I spot them in the corner of the room, near the railing to the second floor. Ginna is leaning on the railpost, posing in a way I think is trying to be seductive, but on her, is awkward and forced. She’s chatting with a tall bald man, beard braided to his stomach. He appears to be taking her awkward pose rather fondly.
Elia is chatting with a young woman with curly copper hair and a slight frame. Elia’s smiling and laughing at whatever the woman is saying, so I take that as a good sign as I approach the both of them.
I wrap an arm around Elia and kiss her cheek. The other woman takes that as her signal to leave.
“Any luck?” Elia asks.
“Luck sure would be helpful right now,” I mutter.
She grimaces. “Poor choice of words. No one’s seen or heard of him?”
“Didn’t even get that far, but it doesn’t seem promising. You?”
She shakes her head. “The woman I was talking to is new in town, so she wasn’t much help. Nice girl, though.”
I cock my head and flash her a grin. “Making friends, are we?”
She slaps me playfully. “It doesn’t hurt to expand my microscopic circle.”
“Fair enough,” I laugh.
Ginna glances at me, hearing my laugh, and I throw a nod her way, acknowledging her.
The bald man traces Ginna’s gaze, eyes laced with fury when they land on me.
“Hey!” He yells. “Stop makin’ eyes at my girl!” He rushes over and pushes hard on my chest with both arms.
I’ve been bracing for action since I approached the bar, and was expecting the man’s reaction. I barely stumble before pushing Elia behind me.
Ginna cuts in front of my gallantry, sword raised, hovering at the taller man’s neck.
“I’m not your girl. It’s time for you to leave.”
“I was going to say the same to you.”
Goosebumps immediately erupt across my arms. The voice came from the top of the stairs. It’s a voice I know intimately. One that used to caress my skin, that would send shivers down my body at the utterance of a single word. A voice that I would never forget. One I haven’t forgotten now.
I ball my hands into fists, bracing myself as I turn to stare at the only man I’d ever loved.
Chapter 27
Callum
Rafe steals the air from my lungs as he stands on the top of the stairs. His hair has grown past his shoulders, and half is pulled back away from his face. His beard is trimmed to a short scruff, and I can’t help but admire the maturity etched in his face. I’ll be the first to begrudgingly admit that he’s aged well over the last five years, and his surprise appearance almost makes me forget my anger that developed more recently towards him.
I had spent most of our years separated in grief, mourning the loss of our love and our friendship. It was a period of self-doubt and confusion. Maybe Rafe didn’t love me as much as I loved him. Maybe he never felt anything towards me at all. Maybe his leaving was my punishment for liking other men. But maybe, and this was the one that haunted me at night, maybe I never deserved him in the end.
It was only until Elia came into my life where I started seeing his exit as a betrayal of sorts. Hepromisedhe would return. He told me he loved me. But yet he walked away without saying anything. Not even so much as a letter to me. Even in the possibility that Rafe didn’t love me, I thought at least our friendship would have been enough for him to at least write mesomething. Anything.
But he didn’t. And that might have been worse than him leaving in the first place.
“What are you doing here?” Rafe directs his question to me but my tongue is tied, and I can’t speak. His tone is clipped, and irritation radiates from him. No happy reunion for us.
Thankfully, Ginna comes to my rescue, taking strides up the steps to the landing where Rafe is standing to avoid the fight that is starting to break out in the tavern behind us.
Elia is the one to pull me up the steps, out of the chaos, and I find myself leaning on her for support.
“It was his loss, remember?” She whispers in my ear, grounding me back to reality.
