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Kyland just lifted his chin and then leaned indifferently against the doorframe. And God, why? How did someone evil and cruel get to be so beautiful? It didn’t seem like karma should work that way. He had been a boy the last time I’d seen him and it was easy to see that he was a man now, all chiseled cheekbones and strong jaw. His hair was shorter, almost a buzz cut, and his frame seemed even bigger, taller and more muscular. His jaw ticked. I straightened my spine and crossed my arms. I was a woman now, and I could handle this.
“You’re back,” he finally said.
“It appears so.”
“Why?” he grated out. “What the fuck are you thinking, Tenleigh?”
Hurt slammed into me, and I flinched slightly before I quickly got control of myself.
Kyland stared back unapologetically.
“What business is it of yours?” I asked, turning and pulling a stack of books from the shelf and dropping them into the box sitting on the floor at my feet.
Just as quick as that, he was behind me and his hand was on my arm. I looked down at it, anger rising in me just as quickly as the hurt had. I turned slightly and shook him off me violently, hissing out, “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me.”
For the briefest second, shock and what looked like hurt flashed in his eyes, but then it was gone. The air sizzled between us, our wills clashing as my skin prickled. Kyland flinched and took a step backward as if he felt it too and it pained him in some way.
“I saw you the other day,” I said. “With Shelly and your son.” I wanted to kick myself for the way my voice hitched on the final word. “It’s overdue I suppose, but… congratulations.”
Kyland froze and something faltered in his expression, but he didn’t say anything.
I waited, but when he remained silent, I sighed. I turned to him fully. “Is there something you want, Kyland? Why are you here?”
“I want you to turn around and drive back out of town.”
I tilted my chin up, determined not to cry. Asshole. What had I ever done to him except give him my whole heart? I’d also given him my body—let’s not forget that small fact. And he was treating me this way? “What? This town isn’t big enough for the both of us? Why don’t you leave?”
He leaned in toward me and I had a brief flash of him leaning in to kiss me, right here, right where we were now standing. I drew in a quick breath. “Because I can’t,” he gritted out.
I leaned back against the bookshelf behind me, trying to create space between us. “Right.” Your son. Your family. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Which brings us back to the reason why what I do with my life has zero to do with you. Go to hell, Kyland,” I hissed.
His eyes flared and he leaned in even closer. I smelled clean breath and salty, masculine skin and I sucked in a big breath of his air, as though the oxygen I’d been breathing for the last four years had only barely sustained me, lacking the one element that filled me with actual life. He smelled delicious and achingly familiar.
He stared down at me for several long beats before he rasped, “I do go to hell. Every day. For you.” And then he whirled around and stalked out of the library, leaving me trembling and confused, angry and hurt. But I didn’t cry. I refused to cry another tear over Kyland Barrett.
“Hey, Al,” I said, entering the smoky bar a few days later. “You know there’s a smoking ban in bars in Kentucky, right?” I gave him a small smirk.
“Yeah, I know, smart-ass,” Al said. “But this is my bar. They can come cite me if they want.”
“You’re a rebel, Al,” I said. Truthfully, I wished Al would follow the law, considering my sister and her lungs worked here and had for quite some time. But Al was Al and what he lacked in workplace health practices, he made up for in other qualities. He paid a fair wage and he protected his girls to the best of his ability.
I’d come into the bar a few days before and asked if I could pick up some shifts. Al had welcomed me back. And luckily for me, one of his regular waitresses had recently quit.
So here I was—back in Dennville, Kentucky, living in the same rickety trailer, and working in the same smoke-filled bar, overcome with sadness and despair over the same lying, cheating boy. “You’ve come a real long way, Tenleigh,” I murmured to myself as I wiped down a table and cleared the beer bottles. Only in actuality, I had. I had a college degree now. It changed everything. I took a deep breath, determined not to let the run-in of earlier that week completely ruin me. I had chosen this. I had chosen to come back. And I needed to deal with it. I’d never really faced it because I hadn’t had to—the distance between Kyland and me had made it a little easier to pretend he didn’t exist. But now it was utterly clear that he did exist. And for some unknown reason, he was angry and bitter with me for returning. I snorted. “Asshole,” I murmured again to myself.
