Years of hard living weighed on her shoulders as she walked back into the penthouse. She found Danny smoking a cigarette on the terrace. If he hadn't been incessantly tapping his foot, she would've thought he was handling the situation well. She placed the memory card on the balcony along with the photos.
“Burn it. The only copy of those pictures is on the card.”
She turned to walk out of the room.
“Marnie, how'd you get this?” Danny asked.
“She gave them to me.”
“I can't believe she put me through all of this for nothing.” He picked up the card and ran the flame from his lighter back and forth across the bottom. “Why'd she give them to you?”
“She loves you.”
Danny let out a wry chuckle. “This is not how you love someone.”
Fire flared inside of her. He didn't know the first thing about love. All he'd ever cared about is himself. But he couldn't walk around ignorant for the rest of his life.
“Sometimes we hurt the ones we love the most, so they can see how much we love them.”
“I never encouraged her to feel that way. In fact, I told her I didn't feel that way. She's just delusional. She wants to imagine we have a relationship.”
Marnie rolled her eyes. It really wasn't any of her business if he wanted to be a dick. He was wasting his breath on her though. Marnie understood exactly how it was. Nia, Jessica—they'd both fallen in love without hearing the words in return. He'd chosen to remain blissfully ignorant of it.
“Gee, you'd think she'd take the hint, since you stopped fucking her.”
Danny's head snapped up, fixing her with a piercing glare.
“Danny. A word of advice, just leave her alone.”
His eyes fell to the floor. Well, at least he has some shame. Marnie left the room and settled into bed. Sleep was elusive. She tossed and turned until finally giving up the fight. She put a robe on and glanced at the bedside clock; a quarter to one. A noise she couldn't discern broke the silence of the night. That's why I couldn't sleep. The sound had followed her into her dreams, cajoling her awake.