The desperate saccharine tone in her words caught my attention, and I finally dragged my gaze to meet hers.
And that’s when I knew exactly who she was.
She was the fucking bane of my existence. My fucking nightmare and my most lucid dream.
“Can we go home now? It’s getting chilly out here.”
I almost shook with her lie-riddled words as memories doused my ability to manage my emotions.
“Please?” Her words clung to mine, begging.
My teeth ached with the pain from grinding them, hindering my ability to speak. I forced a jerky nod but what I wanted was to tear into her.
“Well…” The officer was still lingering, this time his gaze not on me but on her ass.
I grunted at him, and he smirked. The fucker thought he had the upper hand, but one perfectly placed blow to his nose, and he’d be good as dead.
His glance traveled up her form before he stopped on my face. “Have a good night, then, kids.”
As soon as he turned and walked away, I tore the officer’s card from her hand and threw it in the garbage behind me. “I wouldn’t let you call him, even if I did give a shit about you.”
Her face fell, and her hand dropped from mine. “Wait. I just saved your ass. Call me crazy, but I thought you’d be a little more grateful, Elis.”
“Stop using my name.” I started walking, but unfortunately, she kept up.
“I know it’s been a while, but unless you changed your name—”
“I didn’t. I can’t stand the way it sounds on your lips.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Maybe I should run back to Officer Feinman and tell him where he can find those cans of spray paint you tossed right before I walked up.”
I froze, chest heaving with the adrenaline still coursing through my system. “Wouldn’t shock me. Once a stuck-up bitch, always a stuck-up bitch.”
“I’m loyal to a fault, not something you would know anything about.”
“I’m more loyal than you’ve ever been.” I put myself in her personal space, my hand hovering at her hair, whether to pet or yank it, I wasn’t sure. “The thing is, you’re not a human at all. You’re just a spoiled Park Avenue Bitch desperate for attention. You were then, and”—I made a point of looking her up and down—“from the looks of things, that hasn’t changed.”
I turned, leaving her behind me, right where she belonged. Ignoring the small fucking ache in my chest she’d left there long ago when she stabbed me in the back and proved once and for all these rich bitches were the same.
Chapter 2
Devlynn
“You don’t know the full story of what happened back then!” I shouted at his shrinking form before I launched after him, catching him by the arm when I was close enough.
He yanked out of my grip and kept walking. “I don’t need your bullshit story. What I need is your hands off me.”
“I’m not a spoiled Barbie. Things in high school were…complicated for me.” Annoyed tears formed behind my eyelids again, and I swept them away before he could notice.
His look of disgust was like a jagged piece of glass slicing through me. Elis had perfected his look of death, I thought he’d never look at me like that, but I was wrong. I was so very wrong.
“Said every spoiled princess ever,” he seethed, continuing to stalk down the gravel pathway as snow-covered evergreen branches hung low over his head.
He looked every part the villain he’d become. If I were in law enforcement, I’d give Elis Brooks a once-over too. Black on black was his uniform, but it was more than that. He had that devious glint in his eye. It was one thing that drew me to him in high school. The way he scared everyone and put them on edge with just a look sent thrills of excitement through my skin.
I battled to fight that same reaction to him now.
“Elis…” My voice softened.