“To go? You trying to get rid of me?”
“After what you said to me in the bar, you’re lucky I’m not kicking your ass out.”
“After you threw a drink in my face, you’re lucky I didn’t press charges.”
She scoffed. That comment didn’t even deserve a response. “You can have a coffee to go, or you can get out.”
An arrogant smile curved his lips. “There you go again, thinking you’re too good for me.”
She didn’t think—she knew. “Is that a no for the coffee?”
“No, I think I’d like one.”
She ground her back teeth together and turned to the coffee machine.
Molly came up beside her, bagel in hand. “Hey. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m going to make his coffee and send him on his way. It’s fine.”
“Okay. Let me know if you want me to take over. I’m great with captain douchebags.”
Elle laughed as Molly went out to the floor.
“So,” Casper started. “I was wondering. What do you think will happen if you put the weight back on?”
Her back stiffened, and she turned to glare at him. “Excuse me?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Well, he had years to get you into bed. You were obviously obsessed with him. He wasn’t interested in you in that way back then. And it wasn’t because he didn’t like to date. Fuck, he had a new girlfriend every week, and he flaunted every one of them in front of you.”
She grabbed the cup and poured milk in, anger rolling over her flesh. The milk was probably still cold, but she didn’t care. “Why are you saying this to me?”
“I’m just looking out for you, Elle.”
She snorted as she pressed the lid to the cup and turned. “You expect me to believe you have my best interests in mind?”
“Of course. I mean, we all saw how pathetically into him you were in high school. You loved him, right? But did he keep in contact with you when he left?” At her silence, he offereda sympathetic look. “Didn’t think so. And once he gets bored, or you put on a few pounds—because peoplealwaysregain the weight—he’ll probably leave you again. And even if you don’t, he gets bored pretty easily, doesn’t he?”
“Don’t presume to know himorme.” She hit the amount into the digital cash register a bit too roughly, then put the coffee in front of him.
He swiped his card before lifting his cup. “I don’t need to know either of you well to know how this ends. He’ll leave you, you’ll go back to looking like the ugly duckling, and then you’ll be heartbroken.”
“Get. Out.”
He smiled as he straightened. “Give me a call when you need that shoulder to cry on. I’ll try to muster up some sympathy. Or at least an ‘I told you so.’”
“You still haven’t beenable to make contact with the sister?” Jace asked, fingers tightening around the phone he pressed to his ear.
He needed to find this woman. Figure out what the hell her end game was here in Misty Peak.
Eastern’s exhale was loud over the line. “I’m doing my best, but her phone always goes to voicemail, and her family can’t confirm which retreat she’s supposedly at.”
Bullshit.All of it.
Anger pummeled his veins, but it wasn’t Eastern’s fault. “I appreciate the time you’re spending on this.”
“You doing okay?”
He looked out over the trees below the skywalk. Usually when he came up here, the view allowed him to let go of anyother shit he had going on in his head. Today, it wasn’t so easy. Hell, this last week hadn’t been easy. “It’s just bringing it all back up, man.”
