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Finding My Way Without You

Finding My Way Without You

Histoires courtes · Romance
Par:  CanalComplété
Langue: English
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Synopsis

Best Friend

Bias

Mistress

Tragic Love

Winning Back the Wife

Campus

Melodramatic

I have zero sense of direction. I could visit a place ten times and still get lost. So Paxton Levis spent an entire week hand-drawing every street around our school onto a set of maps. There was no north, south, east, or west on them. Only labels like "the convenience store with the yellow dog out front" and "the old man who sells terrible hot dogs." He'd ruffle my hair and say, "What would you do without me?" That was how it went, until my best friend Patricia Sandler came back from studying abroad. On our graduation trip together, Paxton told me to get out of the car and check whether something was wrong with it. I'd barely gotten both feet on the ground before the car pulled away without me. A message came through from him. Paxton: [There's a rest stop three kilometers up the road. Patricia and I will wait for you there. Patricia is right. If nobody ever pushes you, you're never going to learn your way around.] I walked for an hour through a downpour, working myself into a panic, before Paxton sent me a hand-drawn map. It had arrows on it, and a cute little smiley face doodled in the corner. [Just follow this. Twenty minutes, tops.] But my legs ached with every step, and the route kept drifting further off course, until I ended up in a dead end. I called Paxton. Patricia's bright laugh came through instead. "Congratulations, sweetie, you took a wrong turn! "Paxton and I made a bet on whether you'd figure out he flipped the arrows on purpose. I said you wouldn't. Guess I know you better than he does. "So for the rest of the trip, it's just going to be Paxton and me. Dragging you along is honestly way too much trouble." Paxton's voice came through next to hers, doting and amused. "A bet's a bet. I'll listen to whatever you want." Depending on someone else comes at too high a price. High enough that when he finally walked away, I didn't even know which direction was which anymore. I wiped my eyes. This time, I want to find my own way.

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Chapitre 1

Chapter 1

By the time I stumbled home following my phone's map, it was already the middle of the night.

The wrong road Paxton Levis had directed me down ran past an abandoned factory.

When I fell, a piece of exposed rebar tore into my ankle, close enough to punching straight through my foot.

Blood dripped into the mud and onto the floor. I didn't even have the strength to change my shoes, just braced myself against the shoe cabinet and tried to catch my breath.

My mother saw me and gasped.

She rushed over to hold me up. "Cleo, what happened to you? Didn't Paxton say he was taking you on a road trip?"

I looked down at the torn, curled-back skin on my ankle and told her everything, start to finish.

The light in her eyes dimmed, little by little, replaced by disbelief.

"How could this happen?" she murmured.

"Before your high school finals, he used to take the long way on his bike every single day just so you wouldn't be late.

"And when you got lost in college, he was so panicked he almost called the police.

"He even said that when he bought a house someday, it would be somewhere you could find your way home to with your eyes closed."

Her hands shook as she wiped the mud off my face. "I watched him grow up. How did he turn into this?"

I cut her off. "Mom, don't. I want to study abroad."

She cleaned and dressed my wound with careful hands.

"All right. I'll get your paperwork sorted. We'll go somewhere far away from all of this."

Later that night, the wound got infected, and my fever climbed to 39 degrees Celsius.

Half-conscious, I heard my mother on the phone in the living room.

"Paxton, you told me you'd take care of Cleo, and that's the only reason I let her go anywhere with you. Her foot was almost ruined for good. Is this what you call taking care of her?"

The voice on the other end was too muffled to make out, but my mother slammed the phone down, furious.

The phone by my pillow buzzed.

"Your mom just called and chewed me out. Cleo, I really didn't expect you to be so delicate that you'd end up running a fever over this.

"Fine. I won't leave you behind by yourself again next time, all right? Just get better soon."

