Devi walked back in and I stopped mid-sentence. She bit her tongue on whatever was in her head and deposited more files on my desk. “You still have friends here,” she noted, as Shane headed out the front door.
“It surprises you that I have friends, period.”
“It does. Especially one of such ill repute.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What do you know of Shane Madrigal’s reputation?”
She crossed her arms, mirroring my stance. “Uh, he’s only infamous. He made it so close to the NHL, and then that accident… It was in the news here, forever.”
Right.
“Is he alright now?” she asked, like someone who could see he clearly wasn’t.
“He’s fine.”
“Looks like trouble, and not in a good way. If he asks, I’m not single.” She tapped her nail on the stack of files and said something else, but I didn’t really hear it.
Was she not single?
My gaze swept over her hand, looking for a wedding ring I already knew wasn’t there. She’d seemed single yesterday when I trolled her on Instagram.
Yeah, I trolled her on social media after seeing her at the restaurant. Briefly.
Had I missed something?
“You two dated,” I said abruptly, “didn’t you?”
She straightened, like,Where is this coming from, and where the hell did you just zone out to?“Uh… it was one date. It was a moment in time.”
It was two dates, actually.
“So, you liked him.”
She visibly bristled, and the flames in her eyes sucked back to a low smolder, like she was conserving her energy in case she needed to blast me at high heat. “He was hot. So what? I haven’t even thought about him in years.”
“You went to grad together, didn’t you?” I wandered out from behind the desk. Drawn. I was drawn to that fire.
It was just too tempting to push this woman’s buttons.
And obviously, we both knew what happened that night.
“It was high school,” she said flatly. “Nothing that happens in high school matters.”
Huh. I used to tell myself that that was what unpopular kids told themselves to feel better.
Now, I wanted it to be true.
“Nothing?” I got right in front of her, looking down into her eyes. “Not even that kiss?
She made a littletshhtsound. “That kiss was less than nothing.”
“Really? Because it looked like it scorched you.” I glanced at her mouth now, and I could picture it perfectly. The way she touched her lips afterwards like I’d burned her, and her pupils dilated.
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
I met her dark eyes again. “Pretty sure I saw blisters forming on your lips…”
“I guess that’s what happens when pure evil kisses you.”
