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She sips her beer for a moment as she digests my words.
“You know you really fucked him up…disappearing like that. I thought he was going to tear through the entire city to find you.”
I take a swig of my drink instead of giving her an explanation. Because truthfully, I’m not sure I have the right one to give. Staring out amongst the crowd, I find Nox’s eyes yet again, boring into me. Observing my interaction with his best friend’s girl.
Although I know I have no right to be, the sight of the blonde next to him has my heart stuttering. I’ve seen them around each other all night. Has he moved on? This is what I wanted, for him to find someone worthy of him.Wasn’t it?
She bumps her shoulder into mine, breaking my concentration. “Listen…you might not be ready to talk to me yet, but just know he’s not going to let you leave again without a conversation.”
That causes a burst of nervous laughter to escape my chest, because where do I even begin? “Yeah, I know.”
“Lottie, G was looking for you,”hisdeep voice practically growls, causing goosebumps to trail over my skin.
Discreetly swallowing the lump in my throat, Lottie turns to walk away. “We will talk soon, Em.”
I can feel the resentment radiating off him.
“You have some fucking nerve.”
I take a steadying breath before spinning around to face him. Because I know all the hurt and anger I’ll see in his eyes will devastate me.
He doesn’t give me time to prepare myself before grabbing my shoulders and turning my body around.
I'm hit with an up-close and personal view of the man who’s never left my thoughts. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were last in this position. His dark hair falls ever so slightly in front of his piercing green eyes as he glares down at me. Through his white t-shirt, I can see the scattering of dark ink across his chiseled chest, continuing up his throat and down his thick arms. Before I left, he had several tattoos, but now he’s completely covered. A glint from a nose ring catches my attention, before I bring my eyes back to his. So much has changed about him in such little time.
We all deal with pain in different ways.But damn, he looks good.
I try my hardest to stop the tears from welling. God knows how much I’ve missed him.
“Do you think you can just show up here and act like nothing happened, Emerson?”
My heart aches at the use of my full name, reminding me of why I'm here. “We need to talk,” I blurt out, watching as his eyes narrow in on mine.
“Oh, so now you want to talk, and I'm supposed to, what? Drop everything to listen. Fuck, Em! It’s been two fucking years.” The frustration in his voice is evident, and I certainly don’t want to cause a scene here.
He’s right, but the need to see him again was too much.
“You’re right, I should have never come here. So, I'm going to head back to the hotel. But I need to talk to you before I leave Charlotte.” On instinct, I go to move the long strands away from his eyes, but he catches my wrist before I realize what I'm doing.
I can feel his body vibrating through his touch. His lids flutter before shooting wide, nostrils flaring.
“I’ll meet you in the lobby tomorrow at 11:45. We can talk then. But I think it's a good idea if you do what you do best and leave. No goodbyes, just dip out.”
I nod and put down my beer, not saying a single word more. Walking past Ryan, I gesture toward the exit.
Feeling Lennox’s eyes following my every move, I make my way to the door. I finally exhale once I’m hit with the fresh air of the outdoors.
I have less than twelve hours to think of how I will tell him the whole story. No matter what I come up with…I’m not sure he’ll forgive me.
Three
Isee her before she spots me.
Emerson steps out of the elevator, her lean legs covered in ripped black jeans, paired with a Johnny Cash tee. Her style may not have changed, but so many other small things have.
I used to have every inch of her body memorized.
When her brown eyes look up and sear into mine, I do my best to take a deep breath and keep my posture neutral. All I can do is beg my bleeding heart to let go of the anger I’m harboring toward the stranger walking through the lobby in my direction. The stranger who, at one point, was the center of my happiness.
