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I don’t know if I planned on making it past this point. Maybe getting to the sign would’ve been enough for me, and I’d turn around and finally be able to fall asleep.
I’ll never know now, though.
Because as Malik sits there on top of his car, I know I’ll never be able to walk away. Not without speaking to him first.
I step into the fog, breathing in the fresh, woodsy air for the first time in so long. A chill breaks along my skin, and I’d smile in bliss if I weren’t in complete shock right now.
His eyes flare as I step toward him, with me standing on one side of the Castle Pointe sign, and him on the other.
We stare at each other, the wind blowing my hair over my shoulder. Longer than he remembers. I’m thinner, too. I know he notices this, as he glances up and down my slender body, a sneer taking over his features.
I fold my arms across my chest, thinking of what to say. I’ve envisioned it so many times. Imagined myself talking to him again after all this time. Telling him how much he broke me. Admitting how much he means to me. Taking my anger out on him.
Now the moment comes, and I stand here, silent. Unable to speak. Unable to breathe.
“What took you so long?” he asks, his voice deep, aged like a fine wine. Raspy and edgy. So much the same, but so incredibly different. Painfully so.
What took me so long?
It’s almost like he’s been waiting for me.Waiting for me.
My mouth drops open, my tongue gliding along the top edges of my teeth. I want to speak, the words form in my mind, but trying to get them to flow from my lips is a completely different type of struggle.
“What?” I squeak, and my cheeks flame. I clear my throat. “What’re you… what’re you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” he says it so simply, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. It makes no sense to me, and I don’t understand.
He slides from the car, leaning his back against the grill as he stares at me.Waits for me.
I take a step toward him, nerves making my knees week. One gust of wind would blow me to the ground. His words will make me falter.
I’m weak in his presence, and yet he’s the only thing that makes me strong.
“How’d you know I’d be here? How did you know…” I trail off, so confused. So many questions fill my head, and I can’t make sense of any of them.
He lifts an eyebrow, like my questions are foolish.
“How did you know I was coming here?”
His head tips to the side. “Why wouldn’t I? This is my town.” His head lowers, his hair falling to the side, and I watch as his eyes burn into mine. “And you are mine.”
My chest hollows out, and I can feel his words slip down my throat and into my soul. They warm me, and the chilly air is no longer prickling against my skin. I turn hot, my body heating from his raspy tone.
“You—you told me to go. You didn’t want me here,” I whisper, hurting as the feelings return. How cruel he was. The hate in his tone and the malice in his eyes. I felt broken for so long. I still feel broken. And then he claims me. “You told me to leave Castle Pointe.”
He shoves off the front of his truck, stepping toward me with purpose. He doesn’t sway, he doesn’t hesitate. I’m his only focus, the only one in his sight.
He stops directly in front of me, his heavy, controlled breaths fanning across my cheek. “Yet, you came back.”
“I didn’t come back for you. I came back for me,” I lie. It makes me nauseous. I can’t fall back into the hole of wanting him with the most desperate need; he’s the only thing on my mind. I can’t do that again. I won’t survive it.
His hand flexes at his side, like he’s holding himself back from grabbing me and pulling me to him.
“Did you get what you came for?” he asks.
I nod, not able to say the words.
“You’re a liar,” he growls. “I can see the lie in your eyes, Vera. Don’t forget, you were my sister at one time.”
