AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We were friends, Malakai. She told me things… I tried to keep in touch with her over the years, but she kind of iced me out.
My hands curled into fists by my sides. Just another reminder of what I had done to Winter. I knew I broke her heart. I knew I fucked her up, and I thought I knew the extent of it. Perhaps I didn’t.
“That’s between the two of you,” I told her with indifference. I couldn’t take the past back. I couldn’t undo what had been done, including how Winter handled her relationships with her friends. “She’s back at her parents’ house and supposedly working at the library. I’d start with either one of those places if you want to find her.”
Giana stared at me for a moment with a look of suspicion and distrust.
Why could she use a friend, Malakai?
A muscle in my jaw twitched. “Because she knows I’m back for her.”
I left Giana standing by the ocean as I walked back through the sand to the small boardwalk. There was nothing left to be said and if she knew the way I broke Winter’s heart in the past, it was enough of an explanation as to why she could use a friend right now.
There was literally nothing that would stop me from getting what I wanted now.
And that had always been Winter Reign.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WINTER
As I walked through the aisles in the library, I paused by the nonfiction section to slide one of the returned books back into its respected spot. A few days ago, I handled the business with my parents' lawyer and their entire property was now legally mine. There was a heaviness to it that I didn’t particularly care for, but at the same time, I planned on taking my own life back.
It wasn’t ideal.
I wanted to be back in Vermont, but this was where I was now. My autonomy from my old city needed to carry over to being back in my hometown. I could build my own life that wasn’t attached to my family. I may have never reached Sutton’s superiority, but I could make something for myself that I could be proud of.
The library hired me on the spot. I didn’t know if it was because they were that desperate to fill the position or because they actually liked me that much. Either way, I managed to secure a full-time position as the new librarian at the Orchid City Library. There wasn’t a single thing about the job I didn’t like.
I was completely in my element, spending my hours being surrounded by books. I loved the feel of them under my fingertips. I loved the smell of the pages beneath the covers. Most of all, I love the quiet. The library was like my own personal sanctuary, it was somewhere safe where I could just be. I could merely exist without fully owing anyone anything.
Yeah, I still had a job to do, but it was easy. Everything about it was exactly what I needed.
As I sat back down at my seat behind the desk, I lifted my eyes and surveyed the areas I could see. There were only a few people inside and they were all in their own little worlds, scanning the rows of different fictional places they could get lost in. I pulled out a brand-new notebook I had purchased a few days ago and flipped to the first page.
On my laptop, I had at least half a dozen books I had started and never finished. Every romance I attempted to write always ended up taking a darker turn. It had a way of following down the same path that Kai and my story went. I was left with something always pulling the characters apart and I had no idea how the hell to bring them back together.
I decided I was going to try something new. Something old that worked for people years and years before my own time. I was going to write with a pen and a paper. It didn’t mean I would do anything with the words, but I needed a new approach. Something fresh.
Perhaps I could craft a story better by bleeding onto the page instead of through my fingertips on a keyboard. Maybe it would never work out. Only time would tell, and I was ready to make a conscious effort.
As I put pen to paper, my mind began to wander as different story ideas floated in my head. Instead of grabbing one and diving straight in, I began to jot them down. My hand moved furiously across the page as I tried to pluck the details from thin air and secure them in the notebook in front of me.
“I knew I would find you here.”
My stomach sank. My heart pounded in my chest. My breath was stuck in my throat. And the sound of his voice—fuck—it was like a melody that instantly had my body responding.
I lifted my eyes up to the man standing in front of me. I never heard him enter the library, let alone noticed him walk directly up to where I was seated.
“Malakai,” I said softly, my eyebrows pulling together as I cocked my head. “Hi.”
His hands were tucked in the front pockets of his pleated shorts. My eyes scanned him as I took in his appearance while my mouth instantly went dry. His baseball hat was on backward and his polo shirt hugged the curves of the muscles beneath.The muscles I had just touched the other night.He was dressed like he had just finished a round of golf.
“Hi.”
I grabbed my water and took a sip in an attempt to wet my mouth. “What are you doing here?” I asked him with a hesitant tone.
“I came here to see you, obviously,” he deadpanned with a hint of boredom in his voice. It was almost as if he was saying,Duh, why else would he be here?
