I march straight over to the table, my shadow claiming her. Her rigid shoulders tell me she knows I’m here. My brothers make themselves at home around the table. Did she really think she could roll into my town and I wouldn’t know?
She stands abruptly and rushes for the bathroom.
I follow, waiting outside like a ravenous wolf. An old lady comes out the door, startling when she sees me and rushing away. Drew opens the door a minute later, and my muscles flex with the need to crush her to me.
Her mouth pops open when I grab her arm and move her to the wall. I close in around her, soaking her in. It’s been too long. My body sags over hers, her pretty peach scent bleeding into me. “Fuck, Drew, you’ve been gone too long, baby,” I mumble. Her hands push at my stomach, but I can’t move. I need to feed on her for a second. I’ve been starved of her for too long.
“Don’t touch me,” she exhales, shoving a little harder.
“You just ran away. You broke me, Drew—destroyed me inside.” The words fall from my lips without preamble. I haven’t felt this vulnerable in so long—this consumed by any feeling other than anger. The pit in my soul that screams for violence and chaos to quiet the constant agony of her absence is now ash because she’s here.
“No,” she barks more urgently, and I move away. Our eyes clash. Salty rivers run from her eyes, creating an almost glow. She’s heartbreakingly beautiful, natural and classic. The dusting of freckles a reminder of the girl I used to know, but the fullness of her lips, her toned jaw, the defined apples of her cheeks remind me she’s not her. She’s a woman now—a stunning one. The curls she used to hack off flow down her back, blonde shades mixing with the brown strands.
“I missed you,” I tell her, aching to touch her mouth with mine.
“I can’t do this,” she pants, shaking her head like she can’t believe this is happening.
“Where have you been? I looked everywhere for you.”
“You shouldn’t have. I told you not to.”
Is she serious? Did she not fucking love me the way I loved her? I lived for her. She was my everything—fuck…she is my everything.
“You shattered my fucking soul and sanity when you ghosted—not one fucking word from you.” I feel the anger coming back.
“Why the hell did I leave, Alec? Huh? Don’t tell me how fucking hard it was on you. You have no idea how it was for me! Is for me. To be so completely in love with someone, devoted to them, and learn they can betray you in such a brutal way.”
One arm wraps around her waist, the other outstretched to stop me advancing.
“You never let me explain anything,” I plead, desperation and anger colliding.
“You didn’t have to tell me the details,” she spits out. “You already lit the match, you think I’d stick around so you could watch me burn?”
“You didn’t let me explain!” I roar, my fists clenching. Spinning, I punch a hole through the wall. This is fucking devastating. It’s been years, and I still have this hunger—this need for her. It’s so intense, I can’t think or fucking breathe. And now, she’s so close, yet still so far away.
“I’ve got to go.” She jolts her head, sending her curls dancing. Fuck her. I grab for her wrist, dragging her to me, spinning and pushing her back into the wall, letting my full weight trap her there.
“You’re not going anywhere without me,” I tell her, crushing my lips down on hers. The world disappears around us as we fall down the rabbit hole—two kids, besotted—best friends who would do anything for the other—lovers separated for too long.
Our tongues duel, teeth bite, hands roam. She claws at me, savagely consuming, hungry. My mind splinters. Am I dreaming?
“Wait!” She gasps. “No. No. God no,” she cries out, pounding her tiny fists against my chest. I can practically hear the war drums booming in her head. Old memories are haunting her, but she doesn’t know the facts.
“I’m leaving,” she hiccups on a sob.
“I’ll follow you.”
“Don’t make me kill you,” she growls, the emotion turning to rage. It’s adorable.
“You already fucking did,” I spit.
“Why can’t you just let me mourn my aunt and leave?”
“Because you fucking hated that cunt. You came here for this,” I tell her, waving my finger between us.
“No, I dreaded this happening.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Drew.”
“Don’t call me that. I go by Wren now.”
“Nope.” I jolt my head.
Her eyes narrow. “What the hell do you mean ‘nope’?”
“You heard me, Drewwww.” I drag her name across my tongue.
“I’m not here alone.” She folds her arms in defiance.
Like I don’t already know. She had the fucking audacity to ride into my home on the back of another man’s bike. I’m going to turn the metal into liquid and him into fertilizer. “He has a death wish. That’s on him.”