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“I’m not afraid of you.” Ugh, even I heard how I was slurring the words. I needed to sober up.
River gave me a brief frown. “I should hope not. We’ve only known each other ten years.” He tilted his head back at the TV, only to think twice and speak again. “Do you remember the first time we met?”
“You mean when I mistook you for Reese?”
He waved that off. “After that.”
Yeah, well. I’d met Reese at a kink party in DC, and then he’d told me he was gonna introduce me to his brother. He hadn’t mentioned twin, so I obviously hadn’t assumed…
I’d met up with him in a bar, and I’d rambled a mile a minute to a blank expression. Then he’d said, “I guess you’re the kid my brother’s introducing me to. Reese is running late.” Or something to that effect.
“You drove me fuckin’ crazy,” River chuckled quietly. “You couldn’t shut up for a second.”
Thank fuck I was too drunk to be embarrassed.
I took another swig of Coke, then set it on the stool next to my pillow.
“And still, you left things unsaid,” River murmured. “You’d already been with Walker a while. You’d noticed things weren’t perfect. You knew your goals and dreams were a little far-fetched to line up with his needs.”
I didn’t wanna talk about him. But, yeah.
I’d been so fucking naïve.
Walker and I were gonna get married, we’d start a kink community with my new friends, the Tenley twins, and we’d probably adopt a cat. I’d run my restaurant. He would stop by after work, and then we’d go home together. I’d cook dinner for him. We’d fuck all night long. Travel the world on his boat.
I rubbed my forehead.
“We were never gonna work out.” And it hurt like a bitch to admit.
“Not with how y’all handled your relationship,” River agreed. “You were on different pages in life. Far as I know, you only really saw each other in kink. Truly saw each other.”
I swallowed hard and nodded with a dip of my chin. And on Walker’s boat.
“My beautiful little sea monster… I love how you serve me.”
“Till the day I die, Master.”
I flinched and scrubbed at my face. I had so, so, so many memories I just wanted to erase.
Starting with the moment I’d walked up to him at that wine mixer.
“Hi.”
He glanced up from his phone and tilted his head. “Hello.”
I cleared my throat, willing myself to keep my shit together. But to be honest, I was nervous that he’d see me as some random kid. “Since you obviously don’t appreciate crappy jokes from Georgetown students, can I interest you in judging the fuck out of people as we just stand here and get hammered on bad wine together?”
His mouth twitched with amusement, and it flickered in his sea-green eyes too.
“I’m Macklin.” I extended a hand. “Not a student here.”
He smiled slightly and grasped my hand. “Walker. Not a student here either.”
Walker’s eyes were unforgettable and as ever-changing as the color of the sea. In certain light, they were blue. Sometimes green. Sometimes grayish. Always captivating.
We hadn’t judged people together that day. He’d turned to me instead and asked if I was a student somewhere else, and once I’d admitted I wanted to be a chef, our conversation had taken off. I’d forgotten the outside world existed.
“Say what you wanna say, River.” I needed to get it over with so I could try to sleep away the pain.
He tilted his head at me. “I don’t have a grand speech. But while you were in the bathroom, I texted Walker. I told him to get his ass down here.”
I snorted and grinned. “Right. That’s funny.”
He merely gazed at me, his expression open and like…like he was just waiting for me to react properly. But he didn’t mean that. He was joking. He’d witnessed our breakup. Everyone in the community had. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but our closest had gotten front-row seats to some of our fights. Which may or may not have been my fault. Walker had the ability to make me detonate.
“No more excuses, kiddo.” River patted my leg before he rose from the couch with a grunt. “We’re gonna let him take you down this time.”
No.
It became difficult to believe he was still pulling my leg.
Dread crawled up my throat.
Maybe it was nausea.
“We’re done giving you a heads-up as soon as Walker’s in town,” River added. “We’ve let you buy yourself out of a charity date for the first and last time. Y’all need to be in the same room to hash this out.” He paused. “Whether you give yourselves a second chance or you give each other closure is up to you. But you’re done hidin’.”
“Tell me you’re joking,” I choked out.
“Nope.” He folded his arms over his chest and peered down at me. “If you think this is bad, just wait till you see what Reese has in store for tomorrow.”
