AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Savannah, GA April 14- Friday morning
The small crowd of women follows me through the front door and to the makeshift reception area. The head nurse comes from around the corner and gives the women their marching orders. Another woman, Amanda, I think, tells Graham that something needs to be done about this continuous entourage of mostly women.
I’m glad to see the crowd is dwindling. I was hoping coming through the front entrance would be safe by now since I’ve been here every day. I guess I was wrong.
I turn to Graham and spout the words of our usual joke.
“They just can’t get enough of me.”
His usual response is “Nope. Not until they have enough to clone you.”
If he says the second part, I don’t know. My focus goes to the woman. Tingles and heat dance over my skin as I try to get a look at her face. There’s a woman at the desk who is trying her best to keep from looking my way. The short, red hair looks familiar, but I don’t know why. It’s been a long couple of days. Hope, Graham, and I have been busy working on getting me up to speed on a few pressing items I didn’t know were happening. We’ve also been working on event planning for the anniversary of Hope House. My other task has been working double time not to cross paths with my mother.
Having all of that roaming around up there while fighting the urge to drink and gamble has my brain working overtime to figure out where I know the hair from. The frame is slightly hidden beneath the larger scrubs. They don’t look like they belong to her.
Then she speaks and I know exactly who it is.
“All these years and he’s still exactly the same,” she mutters. “Arrogant, cocky, and egotistical.”
I probably wouldn’t have realized it was her had I not heard her voice. It is. It’s her. Brooklynn Emory. The “one who got away”. The one who still makes my heart skip a fucking beat and my pants tighten around a burgeoning bulge. She’s the only woman in the world who has ever had this effect on me. If only she knew what she does to me.
“Did you say something? I’m sorry. I didn’t catch it.”
I did. I heard every word but I’m not going to admit it. My goal is to get her to do what she obviously doesn’t want to do. She needs to face me. All that fiery red hair and the colorful shoulder tattoo peeking out from the oversized shirt she’s wearing threw me for a moment. I don’t know why but she reminds me of something. I just can’t put my finger on it. I’ll have to get used to it. She’s always had a dark fall of hair. Hair that she’s always worn straight. Seeing curls in her hair, even loose ones, is different as well.
She turns to face me.
Fucking success.
Success I instantly regret. Her gray eyes focus on me. Those eyes are the things that have haunted my thoughts for far too long. Their color instantly reels me in. I can spend hours staring into those pools of gray, like a misty sky on a storm-calling night. They are beautiful. The color shifts depending on how pissed off or happy she is.
Given the look of them right now, she’s plenty irritated with me. I can guess she has plenty to say to me. Her previous words are like little jabs. She is just getting started. I can tell.
“You want to know what I said?” she poses it like it’s a question, but any idiot can tell she’s not asking me anything. Still, I begin to answer her with a nod that she cuts off. “I said I’m not surprised with your actions. You haven’t changed one bit. Not that I expected much. Still the same old Jaxson Shaw. Oh wait. That’s not who you are anymore. You’re Daire Deville, right? Famous racecar driver and regular panty dropper. Always has been. Always will be.”
She’s wrong, but she doesn’t need to know that right now. It’s been a long time. Brooklynn would be surprised to know just how different I am from the kid who left Hampton, Georgia and never looked back. I’m not going to tell her any of that. It’s not the right time and she’s obviously still angry with me.
Despite her apparent irritation with me, I give her my famous Jaxson Shaw smile. When she throws her arms up in frustration then begins to give me her back, I slide over to her. The fans were all but forgotten the instant I saw her. Now, their groans and mutterings of displeasure reach my ears. I hold up my finger, indicating to give me just a minute.
“Oh, I’ve changed. I’ve changed in ways that would shock a smalltown girl who only wants a smalltown life.”
I don’t know what motivates me to say those words other than they’ve been the ones on repeat in my head all this time. Words I loathed hearing right before I left for California all those years ago. The instant the words are out I can practically fill the atmosphere around us shift.
She steps forward then immediately takes a step back.
“No. Nope. I’m not doing this with you. I have many, many things I could be doing. That’s what I’m going to do. Just an FYI, this is a place where people come for assistance and guidance. It is not the place for you to meet your next groupie, race whore, or whatever you want to call them.”
She unleashes the full power of those eyes as she gives me a once over. Her gaze is full of contempt and disgust just before she walks away from me. As I’m watching her leave again, Hope picks that moment to step into my line of sight.
Not. What. Or who I want to see.
Hope’s expression is one I know almost as well as I know the shades of Brooklynn’s peepers. Not what I want to deal with right now. My mind is still reeling from having truly seen Brooklynn Emory.
“Bring it down a notch.”
“What? Wait ... why? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, okay. Know that just as you’ve changed over the years so has she. Don’t let the snarky comeback fool you. The woman you just spoke with has a lot going on. You may have been here in Savannah these last few years, but you haven’t been around to know what’s going on around you. Before you ask, I’m not privy to sharing anyone else’s story. I don’t know what the history is between you and Dr. Emory, but I know she’s not ready for what you seem prepared to unleash on her. Hell, you’re not exactly ready to truly release anything yourself. All I’ll say is tread lightly. That cargo is marked ‘Fragile’ for a reason.”
