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“Do you need something?” I kept my voice neutral and mentally gave myself a pat on the back.
Flecks of gold flamed down at me out of green eyes. Was he having an off day, or were his green eyes because of me? Clenching my jaw, I told myself I couldn’t care less either way. Of course I was a big fat liar. My heart was crying out for me to touch him, to comfort him. Where were the hazel eyes that had owned me all those years ago? I wanted them. I wanted him to be stable enough to have them.
Idiot.
Zander stood there, his eyes never leaving mine, as he seemed to have an i
I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening in surprise. What the hell? “Are you fucking serious?”
Another shrug. “I’ve stayed out of your way while you and Emmie were so busy with Brie’s stuff, but now that things have calmed down I was hoping we could… I don’t know, talk?”
“You want to talk? Now?” My voice was rising with my anger, but I couldn’t help it. Seventeen years of pain, of gut-wrenching hurt, and anger—so much anger—was begi
His entire body tensed, his face going pale. I watched through angry eyes as he swallowed hard and lifted a hand toward me. I slapped it away—no way could I handle his touch right then—and reached for the handle of my car. “I don’t want to talk to you, Z. It’s too late for talking.”
“A
“No!” I screamed, so close to breaking I hated myself a little right then. “No.” I whispered it that time, fighting back tears. “Goodbye, Z.”
C HAPTER S IXTEEN
A
Somehow I made it through the lunch meeting with the record-label dick. It hadn’t been easy, that was for sure. I still had anger simmering in my gut along with all the other emotional pain that Zander always stirred up in me. Add to that a record label exec who thought he was entitled to stroke my thigh under the table while we shared a meal and discussed Tasha Vowel’s future with his label, and it had really made for the afternoon from hell.
The exec, I’d been able to handle, although I knew that if I’d had Emmie’s name backing my own I wouldn’t have had to deal with his shit in the first place. Still, I’d had a professional smile on my face as I’d stabbed my fork into the back of his hand. He’d muttered a curse, gri
It had been Zander who had rotted my brain, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else. I hadn’t even called my family back in Te
I ate di
A firm, urgent knock on my bedroom door startled me awake half a second before the door opened and Emmie walked into the room with a cordless phone in her hand. “A
My heart stopped and everything inside of me went cold. I jumped out of bed, not caring that I was only in a T-shirt and panties, and took the phone from her. “Noah?” So many bad memories were flooding my mind that I knew my brother clearly heard my terror.
“She left, A
“I’ll just go pick her up at the airport. She’s fine, I’m sure of it.” Oh, God, please let her be okay. I couldn’t fucking go through this again. She had to be fine.
“No, A
Ah, fuck.
The hand holding the phone dropped to my side and I fell onto the edge of the bed, my legs no longer willing to hold me up. That stubborn girl. My beautiful, stubborn girl.
“A
I slowly lifted my head to look at Emmie. “Um… I need to go out.” Good, I was able to get out a full sentence. At least I hadn’t fallen off the edge. Yet.
Her brow furrowed. “Of course. Is everything okay?”
My chin trembled. “I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Can I do anything?”
Clenching my jaw, I forced myself to my feet and straightened my spine, resolved as to what was to come. “I need Zander Brockman’s address.”
Zander
Ding. Dong.
I ignored the doorbell. I hated the sound of the damn thing. I’d been debating on just disco
Seeing A
Now that things were calmer, I’d been trying to find a way to see her. I wanted another chance with her, a do-over—something. Anything. I was tired of feeling so numb, hadn’t even realized just how numb I actually was until I’d seen her again that day in the hospital waiting room. Seeing her again had untwisted something inside of me, and for the first time in seventeen years I was able to breathe again. This morning I’d been handed the chance to try and start the ball rolling for us again.
Only to blow it.
What was I expecting after seventeen years of avoiding her and anything that might be co