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Until today.
“If I didn’t know any better,” I say the seventh time she passes by, “I’d think you have something to say to me.”
Natalia freezes and turns to me slowly. “I’m sorry, sir?”
“You should be. You’re interrupting my lunch.”
She eyes my empty plate and coffee mug. “It’s a little late for coffee, isn’t it?”
“I live on the wild side,” I drawl. “Matter of fact, I could do with some more.” I shove the mug across the counter to where she’s standing.
She stands there warily for a second like the mug might leap over and take a bite out of her. Then she sighs and relents. “Cream or sugar?”
“Neither. Black.”
“Like your heart,” she mutters.
“What was that?”
She smiles innocently at me over her shoulder. “Nothing.”
I watch her pour the coffee. What I did to Rayne upset her quite a bit, so I wouldn’t put it past her friend to spit in my coffee. Hell, maybe I’d even deserve it.
But I don’t make it a habit to accept what I deserve. If I did, I’d have died painfully a long time ago.
Natalia carries my coffee over and sets it down roughly. Steaming liquid sloshes over the edge onto the table, but she makes no move to clean it.
“That all?” she asks.
“That’s all. You can go.”
She stares at me for a second, her lips pursed. She has something to say, but when she turns to leave, I know she isn’t going to say it.
So I give her a little push.
“Oh, but I should let you know, it isn’t just my heart that’s black. It’s my soul, too.”
Her face flushes. “I didn’t—I wasn’t—You heard that?”
I circle my finger in the air above my head. “I hear everything.”
“Sorry.” She looks down at her feet, the toe of her shoe kicking at the grout between the tiles.
I snort. “No, you’re not.”
Her attention snaps back to me, frustration written all over her face. “Yes, I am. I just apologized.”
“You can keep your bullshit apology. I don’t want it. What I want is to know what it is you’re dying to tell me.”
She stares at me, eyes narrowed like I’m setting up a trap. Which I am, of course.
“You want me to say it?” she asks, lifting her chin defiantly. “Fine.” Her voice shakes as she takes a trembling breath. Then, with an exhale, she lets it fly. “I think you are being a stubborn son of a bitch where Rayne is concerned. You think you know her because the two of you fooled around for a few weeks five years ago, but you don’t know anything about her life. You have no clue what she’s been through and what she’s done for you. You should be kissing her ass, not dumping her in the ocean like a piece of trash. If you knew what she—”
Her words cut off abruptly and she takes a stumbling step back, like she’s just now waking up from a fugue state.
I applaud sarcastically. “Very moving. Anything else?”
“Do you want me to continue?”
