AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded, but that line of concern showed up between her eyebrows. “Can I get you water or anything?”
“No—I’m fine!” I said with a tight smile on my parched lips. “Go do your thing.”
I felt guilty for snapping at her like that. She was only trying to help. But I hated myself for being so weak; for needing to be helped, and I needed to fling that frustration somewhere and have it land on something.
Effie furrowed her brow, but let it pass. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
The second she turned her back, I dashed behind the trellis pillar, parted the curtain of flowers, and peered through the fragrant blossoms to spy on Grayson and Miss Perfect.
I scanned the area, but they’d vanished. Did they already—
“Grace?”
I jumped and turned, laying my eyes on the cool gray ones that haunted me every night before I went to sleep: cold, steel weapons that never lost their edge.
Seeing him up close was…overwhelming.I’d forgotten how straight his posture was. How broad those shoulders were. How his long, dark eyelashes framed those deep, dark eyes…
Dancing, predatory eyes paired with that I-caught-you smile.
I knew he was about to eat me alive.
“What are you doing here?” Grayson asked.
My eyes danced on the way his lips formed around his words, lighting up every neuron in my brain like a Christmas tree.
“Effie.”
“Oh! That’s right,” he said with that familiar, dazzling smile. “She’s always been a social butterfly—”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you doing here?”To torture me? To haunt me? To flaunt to me?
He tucked his free hand into his pocket and made a sweeping gesture with his wine glass. The liquid stayed still during the motion as if it didn’t dare spill. “The firm’s got a client here—I’m obligated to attend.”
“Like you don’t love it,” I teased, just like I used to.
He smiled in that boyish way, just like he used to.
All the ghosts of the past wrapped around us, binding us together with blue phantom flames.
I wanted to tell him I missed him; to have him wrap me in his arms and tell me I was the one.
Just one more time would be enough.
“Grayson, who’s this?” asked Miss Perfect, parting the curtain of wisteria.
When he turned to look at her, I expected him to startle; maybe guiltily touch the back of his neck. But he didn’t show any of those tells.
Instead, the sun rose on his face.
He was in love.
I felt like throwing up.
Grayson smiled brightly and hooked his arm through hers, then planted a kiss on her cheek.
She giggled.
It was a nightmare.
