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I swallowed a sudden lump of pain in my throat. Until now, the idea of touching Willow again, holding her, kissing her, or even just looking at her up close was like a dream that always faded upon waking. I’d been able to shut off some part of me in order to keep going without her. But now that she was here…
“I can’t,” I said. “It’s been too long. I don’t want her to feel pressured.”
“Maybe it’s as simple as watching her from across a crowded room,” Brenda said. “Go inside, let her see you, and take it from there.”
“Yeah, okay.” I nodded. “That sounds good.”
I threw the car door open. The time for talk was over. It was time to get my ass in there and find my girl.
My nerves disappeared the second I reached the ballroom and found Willow. She sat in a group—her parents, another older couple, Angie McKenzie with a woman who must’ve been her mother. Willow sat while they all stood around her chatting, looking pale and stiff, hardly moving at all.
Something’s wrong.
The urge to run to her was strong but my heart was pounding in my chest, my nerves jumpy. I needed to calm the fuck down, take a breath, and get this right.
“She’s surrounded,” I told Marty. “I’m going to restroom. Splash some cold water on my face.”
Or dunk my head in the goddamn sink.
I took a long, circuitous route to the men’s room at one end of the ballroom. The restroom was grey and chrome, and smelled like Old Spice. A dark-haired guy in a suit was at a urinal taking a piss, and whistling.
I went to one of the basins at the sink and ran cold water. The guy turned around, zipping up, and moved to the sink to wash his hands. He had a narrow, weasel-like face, and dark eyes. He glanced at me once, then twice.
“Hey,” he said, wagging a finger at me. “I know you, right? You were in that movie? All the Way Down?”
“Long Way Down,” I said, dabbing my face dry.
“Yeah, that’s right. Great movie. You kicked ass in that.”
“Thanks.”
“Isaac…something, right? I’m bad with names.”
“Pearce,” I said, balling up the paper and wishing this guy would shut up already and let me have a minute to myself.
“Isaac Pearce, right,” he said, frowning. “I feel like I know you from somewhere else. Your name is familiar… Wait, you’re from around here, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
His eyes widened and he smiled with dawning realization. “Oh, shit, I remember! You’re the guy my dad told me about a few years ago. The actor. But your family had one of our stations in Harmony, right? The one that exploded?” He shook his head, laughing. “Crazy.”
Every muscle in my body tightened and my head creaked on my neck to look at him. “One of your stations?”
“Wexx Oil & Gas? My father is Ross Wilkinson, CEO.” he said, and offered his hand. “I’m Xavier.”
I stared.
Xavier. X. Him. The rapist. Standing right in front of me. Smiling. Whistling. Walking around free as if nothing had happened while Willow suffered for years…
He dropped his hand. “Hey, no hard feelings,” he said. “It’s not like losing one station is going to break us—”
I flew at him, gripped him by the lapels of his jacket, yanked him to me.
“You…” I seethed between clenched teeth, the blood pounding in my temples. “It was you…”
Xavier’s eyes were wide with fear, inches from mine. “What the fuck…?”
I fought for calm, remembering what Willow had said. That hurting him wouldn’t help her, though every sinew in my body screamed to fight, to make him hurt, to make him pay for what he did…
