Cole: Share your location with me.
No, please, no thank you. Just a demand.
Something flickers inside me. Something I haven’t felt for the longest time.
Defiance.
The need to reject his demand burns through me.
A smile pulls at my lips. It’s been so long since I’ve felt the need to do the opposite of what everyone expects of me. I thought…I thought I’d lost it.
But despite it being there, I don’t allow it to take over. Instead, I do as I’m told and share my live location with him.
Cole: See you soon.
“Thank you,”I say as I open the car door and climb out. As we drove into the city, the rain started. It’s heavy and cold, but I can’t find it in me to rush. I need a few seconds of nothing.
I stare up at the almost fully glass building Cole lives in as rainwater covers my face and my heart pounds steadily against my ribs.
I haven’t heard anything else from him, but that doesn’t mean my stomach isn’t knotted at the thought of seeing him.
Yesterday was a lot. Last night was even more. And this morning…
I blow out a slow breath through pursed lips before taking off.
The instant I step up to the automatic doors, they open for me, and I discover the man responsible.
“Good morning, Miss Price.”
I smile at Melvin.
“Good morning,” I sing back, ignoring the fact that he refuses to call me Freya like I keep requesting.
“I thought I was going to have to come and drag you inside for a moment there. Is everything okay?”
I look at him, taking in his kind eyes and soft smile. I bet he’s a fantastic grandpa.
“Of course, I get to see you. How could anything be wrong?”
“Such a charmer. No wonder Mr. Hansley likes having you around.”
“I think that’s the food,” I laugh.
“If you make meals as well as you bake cookies, Mr. Hansley is one very lucky man.”
“Anything to stop him from burning this entire building down,” I tease.
“I do like my job here,” Melvin muses.
“Do you have any mail for Cole?”
“No, but there is a warning notice about elevator maintenance I need to deliver.”
“I can take it.”
“You’re a good girl, Miss Price.”
He passes the warning notice over, and I glance down at it.
