“What’s going on, Noah?” Zane looked at me with a concerned expression. “What was that call about?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head, not knowing how to explain the situation to him. An idea was starting to form in my mind and the less he knew the better. If he didn’t know anything, then the police couldn’t accuse him of being an accessory to my plan.

“Noah, I’m not going to ask you again. What was that about?” Zane looked at me with a furious expression. “It sure didn’t sound like nothing.  It sounded like it was a lot more than nothing. Who is this Skylar and what does she have over you?”

“She doesn’t have anything over me.” I glared at him, my heart still pounding. All I could think about was how tiny her voice had sounded. And her arm. What had happened to her arm? I was pretty sure that whatever had happened hadn’t been an accident. I needed to get her out of Palm Bonita even if it meant we had to be on the run.

“Noah.” Zane grabbed a hold of my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Are you in any trouble?”

“No. I’m not.” I shook my head and attempted a smile. I needed to diffuse the situation or he was going to keep at it. And I didn’t want to tell him anything. Part of my heart was splitting open as I realized that once again I would have to leave him without telling him what was going on. I couldn’t risk him knowing the truth.

“Okay.” He sighed. “Don’t tell me now. But I sure hope you know what you’re doing. You’ve got one girl upstairs in your shower and another one calling you on the phone and I’ve got a feeling that it’s not a good idea to be playing both of them.” He shook his head and walked out of the kitchen and I stood there frozen. I had almost forgotten about Robin. If I carried out my plan, that would mean the end for me and her and any possible relationship. I couldn’t expect her to understand my tie to Skylar. I wasn’t even going to try to explain it to her. I clenched my feelings as I realized that I was going to lose the chance to see what we could have been. I couldn’t dwell on a relationship that hadn’t even happened yet. I couldn’t regret the future that wasn’t to be. Not if I wanted to save Skylar. I pulled out my phone to call Sidney, to see if his son had found any loopholes in the law to allow me to carry out my plan without becoming a fugitive. The phone went to voicemail and I hung up without leaving a message.

“Noah, you still in here?” Lucky walked back into the kitchen, her long, wet hair hanging down her back. She gave me a concerned look. “Everything okay?”

“I take it Zane rushed right up to tell you about the call.”

“No, of course not.” She blushed and I knew she was lying.

“Lucky, I don’t want to talk about it.” I shook my head. “I’m going up to shower.”

“Wait a second.” She called out to me as I was leaving the room. “If you’re in love with someone else, it’s not fair to keep seeing Robin. It’s not fair at all.”

“I like Robin a lot. I’m not using her.” I turned around and looked at her with bleak eyes. “We have a very special connection.”

“As special as the connection you have with Skylar?”

“That’s not fair. Like I told you before you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then tell me, Noah. Tell me and Zane. Let us in. We may be able to help you sort it all out.”

“Lucky, I would love to tell you both more than anything. But it’s too risky.” I shook my head. “I don’t want either of you to get into trouble. I just …” I broke off as Lucky’s face became even more worried. “I’m sorry, the less you know right now the better for you both.”

“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”

“I always do something stupid.” I sighed and gave her a half-smile.  “Thanks for your concern, Lucky, but I’m going to take care of everything.”

“Okay.” She sighed and looked away. “Hey, can I borrow your phone quickly? I wanted to test the Facetime feature out with my phone. Just while you’re in the bathroom?”

“I guess.” I handed over my phone reluctantly. “If Sidney calls me, don’t answer. I’ll just call him back later.”

“Okay, sure.” She smiled and took the phone. “Oh wait, can you unlock it for me, please?”

“I guess so.” I sighed as I punched in the numbers giving her access to my phone. For some reason I didn’t think she was being honest about wanting to play around with Facetime, but I didn’t really know what else she would want my phone for. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Take your time.” She turned away from me and opened the fridge and I walked back to the stairs slowly. I felt like a fraud going back upstairs to Robin, pretending everything was the same as it had been just minutes ago. I felt nauseous walking up the stairs. Last night had been one of the best nights of my life. Making love to Robin had awakened something in me that I didn’t know existed. I had felt truly alive for the first time in my life, but now I would never be able to explore that connection.

“Hey,” Robin looked up at me as I opened the door. She was sitting on my bed, wrapped in a white towel and she was combing her hair. “I thought you went missing.”

“Sorry, had a call and then had a chat with Zane.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah,” I walked over to the closet so that I could avoid looking at her. A part of me was already aching as I stared at her. “He’s fine.”

“I suppose that must have been a super big shock for him. I couldn’t imagine finding out that my mother wasn’t really my mother and that my real mother was dead.”

“Yeah.” I pulled out a shirt and jeans. “Life can be a bitch sometimes.”

“That’s true.” Her voice was soft and I looked back at her. She was staring into space with a thoughtful look on her face.

“What about you? Where are your parents?”

“Not sure.” She looked over at me with a wry smile. “My foster parents are in Ohio, but I have no idea where my real parents are.”

“I didn’t realize you were adopted.”

“I wasn’t adopted.” She made a face. “Just fostered. Went through five different families until I hit thirteen and then stayed with the same family until I aged out of the system.”

