The place was mostly empty.There were just a couple of retirees nursing sweet tea and a woman in scrubs hunched over a takeout menu.Outside, the sun had already dipped below the rooftops, casting long shadows across Steelhaven’s sleepy streets.The bell over the door jingled every time someone walked in, but none of them were her.
Dasher shifted in his seat and glanced at the screen of his phone.No messages.No missed calls.Just the photo he hadn’t meant to pull up again.It was a screenshot from a local news post about the school toy drive.
There she was, grinning beside a group of fourth graders, a Santa hat on her head and that spark in her eyes that could still knock the wind out of him.Ellie Winters.
He’d looked her up last night, lying awake in bed like some lovesick teenager.He’d told himself it was harmless curiosity.Wanted to see what she’d been up to these last five years.But the truth was, he needed to know if she was happy.Needed to know if the fire he used to know was still burning.
Turns out, it was.
God, she was still beautiful.Maybe more than ever.Time had only sharpened the edges, given her a kind of quiet strength.But when he stood across from her in that wrecked storage unit last night, all the years between them burned off like fog.
And it wrecked him.
No woman since had gotten under his skin the way she had.And he’d tried.More than once.But it was like every kiss, every night, every moment with someone else only reminded him what he’d thrown away.
The club had been in chaos back then.An unexpected betrayal.New threats.He hadn’t known how to balance both worlds.Dasher hadn’t even tried.He’d chosen the only thing that had ever felt like home.And lost the only woman who ever made him want more.
The bell jingled again, and Dasher looked up.He then froze.
There she was, standing just inside the door, scanning the room like she already regretted walking in.Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and her dark hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, wisps escaping around her face.She wasn’t dressed up.She wore a soft sweater and fitted jeans, but she still managed to knock the breath right out of him.
Ellie met his eyes, hesitated a beat too long, then walked over.
“I can’t stay long,” she said by way of hello, sliding into the seat across from him.“I’ve got to pick up my daughter from my mom’s in twenty.”
Dasher blinked.“Daughter.”
She nodded, bracing like she was expecting him to flinch.
But he didn’t.Instead, something in his chest shifted.She did mention a kid last night.The last five years rearranged themselves in his mind.This new life of hers clicking into place.
“How old is she?”he asked.
Ellie looked surprised.“Four.Her name’s Maddy.”
The corner of his mouth lifted.“Maddy.Cute.”
She narrowed her eyes.“You’re not going to make some kind of joke?Or run?”
“Should I?”Dasher asked.
She shrugged, defensive.“Most guys do.”
Dasher leaned back in his seat and gave her a long look.“I’m not most guys.”
She let out a small huff of breath.“Yeah.I remember.”
Their eyes met.The tension between them hummed low and steady, like the idle purr of a bike engine.It was always there with her, this magnetic pull that made it hard to breathe, and harder to stay away.
“I’m guessing you didn’t just want to talk about toys,” Ellie said, folding her arms across her chest.
“No,” he admitted.“I wanted to see you.”
She looked away, out the window.Her voice was quieter when she answered.“Why now?”
Because I’m a coward, he thought.Because I only realized what I lost when I saw you again.Because there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about you, even when I told myself I’d moved on.
“I screwed up,” he said simply.“Back then.”
