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The sound of their voices echoes through the empty halls as I make my way to the kitchen, reminding myself that the stack of boxes inside the foyer needs to be unpacked.
Maybe I’ll do that today.
“There wasn’t any need for it. He could have taken the offer and kept the contract.”
“It’s a personal thing, Lowell. You’d have done the same.”
“I might be fucking stubborn at times, but I’m not stupid enough to land my company in the shit.”
“You are,” I hear Elliot add. “But you also have Aldridge to wipe your ass and save your sorry soul so…”
“Fuck you.”
“I see some things don’t change.” I huff out a bitter laugh as I round the doorway, finding them dotted around the kitchen. Charlie is at the hob, and he eyes me over his shoulder, pausing whatever it is he’s cooking.
I breathe in and then out, letting the warm feeling in my chest spread with each inhale.
I’ve missed my friends so fucking much.
Mason stands with his hands resting on the kitchen island, his face hardening as he takes me in. “Plenty’s changed,” he says before pointedly flicking his stare to one of the stools. “Come eat.”
I run my tongue over my teeth, knowing I should sit down, hating how it makes me feel to be told to.
“Thank you,” I tell them, noticing the food scattered over the countertops. “I was going to go shopping today—”
“Lance…” Mason stops himself, the spatula in Charlie’s hand dropping to the counter a moment later. “You’re my friend first, Lance. Before anything else, you’re my friend. But until I say what I need to say, it’s hard to even look at you right now.”
I swallow and nod, ready for whatever he needs to throw at me.
I hurt her.
His baby sister.
Scarlet.
“You never showed up last Friday. Why?” Mason asks.
“At the estate?”
Their eyes are trained on me, and with the tension in the room, the thought of her and what I’ve done… my jaw goes taut.
“Scarlet asked you to come back. Did you?” Elliot asks when Mason doesn’t continue.
“No.” I shake my head resolutely. “I didn’t. I don’t expect you to understand, but for the same reasons I kept you all at bay for the last seven years, things won’t be changing.”
“They fucking will—”
“Charles,” Elliot sighs.
“And fast. They’ll be changing fast.”
My eyes dart between them all, my insides already burning with the question on the tip of my tongue. I look at Mason. Wanting to ask. Needing to know. I told myself I’d wait, that I wouldn’t…
I shouldn’t ask.
I shouldn’t, but…
“Did she…” I clench my jaw, swallowing down the ache that distorts my voice. “Did she ever move on?”
