章 27: Chapter 27

“I…” Ryan fumbles, flusters, and stumbles, before he blurts: “I have to go.”

Alex doesn’t stop him, or pursue him. He doesn’t even speak. Ryan vaults the wall, and heads back the way they came, still with the odd, strange shiver coasting through him, and Alex stays leaning on the baking hot stone, letting him run without forming a single attempt at protest.

When Ryan glances back, from the stile by the stream at the bottom of the hill, Alex is watching the disturbed skylarks, head back and throat exposed, and he’s never seemed so far away.

* * * *

The next day is a Sunday, and Alex does not come to church. It is first time that he has missed it, to Ryan’s knowledge, and he finds himself staring at the empty pew all the same. John Bexley has come alone, not bothering to wear his charm and looking bored through the entire sermon—without his wife, it seems as if he has all the dedication to the Lord as Ryan and, he strongly suspects, Alex himself.