how pathetic she felt. Every little thing shouldn't give her nightmares. Not that people who'd claimed they were her family walking away from her was little, but still. She hated it.