A trembling hand splays across her chest. “Well, I just – I just wanted to say hello, really. And to ask after your father, since I haven’t seen him.”
Nosy bitch. I smile at her, and there’s not a stitch of humor in it. “Why don’t you ask my mother?”
Her mouth drops open. “Well, I—,”
“I’m in a bit of a rush, I’m afraid.” I turn around. “Good seeing you.”
I brush off the sound of her huff behind me as I keep walking. I pass the store, the bakery. The diner, and my feet slow slightly.
For a moment, I blink. I see a truck, the windows blown out. Hundreds of pieces of glittering glass shards spread across the floor. A group of people arguing. Yelling. An abandoned baseball bat.
A girl on her knees, her nose bleeding—
I blink again, and it’s gone.
But not forgotten. Not for a second.
Heads turn to me when I push the door of the diner open. Mick is behind the counter, still wearing the same damned grease-stained apron. The same music that we listened to a year ago echoes from the old jukebox. And the year before that.
There’s a strange sort of torture in that realization. That even when our world feels like it’s fuckingburning, the rest of the world carries on.
Like they have no idea what they’ve lost.
I stride up to the counter, tapping my fingers on it. “That baseball bat.”
Mick blinks at me, his brain taking a few seconds to catch up. “Uh. Yeah?”
“If you still have it, I want to buy it.”
His eyes light up. “Hundred bucks.”
I almost hesitate. We don’t have that kind of money to waste—
This isn’t a waste.“Done.”
I have my card out, ready to pay when a high-pitched squeal comes from behind me. “Theo? That you?”
I’ve barely turned before I’m engulfed in a tangle of platinum hair and acrid, cloying perfume that burns the back of my throat. Arms wrap around my neck, gloss-slicked lips brushing my cheek.
My body turns to stone. “Get the fuck off me.Now.”
Kristen pouts as she steps back. My gut fucking shrivels as she eyes me. “You look… good, Theo. Real good. Where you been?”
Another reminder of my fuck-ups.
When she reaches for my arm again, I see red. My hand swoops out, knocking her wrist away. “Don’t touch me, Kristen. I’m mated.”
Her mouth falls open slightly before she tosses her hair, a smirk crossing her lips. “To that red headed freak? I don’t care about that. And neither did you.”
She has no fucking idea how much I cared. Even when I thought I despised every second of it. I grit my teeth. “Don’t call her that. Look – I’m sorry if I gave you that impression before. But I’m taken, Kristen. Happily so. Go find someone else.”
She gapes at me. “Seriously?Her? I heard she’s in some institution or something—,”
The growl that ripples from my throat pulls the whole damn diner into silence. “Say another word about my mate, and we’re going to have afucking problem.”
I fucking hate rumours. But Kristen Edwards has more than her fair damned share, and I’ll happily wield them on Kenny’s behalf. Including to her mother.
If she were here—
