Chapter 14 - The Parking Lot Under City Glow
The back door let out into cold air and the hum of the city. It hit my face and made my eyes water, or maybe I was already close to that. The parking lot was half empty, lit blue from the tall lights and the skyline past the fence. Traffic moved low on the street below. Gravel crunched under my bad shoes.
Maya came out with me like she'd promised. She'd untied her apron and balled it in her hand. She kept looking at my phone in my hand.
"It buzzed twice on the way back," I said.
"Don't answer it out here," she said. "Just get to your car."
My car was three rows over, under the flickering light. I could see it. I kept my head down and walked fast, my apron still on because I hadn't stopped to take it off. My breathing sounded too loud in my own ears.
Then my phone buzzed again. The screen lit up. Private number, then a text right after. Where are you.
My stomach dropped. I stopped walking.
"He knows I'm off," I said.
Maya stopped too. "Harper—"
Headlights swept across the lot from the side entrance. A dark pickup turned in too fast and then slowed. I knew the sound of that engine before I saw the dent in the front fender. My hands went cold.
"That's him," I whispered.
The truck pulled into the empty space near the dumpsters and the engine cut. The door opened. He got out in a gray hoodie and jeans, phone still in his hand. His eyes found me right away.
"There you are," he called. "You ignoring me now?"
Maya stepped a little in front of me. "Keep walking," she said low. "Don't stop."
I tried. I took two steps toward my car and he slammed his truck door and started toward us.
"Harper. I'm talking to you."
My whole body locked the way it had in the dining room when hands moved behind me. Only this was worse because there was no table between us, no candlelight. Just open asphalt and his boots coming fast.
"Don't," Maya said, loud enough for him to hear. "She's working. Leave her alone."
He laughed once, short. "This isn't work. This is my girlfriend lying to me all night."
Behind us, the back door opened again. I heard it click and then slow steps on concrete. I didn't have to look to know it was him — the man from the table in the black blazer. He didn't rush. He stopped near the wall by the door, far enough that he wasn't crowding us, close enough to see everything. He had his phone in his hand down at his side.
My boyfriend saw him too and stopped about ten feet from us. "Who's that?"
"Nobody," I said fast. My voice shook. "Please. Don't make a scene."
He stared at my face, at the bruise around my eye yellowed under the parking light. "You told somebody something, didn't you? Is that why you're acting weird?"
"I didn't tell anyone," I said. It was the same lie as the bad shoes, and it sounded just as thin out here in the cold.
"You flinch every time I move and then you go quiet on me? You think I'm stupid?"
Maya grabbed my sleeve. "Harper, get in your car. Now."
But my keys were shaking so hard I dropped them. They hit the asphalt with a ping and slid under the edge of my car. I stared at them. I couldn't bend down. I couldn't move.
He took another step. "Pick those up. We're going home to talk."
"No," I said.
The word came out small, but it stopped him. Even Maya looked at me.
My breathing was fast. I could feel both of them watching — Maya right beside me, and the man by the door who had held my chin so gently and said don't lie to me. No one moved toward us. No one yelled. The traffic kept humming below the lot.
He pointed at me. "Get in the truck."
I shook my head. Tears blurred the lights. "You did this to me."
His face changed. "Lower your voice."
"You hit me," I said louder. My voice cracked. "Last night in the apartment. You grabbed my face and slammed it into the doorframe because I dropped your keys. That's where these came from."
Maya inhaled sharp beside me. I heard her whisper, "Oh God."
He glanced toward the man by the door, suddenly aware we weren't alone. "You're lying."
"I'm not lying anymore," I said. "His name is Josh Miller. He did this to me."
May you like
I said it looking straight at Maya, because she was the witness right next to me, and I needed someone to hear it clean. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the man in the blazer lift his phone slightly, still standing back, still not coming forward.
Josh took a half step back like I'd pushed him. For a second nobody spoke. The blue light buzzed overhead. My keys glinted under my car. And for the first time that whole night, the secret wasn't just inside me.