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11
Chapter 1
By the time I stumbled home following my phone's map, it was already the middle of the night.The wrong road Paxton Levis had directed me down ran past an abandoned factory.When I fell, a piece of exposed rebar tore into my ankle, close enough to punching straight through my foot.Blood dripped into the mud and onto the floor. I didn't even have the strength to change my shoes, just braced myself against the shoe cabinet and tried to catch my breath.My mother saw me and gasped.She rushed over to hold me up. "Cleo, what happened to you? Didn't Paxton say he was taking you on a road trip?"I looked down at the torn, curled-back skin on my ankle and told her everything, start to finish.The light in her eyes dimmed, little by little, replaced by disbelief."How could this happen?" she murmured."Before your high school finals, he used to take the long way on his bike every single day just so you wouldn't be late."And when you got lost in college, he was so panicked he almost
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Chapter 2
A notification popped up at the top of my screen.Patricia Sandler had a modest following as a travel blogger and liked to post about her trips.She'd put up a carousel of photos, all of them shots of the two of them together at the beach.Paxton's shoulder tilted slightly in every frame, blocking the sea breeze from hitting Patricia.Patricia held up a cold drink with a lemon slice in it, grinning brightly.The comments were already flooded with fans.[Is Patricia finally making it official? That guy's profile is gorgeous!][That height difference is unreal. I'd let him step on me.]Patricia replied with a shy, face-covering emoji.Right after that, Paxton's account showed up in the comments too.[Don't wander off. You don't know this place, and I'd hate for you to get lost.]Patricia shot back instantly. [Even if I got lost, you'd come find me. I'm not scared.]I stared at the screen, my fingers twitching on their own.I opened Patricia's profile and kept scrolling down.
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Chapter 3
The blindfolds came off. Inside the escape room, only two weak flashlights lit the dark.Patricia let out a shriek and pressed herself straight into Paxton's arms."Paxton, I'm scared; you have to protect me."Paxton pulled her against his shoulder, laughing low."Such a baby, and yet you're the one who insisted on the horror theme.""I don't care! If you don't protect me, I'm never speaking to you again.""Fine, just stay close."They carried on like a couple head over heels, flirting shamelessly in the dark.The staff had only handed out two small flashlights. Paxton held one, Patricia held the other.I could only follow along by the scraps of light spilling from their hands, feeling my way one careful step at a time.The sharp ache in my ankle slowed me down."Can you two walk slower? My foot hurts.""There's a time limit on this room. You'll just have to push through it."At a fork in the path, they stopped.They glanced at each other, then switched off both flashligh
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Chapter 4
When a friend dropped me off at home after the hospital, the apartment was empty."Mom?"I called out. No answer.I sank onto the couch and pulled out my phone to give her a call.The second the screen lit up, a local trending-topics notification popped up.[Well-known blogger Patricia Sandler exposes: my best friend's mother was a mistress, "like mother, like daughter"]Patricia's profile picture sat right at the top of the post.She'd written a long post, every line dripping with accusation.[Some people are just born with a habit of stealing what belongs to other people.][I always thought of her as my best friend, and I never imagined her mother was a repeat offender when it came to wrecking other people's families.][No wonder she's also... I don't even want to use that word to describe someone I used to call my best friend.]Attached underneath was her so-called evidence.Fabricated chat logs, blurry transfer receipts, and a photo of my father's marriage certificate w
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Chapter 5
[I'll have someone take the trending post down in a few days. Quit making a scene about it.]Paxton's message had barely been sent before an exclamation mark popped up on the screen.He froze."Paxton, what's wrong?" Patricia leaned in close."Nothing. Cleo blocked me."Patricia sighed."Cleo is so petty. I already forgave her for smashing my camera. What's she still so worked up about?""Don't worry about her," Paxton said, his tone flat. "She's got zero sense of direction. She can't even find her way home without me. Give it a couple of days, once she's done throwing her fit, she'll come crawling back to me on her own."Back at the office, Paxton sat behind his mahogany desk.His secretary came in with his schedule."Mr. Levis, do you need a date arranged for tomorrow's dinner?""Have Patricia get ready for it.""Understood."His gaze drifted to the faded ceramic mug sitting at the corner of his desk."Mr. Levis, should I keep this old mug, or has it run its course?"F
