“No one told me you were back in town,” I said, knowing I sounded stupid, but unable to stop myself. The words were flying out of my mouth at a warped speed, and I just wanted to hear her voice again.
“Why would they? You’re not important to me anymore, Zane.”
The venom in her voice was like a punch to the stomach. My eyes never left her face. I waited to see if she would thaw even slightly, but she didn’t. Her eyes remained focused on the sidewalk in front of us, and she didn’t spare so much as a glance my way.
For years, I’d dreamt of what it would be like to see her again. I played her voice over and over in my mind when I was out on a mission or whenever training became too monotonous. It kept me calm and centered; my memories of her had been my anchor.
Yet now, when I was finally getting the chance to be with her, she couldn’t even look at me.
Rage filled my body and my face flushed. I told myself to stay calm—that she was just hurting after the way things ended between us. To me, we’d always had a future, but to her, it must have felt completely different.
Still, my disappointment got the best of me, and the longer she refused to look at me, the angrier I became. “Well, I clearly don’t mean anything to you,” I said, frustrated. “You couldn’t even call. Couldn’t pick up the phone after all these years, huh? After all the letters I wrote you?”
“No. And I never should have come back,” she said.
“Why?” I spat.
“So that I could keep avoiding all of this! You trying to pull me back in. Make me your girl again. I am not your girl Zane. And I never will be.”
“We’ll see about that.” The words left my mouth before I realized what I was saying. While she brought out the best in me, she could also bring out the worst. In just a matter of minutes, my long-suppressed cockiness had reared its ugly head again. I knew it had been a mistake to let those words slip out, but I didn’t regret them.
At last, Alicia came to a full stop and faced me head-on, her eyes narrowed dangerously. “What did you just say?”
Emboldened, I stared her right in the eyes. “I said you’ll be mine again, Alicia.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You’ve been wrong before,” I muttered as I turned to walk away.
Alicia was my new mission, and this time, I refused to fail.
CHAPTER 12
Alicia
“Adam, I’ve been dreaming about these scones for so long,” I said into my phone. “You have no idea how amazing these things are.”
“Well, bring me back a few.”
“Oh, I’m bringing back a dozen!” I assured him.
“That’s the fatty I know and love!”
“Watch it,” I warned. “You know I can fire you.”
“You know you never would,” he said confidently.
I rolled my eyes and stepped farther forward as the line at Angel’s began to move.
After my encounter with Zane the day before, I needed an Angel’s fix to get my day started. I’d woken feeling younger than I had in years. Just one conversation with Zane and I was back to my old self again, vulnerable and exposed.
I hated it.
“How was the funeral?” Adam asked, snapping me back to reality.
“It was… fine,” I said and then shook my head. I tried to clear my thoughts, but images of Zane flooded my mind. I could see his smiling face the night he told me about the Savage Soldiers assignment he’d been selected for. I could see him flushing with rage just a few hours before, his dark eyes angrier than I’d ever seen them.
“Uh oh,” Adam said.