“Jesus! How can you go so fast in these heels?” She grabs my arm and leads me toward the back stairwell to the employees’ private area.
“I should never have listened to you.”
“Hey! How was I supposed to know he would bring a date. He knew you were going to be here.”
“Exactly! He’s fucking proving to me that I mean nothing to him.” I can feel my throat tightening from the painful truth.
“You don’t know that! He might’ve just brought her for show…Kind of how Quin is for you.”
I flop down on the couch in the private lounge. Shewalks over to the mini fridge and grabs two bottles of water. I take a sip and can feel the icy, cold water seeping into me.
“I wish I’d never met him,” I say quietly before taking another sip.
“You don’t mean that, Mina.”
“I do. I…I love him, Jaz, and I don’t know what to do. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and it’s killing me. Seeing her wrapped around his fucking arm was making me crazy. When the bartender was slicing the lime, I may have been contemplating stabbing her in the tits.”
Jaz laughs, and I can’t help but join her.
“Jesus…That’s a bit more than love there, sweetie…You’re obsessed.”
“Yeah…Maybe.”
“Jaz? Mina?” Cash’s shouts as he and Quin come down the steps. “Ah, there you ladies are. I was giving Myles and Alexandria a tour of the club. Would you like to join us?”
“Sure. We’d love to,” Jaz says as she stands and pulls me to my feet.
“Great,” Cash says as he takes Jaz’s hand and leads the group down the hall.
I hang back for a moment and watch them walk away. Myles notices right away. He says something to Alexandria before nudging her to join the group, and then walks back to where I’m standing.
“Hello, Sunshine.” That smile. That voice. Fuck! It’s exactly what’s lingered in every thought and dream for the last six months.
“Don’t call me that.” I snap, and his smile drops.
“Sorry…” He glances back to where the group has disappeared around a corner. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Really? That’s all you have to say?” Now I’m pissed. Six months…Six fucking months and not a word after he disappeared into the night…That’s the first fucking thing he says.
“Sunshine, I…”
“I said, don’t call me that!”
He takes a step forward and closes the distance between us. He looks down at me with those stunning copper-colored eyes. They still hold darkness and pain hidden within them, but the difference is I now know why.
“You’ll always be my sunshine.” He brushes a loose strand of hair out of my face and places two fingers under my chin.
“Why?” My voice cracks from the unshed tears.
“Why, what, Mina?” His thumb caresses across my cheek, wiping away a single tear that fell.
“Why did you leave me?”
His gaze softens as he looks down at me. I can see a flicker of regret flash in his eyes before he closes them and slowly shakes his head.
“I told you why.”
“No…You told me why you thought we shouldn’t be together…” I’ve read his note hundreds of times. “You said that you’d never been with someone that you cared so deeply about. You said you could see yourself spending the rest of your life with me…So why did you leave!?” My voice breaks, and the tears finally fall. I’ve wanted to ask him so many times.
