Author's note: An enormous thanks to sasume – uchiha, ScarletSometimes and four guests for reviewing.

Chapter 4: Never let me go

Afterwards, Warren carried her inside through the pouring rain and they made love again. Layla fell asleep in his arms feeling safe and happy.

(***)

Beams of light played across her face when she woke up. They'd forgotten to close the curtains the night before. Layla shaded her eyes with one arm and reached out for Warren with the other one. He wasn't there. She rolled over with the intention of going back to sleep, until she remembered what had happened yesterday. The state Warren had been in. He wasn't going to get away with keeping the story behind that from her. It was too big. Too disturbing.

Layla slipped out of bed, opened the wardrobe and stopped in her tracks. Warren's side of the wardrobe was empty. Something twisted in her stomach.

She pulled open a random drawer which was supposed to contain his socks. It was also empty. What was going on?

Hastily, she put on some clothes while looking around the bedroom. Not everything of his was gone – thank God – but things were noticeably missing. His reading glasses. His phone charger.

'Warren?' she yelled. He wouldn't just leave, right? And why would he leave? She hadn't done or said anything. She couldn't think of anything anyway. They had been married for barely a week. That was simply not enough time to screw up a marriage.

'Warren!'

He did that supremely unhelpful 'here' thing that she found annoying, because where exactly was here? His voice seemed to come from downstairs. Layla finally found him in the kitchen. Along with two suitcases.

'Where are you going?' Layla inquired, struggling to remain calm. She racked her brains for an answer. Business trip? Family visit? She wanted so badly for it to be something normal. A perfectly rational explanation for what was happening. Something that wouldn't mean that her life was falling apart.

Warren didn't say anything at first. He just sat at the kitchen table, looking impatient, as if she was keeping him from somewhere. Yeah, what a hassle. Imagine your wife wanting to know why you're packed and ready to go.

'Will told me about what happened. I'd rather have heard it from you,' Warren said. His voice was curiously flat. Completely devoid of emotion.

'I'm sorry. I know I should have told you, but you two were already not getting along. I didn't want to add to that.'

'Will and I are not getting along because he's in love with my wife.'

Layla almost laughed, but thought about the suitcases and decided against it.

'What? That's not true,' she responded.

'Then why did you sleep with him?' Warren replied icily. This time Layla didn't feel the urge to laugh. This was not funny. Did he seriously think that she was capable of doing something like that? How could he think that she'd do that to him?

'I didn't,' she said, matching his tone and meeting his gaze evenly. He brought his fist down on the table with force.

'Stop lying! I saw you kiss him, Layla. I left my own bachelor party early because I missed you and I saw you kiss Will.'

For a moment, Layla didn't know what to say. She couldn't deny that. She had kissed Will. It just hadn't been the kind of kiss Warren pictured. Maybe if she told him why she'd kissed Will… Without thinking, she stepped forward. Warren immediately withdrew. His whole body flinched away from contact with her. Blinking back tears, Layla cleared her throat and attempted to explain.

'I only kissed him because I felt sorry for him.'

'You kissed him because you love him,' Warren corrected her. Layla shook her head. This was so unfair. So stupid. So ridiculous. Nothing had happened. She had no idea why Warren was determined to think that something had. It didn't even make sense. If she loved Will then why would she have married Warren? Angrily, she turned the question around.

'If you really believe that then why did you marry me?'

'Because I love you,' Warren answered. He got up and lifted the suitcases. He paused, as if he was waiting for her to say something, but Layla pressed her lips together.

She could have said a million things to try and make him stay. She could have said 'I love you,' but he knew that. Or he should have known that, at least. She could have scoffed at his weird notion of love, since he had chosen to believe the worst about her. She could have asked 'What happened to never letting me go?' but that was something someone pathetic would have said. Instead, Layla focused on the cold tiles underneath her bare feet. She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't come undone.

She could have said a million things to try and make him stay. But would he have believed any of it?