“That must have been hard.” I walked over to her and sat on the bed next to her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She shrugged. “The older I get the more I realize just how shitty some families can be. So maybe I got lucky. One of my foster fathers told me that my father used to beat my mother and then she killed him. I don’t know if that is true, but I’m sure it’s true for someone out there.”

“I don’t understand people sometimes.” I clenched my fists. “Or men that hit women and children. Or women that hurt children.”

“Abuse is horrible.” Robin nodded and I looked at her quickly. “And no, I was lucky enough to have never been abused.”

“Thank God.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky that my last foster family was made up of two parents who really cared. They weren’t just in it for the paycheck.”

“Do you consider them your family?”

“Yeah.” She paused and then looked at me with wet eyes. “They loved me. They supported me. They took care of me. It doesn’t matter to me that they aren’t my blood. I still love them with all my heart.”

“Love isn’t about what family you’re born into.” I pulled her into me. “Sometimes we form families with people we would never expect to.”

“Have you ever—” She started to talk, but I leaned down and kissed her, not wanting to think about anything else. All that mattered right now was that we were together and we were bonding. All I wanted was to feel her lips under mine as I kissed her. I listened to her low moan and sigh and I couldn’t stop myself from pulling her towel off and slipping my boxer briefs off at the same time.

“Oh, Noah,” she moaned as my hand cupped her breast and squeezed. I pulled her down with me to the bed and allowed my body to enjoy the feel of her naked skin against mine. “We have to go to breakfast.”

“I need you.” I groaned as I continued to kiss and caress her. “I need to feel myself inside of you.”

“You were inside of me all last night and this morning as well.”

“Well, my body needs to feel you again. I’m thirsty and only you can quench my need.”

“Oh, Noah,” she giggled.

“Don’t you want me as well?”

“Yes, I want you.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to feel you inside of me, heating me up internally. I want to feel our two bodies become one,” she whispered into my ear, and I pushed my erection up next to her, so that she could feel the urgency of my need.

“I want to fuck you, Robin. I want to make you mine,” I groaned as she pushed her breasts up to my chest and pulled me down on top of her, spreading her legs and wrapping them around my waist.

“Take me, Noah. Take me.” She moaned and then screamed as I entered her roughly. I thrust into her hard and fast. This wasn’t a romantic fuck to show her how much I appreciated her body. This was a hard, rough, primal fuck to allow us both to connect and release our passions together. This was to let her know what my words couldn’t tell her. This was for her to remember when I was no longer here. It was selfish of me, but I wanted my face to be the one she thought of when she was alone in her bed. I wanted her to remember the feel of me sliding in and out of her when she was ready to come. I needed to make sure she never forgot me.

* * *

“You guys took a while. I’m starving.” Lucky gave me a look as we finally descended the stairs.

“Sorry, Robin was helping me scratch my back.”

“Sure she was.” Zane frowned at me and walked towards the front door. “Let’s go eat.”

“He okay?” Robin mouthed at me as we walked hand-in-hand to the door.

“He’s always grumpy when he’s hungry.” I smiled at her and tried to ignore the feelings of guilt that had crept into my stomach.

“Will you spend the night at my place?” Robin looked up at me with an anticipatory look. “I know it may seems a bit fast, but I was hoping you could come over tonight, so you could see my place.”

“I, uh, I’m not …” I stammered not knowing what to say.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to.” She looked disappointed. “You can always come over some other time.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to.” We got into the car and she shifted away from me in the backseat. “I had something I was supposed to do tonight, but I can cancel and come over tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Her eyes lit up, but she still looked a bit uncertain. “I understand if you can’t make it.”

“No, no. I want to come.” I scooted over to her, so that I could feel her warmth against me. “It will be fun. Plus, I will get to christen a new bed.”

“That’s why you want to come over?” She laughed, but I could see that she was happy that I was coming over. What are you doing, Noah? I screamed at myself inside. I had no idea why I was continuing to develop this relationship when I was likely going to be leaving Los Angeles forever in a couple of days. I didn’t want to perpetuate a lie or have Robin hate me, but I didn’t how to say no to her. Not when all I wanted to do was to see her smile and have her next to me.

“You guys okay with a pancake place?” Lucky looked back at me and her eyes were disapproving.

“Sounds good to me.” I nodded and Robin licked her lips. “I think Robin’s okay with it as well.”

“Oh, remind me to give you back your phone when we get there.” Lucky mentioned casually and I saw Zane giving her a quick look.

“Yeah.” My stomach turned as I thought about the last phone call and everything that I was planning to do came crashing back down on me. “Did Sidney call at all?” I looked at Lucky and she shook her head. I looked out the window and panic suddenly filled me. All of a sudden I felt very alone and I wasn’t sure who I could turn to or talk to. It hit me that I was making a mistake that could end up getting me imprisoned but then the other possibility was that something really bad could happen to Skylar. Maybe next time it wouldn’t just be a broken or fractured arm. Maybe next time she would be even more seriously injured. I just couldn’t take the risk. She meant too much to me. Skylar was a part of my heart, and when you loved someone, you never let them go.

“Hey, Noah. What you thinking about?” Robin squeezed my knee and I turned towards her slowly.

“You.” I lied.

“Liar,” she laughed and shook her head.

“You can read me already.” I played with her hair.

“It’s not hard. Your face is an open book.” She snuggled into me. “It’s one of the reasons I like you so much.”