“We did. Everything I’ve ever wanted is coming to be. I’m so blessed.”
Another tear slipped free, but this one was nothing but joy. She brought my hand to her flat belly.
“Oh,” I murmured on a gasp. “Oh wow, you’re gonna be a mama?”
She nodded like crazy. “Yes. I still can hardly believe it.”
“Oh goodness, Em.”
Happiness tangled with my sorrow.
She glanced around covertly like we were being watched.
“No one else knows yet except for my family and Mel, of course.”
I grinned through a sniffle.
Mel, that crazy girl. She was Emily’s best friend which meant she’d become one of mine.
“Where is she?”
“Oh, who knows. Probably downstairs knocking some poor, unsuspecting fool down a notch or two.”
I laughed, unable to believe that we were like this.
Us.
Like no time had passed.
Except for the fact that everything had changed.
“I didn’t mean to cause a hiccup in your party. Honest. I just wanted to tell you congratulations. See for myself that he was good for you. Wish you all the joy in the world.”
“Don’t say it like I’m not gonna see you again.”
Regret trembled my chin. “I’m not sure hanging around is such a good idea.”
“Rich made his choice. He doesn’t get to make ours.”
“What if it hurts too much?” It was out before I thought through the admission, but I’d only ever been up front with Emily.
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, and her head tilted to the side. “And what if it hurts too much without us?”
I warred, chewing at the inside of my cheek, before I suggested, “Lunch?”
She giggled. “I was thinking something a little more along the lines of dress shopping, but I’m sure we could fit lunch in, too.”
My brow furrowed.
She squeezed my hands in emphasis. “I want you to be in my weddin’, Violet.”
“Em.”
Distress blazed. Misery over what she was asking and grief over the thought of saying no.
“Please. I miss you. I want you standing beside me when I take the most important step of my life.”
I nodded, even though a horrible feeling was taking me over. “I’d be honored.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
It would have been a whole lot more convincing if the word hadn’t cracked.
I angled my head toward the stairs. “Now, you better get back to your party.”
“Are you going to be okay? Are you sure you don’t want to come down? I’d love to introduce you to Royce.”
“Someday soon, but I think I need to call it a night.”
She hesitated before she nodded and leaned in for a quick hug. “Okay. I’ll talk to you soon. And I mean that.” The last she said with a bolt of carefree laughter, pointing at me as if she had me pegged.
“I’m sure you do.” I let lightness weave into the words.
I watched her as she turned and headed back for the stairs, tossing me a soft smile as she went. I waited until she’d gone and then worked to gather myself. To put myself back together.
Then I lifted my chin and headed for the stairs as if the man didn’t have the power to affect me. To set me off-kilter.
I had too much to be living for to give him the power.
It was a valiant effort, but it didn’t change the fact I could feel the weight of him as I edged down the stairs. It didn’t change the potent energy that lashed and flared and chased me into the night.
His eyes daggers as he watched me go.FourRichardThere’s a thing about living a lie.
That lie eats at you. Festers and decays and rots away the good until the only thing that remains is regret.
From where I was hidden below the staircase, I watched her flee across the lobby.
Let her go.
I could have chanted the plea a thousand times and I doubted it would have made a dent in the urge that screamed at me not to let her out of my sight.
To love and to cherish and to protect.
She blew out the hotel doors in a riot of color.
Violet and magenta and teal.
Hair a striking black.
A moonflower in distress.
My guts knotted with the chaos she incited. I might have been the one who’d had her backed against a wall, but she was the one who had me chained.
A motherfucking prisoner.
Possession rose like a storm, a roar that intensified. My hands curled into fists like it might keep me rooted to the spot.
No chance I could ignore the call. Not after I’d been sure some scumbag had come riffling around like a predator cloaked in the night.
I edged out the door, gaze instantly peering to the right where she quickened down the sidewalk, her heels clacking on the pebbled stones.
She ducked into the same old truck she’d driven since I’d met her that she had parked at the curb. Not a second passed before the loud engine rumbled to life like a low roll of thunder in the dense, thick night.