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Chapter 6
Lorendon City.My mother and I rented a run-down apartment in Zone 2.I stood on the street corner, a printed paper map in my hand.No hand-drawn arrows. No cute little smiley faces.The street signs in foreign language might as well not have existed, for all the good they did me.I sent my mother home in a taxi first, then set out to walk back alone.She hated to see me struggle. "Cleo, why don't you just take a taxi too?""No." I kept my eyes on the red mailbox up ahead. "I can find my way."The first week, I took a wrong turn down a street.Rain came pouring down without warning. The cold drops soaked through my sweater in seconds.Back home, whenever it rained, he used to stand outside the school gates holding an umbrella, grumbling the whole time while still tilting it firmly to keep me dry.I ducked into a convenience store on the corner. Umbrellas of every color lined the shelves."One black umbrella, please." I handed my change to the blonde clerk."It's really com
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Chapter 7
I'd found part-time work at a café near where we lived.I was wiping down the espresso machine when the little bell over the door gave a bright chime."One Americano, no sugar."A voice rang out at the counter, one I knew far too well, low, even, and impossibly familiar.My hand froze on the machine for a second before I looked up.Paxton sighed, his tone weary."Cleo, you've made me search so hard for you."I set down the cloth and tapped a few keys on the register."Six pounds fifty. Card or cash?""Cleo, do you really have to keep this act up?"His voice stayed soft, almost indulgent, the way someone humors a runaway child."You can't even find your way around the streets back home, and you came all the way to Lorendon City to wait tables just to spite me? Isn't that a steep price to pay?"I picked up the barcode scanner by the register."There's a line behind you. If you're not ordering, please step aside."A flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes.He took out his c
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Chapter 8
After work.By the time I got back to the apartment, I could hear an argument echoing down the stairwell.I picked up my pace.Paxton stood outside our door, holding a stack of gift boxes stamped with a high-end bird's nest logo.My mother blocked the doorway, a broom in her hand."The damp in Lorendon City is rough on your joints. This will help. Cleo doesn't know any better, but you shouldn't be encouraging her nonsense. She's out here suffering, and it doesn't bother you to watch?"He was trying to find an opening through my mother. In his mind, if he won her over, he'd have cut off my last way out.After all, she used to trust him completely."Shut your mouth!"My mother's voice shook with fury."Paxton, you've got some nerve showing your face here. When you let Patricia spread those lies about me, did you ever once think about how it would hurt me?"Paxton's tone carried a thread of impatience."I already handled that, and Patricia paid for what she did."I've already
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Chapter 9
The rain in Lorendon City finally stopped.Paxton had played two of his trump cards in a row.He'd destroyed Patricia. He'd taken down the Horstmann family's company.And all it had bought him was another block from Cleo.It completely defied every bit of logic he understood.In his version of the story, Cleo Horstmann was supposed to be the kind of woman who couldn't survive without him.She was supposed to break down in tears after receiving his gifts and beg him to take her home."Mr. Levis, your wine."A waiter set down a glass.Paxton lifted the glass but didn't drink.He kept thinking about yesterday, in that café, the flat, indifferent way Cleo had recited "six pounds fifty" to him.No hurt. No resentment.Just the kind of calm you'd show a stranger.That calm unsettled him in a way he'd never felt before.Just then, a commotion broke out at the restaurant entrance.A woman in a khaki trench coat shoved past the waiter and stormed in."Paxton!"Patricia's hair w
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Chapter 10
For the next two weeks, an expensive ghost haunted the streets of Lorendon City.I went to the neighborhood grocery store to buy a frozen pizza.The cashier handed me the bagged order."Ms. Horstmann, the gentleman outside in glasses already paid for this."I followed the cashier's gaze.Paxton was standing outside the storefront window, watching me through the glass.I slid the paper bag back across the counter."Refund it. I'll pay myself."The card reader beeped, and I carried my newly repaid pizza back out of the store.He caught up with me right away, reaching to take the plastic bag from my hand."That's heavy on your fingers. Let me carry it back for you."I sidestepped his hand."Paxton, stop playing these little self-congratulatory games."His arm hung there, unclaimed, his chest rising and falling hard."I just wanted to do something for you."I looked at his face, drained of color from too many sleepless nights."I don't eat things that show up out of nowhere
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