The likelihood of him finding out what I’d achieved was slim, but not non-existent. We had connections. I fucking hated that we did, but our pasts were too intertwined. Our roots couldn’t be untangled, despite what either of us might want.
But the chances of him caring? Yeah, those are extremely fucking low.
It didn’t matter. He hadn’t broken me.
And that was enough.
I got to my feet, taking my whisky with me. Even my drinks were different now. No wine for me.
I’d made sure to change everything he’d ever claimed to love about me.
Love.
He always was a good liar.
I pushed a hand through my thick, dark hair, trying to hide my frustration. I’d spent so long not thinking of him, why was he popping up so much tonight? Right before I finally got everything I’d ever wanted? Everything Ideserved?
You know why.
A grim chill went through me, but I ignored it. Those words had been said long ago, during a fight I suspected we both wanted to forget.
That was assuming he remembered me at all. I doubted I’d had the same impact on him, despite what he’d said during that final heated argument.
It had all been a game to him. I’d been a replacement for what he truly wanted but couldn’t have.
It didn’t matter what he’d said. It didn’t change anything. He’d still left me. I might’ve been the first to walk away, but it had been him who’d made it permanent.
I forced the thoughts of him away once and for all, replacing them with Kate. Kind, beautiful, smart Kate.
The woman who, in six weeks, would be my wife.
Our romance had been a whirlwind. I’d met her in a coffee shop when we both reached for the last blueberry muffin. I hadn’t even known why I’d gone for that—it had been years since I’d eaten one.
Maybe it had been the date. Maybe it’d been the text from Max, my twin. I rarely heard from him, but perhaps he’d seen the calendar too. Maybe he remembered what this day meant. The part he’d played. The pain that had followed.
The decade of near silence between us since.
Maybe it had been the pouring rain that had me ducking into the coffee shop on the way to the gym. Or maybe it was just a combination of everything. Enough reminders of days long past that had the old version of myself surfacing, breaking free from the dirt for a few seconds.
Just long enough for my hand to brush against another’s.
Blonde hair. Shy blue eyes. Lithe, petite body.
Kate was his opposite in every conceivable way. Which meant she was perfect. Exactly what I wanted.
She’d smiled at me and I’d known I had to make her mine. It wasn’t enough to get my long-dead heart beating again, but nothing was.
I pursued her just as I had everything else over the past decade—relentlessly. Her sunshine and optimism promised to melt the ice I’d been encased in for so long.
I was selfish enough to want it. I’d been cold for years.
I was desperate to burn again.
It hadn’t happened yet, but it would. I was sure of it.
Sure enough to have bought a ring. To have dropped to one knee and asked her to ignore the speed at which we were moving and take a chance on me.
Naturally, she accepted. I didn’t think Kate was capable of doing anything that might disappoint someone, especially me.
