“So, were either of you planning on telling me Cressida was back in town?”I asked, picking up my water to take a drink and looking from Gathe to my brother.
“Truth?”Forge asked as my eyes swung to him and narrowed.“No,” he added.“I figured it was best that you didn’t have a reminder.I’d like you to get to stay through Christmas.If you go and mess that up with Cressida, then it’ll ruin Mom’s Christmas.”
The grip I had on my glass tightened, but I didn’t let it show in my expression.I wasn’t going to ruin anything over Cressida.But I wanted to fucking know if she was married with a kid.Playing soccer mom or some shit.NO!I didn’t need to know.She wasn’t mine.Not anymore.The only time I thought about her was when she appeared in my dreams, and that happened more often than not.Always little replays of her smiling, laughing, throwing her arms around my neck, whispering that she loved me in my ear.
FUCK!I set my glass down harder than necessary.
“She’s my past.Four years.Can’t we all let that go?”Especially me.
Forge nodded his head slowly.“Yeah.We did.That’s not the problem.But can you?”
There was a time when I had let that girl own me.She’d had all of me.I’d been obsessed with her.Then she fucking blew up my goddamn chest with her betrayal.Nothing had ever been the same since that night.And not because I had killed the son of a bitch in her bed.I’d killed a lot of men.Cressida had demolished the only good inside me.Her.Loving her.She’d left me with the black soul I’d always had, and with it had come the misery.
“What I felt for her died the same night I killed her brother,” I replied as the familiar ice slowly began to work its way through my veins.
“Good.Because here comes our food, and I’d like to eat without all the fucking tension,” Gathe said with a smirk.
It must be easy for those two.They’d never loved a woman, never given their soul to one.I’d like to say if I could go back, I’d have stayed away from Cressida, but that would be a lie.Even knowing how it would end, I wouldn’t erase it.The memories that were only allowed in my dreams were often how I survived another day.
Six Years Ago
“What in the world?”Cressida said the words as she studied the portable building sitting in her front yard.It was covered in fairy lights and birds of paradise.
“Happy birthday, little Songbird,” I said, walking up behind her and sliding my hands around her waist to hold her against me.
She jumped, startled at first since she hadn’t known I was here, but instantly sank back against my chest.
“I thought you had to go to a horse race?”she said, her tone going soft and breathy as I pressed a kiss near her ear.
“I lied,” I told her.“And I can’t believe you bought it.I’d never fucking leave you on your birthday.”
“Oh,” she said as a smile curled her lips.“When you woke me up just before dawn, calling and asking me to go look outside, I expected balloons or maybe flowers …”
“That’s too basic,” I said as I wrapped a strand of her hair around my finger.
“So, you got me … what exactly?”Her tone was hesitant.
“Go inside and see,” I said, letting her hair go and gently pushing her toward the door.
A soft giggle came from her, and what I really wanted to do was pick her up and haul her off.Keep her locked away with me.
I reached around her and turned the knob.“Go in quickly,” I said.
“Oookay,” she replied, sounding unsure.
I followed behind her, closing the door.
Twinkling lights and flowers filled the room, along with white butterflies.
“Oh my God!”She spun around and stared up at me, wide-eyed.“Butterflies!”
I nodded.“You said, as a little girl, you spent hours chasing butterflies, but never caught one.I thought it was time you did.So, I brought them to you.”I pointed to the center of the room.“Go stand there and be still.No chasing required.They’ll come to you.”
She blinked as her eyes began to water.“You … you did all this so I could hold a butterfly?There has to be at least a hundred of them in here!”
“One hundred forty-nine, to be exact.That’s how many days it’s been since our first date,” I told her.
She sniffled, and a smile spread across her face as one tear broke free and rolled down her cheek.“Really?”
