6.5

It feels like hours though it only takes me moments to get across the bar, searching for a back door to escape through. The smoke is suddenly too harsh to breath in and the club too stuffy. Images flash through my minds, flashbacks of that night and the ones before it. What brings me back to the present is the cold of the metal door as I push it open.

            And seeing Roman standing there.

            His face remains the same when he notices the fear on mine. As the door slams behind me, he leans back against the brick wall and exhales a gust of smoke, watching it twist towards the sky. He holds out the cigarette to me, knowing I need it.

            “Drink a little too much?”

            I ignore his comment while I breathe in the smoke, feeling the place on my lips where his had just touched. When was the last time I had been kissed? The day a certain boy died? Before then, after?

            “Reesa,” I exhale. I take another deep drag before handing the cigarette back. “She reminded me of something.”

            “From your past?”

            I nod.

            Roman loses the coldness from earlier and chooses not to bring up my avoidance of Trevor’s brother – at least not directly. Out here the night is quiet and fresh, the exact opposite of the club just footsteps away.           

            “Are you running from it?” he asks after a few moments.

            I shake my head, still catching my breath. “I didn’t mean to. It was instinct.”

            “Well,” he starts, dropping the cigarette onto the ground and extinguishing it with his boot. “Then you need to do the opposite.”

            I give him a look.

            “You need to face it, Piper.”

            My eyes close and I focus on my breathing. “I don’t think I’m strong enough.”