Free Fallen Eden by Nicole Williams

Patrick said, grabbing my shoulder and pulling my back down on the seat.
    “What act?” I asked, trying to shake loose his hand.
    “Oh, come on, Bryn. I know you better than you might think and I know you’re only doing this because you’re scared you’re going to end up killing him the next time he comes in contact with the radioactive woman.” His eyes gleamed and his smile was genuine—he really thought this was all some joke.
    “It’s not an act,” I said, attempting again to exit the cab. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
    His hand, yet again, stalled my retreat. “You’re not fooling—”
    “There’s somebody else, okay?!” I snapped, straining my neck back so I could look him in the eye. “This isn’t just about me possibly killing him.” I tried to swallow, but my throat felt like it was packed with cotton.
    The expression that darkened Patrick’s face was one I’d never seen on him, I’d never seen on anyone. It was one of hatred—the pure, unabashed kind. His hand tore off my shoulder as if my skin was burning him. an aYou’re a real piece of work, you know that?” he whispered, spewing his hate through his teeth. “I was wrong about you all along. You don’t deserve him.”
    This, I’d always known.
    “Get out of my sight,” he said, motioning me away with his hand. “You disgust me.”
    I inhaled in an attempt to stall, racking my mind for something I could say to him. I should have anticipated it, but Patrick’s reaction was causing my already broken heart to shatter.
    I shouldered my bag and stepped out of the cab, knowing I’d never be a passenger in it again. I shut the door behind me. “See you around, Patrick.”
    He sniffed and I heard him shift into gear. “I certainly hope not.” The Bronco’s wheels squealed away from me, leaving me with nothing other than two streaks of black as a farewell. 
    I tried to pull my shoulders back and inhale a dose of bravery, but I’m sure my shoulders slumped lower than before and the only thing I breathed in was the bitterness of what-could-have-been. So this was how it was going to be. Oh what I had to look forward to in my eternity. Although I had one thing: the knowledge that he’d be safe. I had that and it would have to be enough.
    The sliding doors whirred open as I entered the airport, making a beeline to the departure screen a couple hundred feet down the terminal. It was late and, although Missoula International was a long stretch from fitting a jet-setter, there was still a broken line of zombies streaming through the terminal from the just-arrived red-eyes.
    I halted in front of the black screen, scanning down the list of departures that would be boarding in a few hours when the early morning flights commenced. Letting fate have its way with me, I employed a technique I’d used months ago and a lifetime back.
    I closed my eyes and circled my index finger in the air. My erratic circle making stopped and I pointed at some location in the world that would become home sweet home, or at least home sweet now. When I opened my eyes, a laugh escaped my throat, although it sounded everything but benign. “Paris,” I muttered, shaking my head. Perfect, I thought The city of love . . .
    Score: Fate—1, Bryn—Zippo.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    PARIS

    It took five weeks and three days to deplete my roll of cash. Pretty sad considering the wad of ones, fives and a few twenties were my life savings. A one-way ticket from Missoula to Paris hadn’t been a bargain and my apartment—if that’s what you’d call a structure with walls consisting more of patch plaster than the original drywall—on the Rue St. Denis had blown through the rest of my cash.
    Knowing Rue St. Denis’ reputation—and it wasn’t for its croissants or berets— from a vacation I’d taken with my parents when I was sixteen, I’d expected to find a space to rent for next to nothing.
    Like most things, I was immensely mistaken.
    I couldn’t comprehend how an