“Who drinks apple juice, for God’s sake? In a bar?” I complained with a laugh, handing him back the glass. “I would have expected more class from you DeLoughreys.”
He laughed indignantly. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”
I grabbed my throbbing temple. “Nothing, I just...I should get going.”
“Are you here with the car?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but look at him in hesitance.
“Yes,” I replied, confused, and he looked around observantly with a serious expression.
“Let me walk you to the car. You never know who’s walking around here at this hour.”
My head hurt too much to refuse him the offer, so I just nodded and walked straight ahead.
“And you don’t drink?”
Miles didn’t say anything for a while.
“It’s complicated,” it escaped him curtly.
Weird guy.
“I really need alcohol right now,” I sighed, and he just laughed.
I missed the summer parties everyone had thrown to say goodbye to Blairville or their friends. I had gone to every single one, even though I hadn’t spent time with anyone at any of these. I’d drunk a lot to forget about Nash, and luckily, he hadn’t shown up anywhere either. But now it hurt even more to see him again.
“Devil’s poison.”
I looked at Miles, who took the bottle from my hand as I stopped in front of my car before I could take another sip. Then he looked at me with a serious expression.
“If I may give you some advice...Nash is a jerk. Whatever history you guys have. Stay away from him.”
I looked at him with a sigh. “Are you now going to accuse me of stalking my ex, too?”
“No,” he laughed, as if he’d already had a lot to drink, which was clearly not the case. “But his family is in pretty deep shit.”
I said nothing. Whatever he meant, it had something to do with this town’s politics.
“You should go now.”
Again, I looked at Miles, whose gaze had lingered on my neck. He squinted his eyes for a moment and then took two steps back as if something was bothering him.
“Thanks,” was all I said, and I got into my car, head still throbbing.
The steam rose in the form of warm mist, settling on my skin like a damp layer and fogging up the bathroom mirror as well as the window, which otherwise offered an extended view of the forest. Even though I had felt like I was being watched more than once, it was clear to me that there was no one out there. This was Blairville. And I had become paranoid over time.
I tried to get my legs completely under the water, but I hadn’t been able to do that for years. I was no longer the little girl who dreamed of her first great love. My heart had been broken several times, but only really mended once.
He had helped me out of there. He had pushed me back there.
They weren’t quite as visible in the candlelight, but I still recognized the many little stripes on my thighs. Each one represented a moment of weakness. Until I had to promise him to be strong.
I no longer hurt myself. But my tears flowed into the hot bath water. My vision blurred until the lights of the candles were only orange dots in my field of vision and I began to sob.
Ezra wasn’t home yet. And so, I was alone with my thoughts. Alone in that place where I was allowed to cry, where my tears became one with the water that surrounded me. The only place where I still felt close to him. Even if every time anew my heart broke into countless pieces.
Mayor’s Office
“Tell me that the Copeland Alpha has made a bad joke,” it escaped from the mayor, who usually knew how to control herself. But an hour ago, the chief physician had shown up here and given her the startling news. “You sent your offspring to Vanderwood?”
The pretty lawyer took a deep breath and stared at the carpet as if she were heading for a nervous breakdown, while Laurent, the DeLoughreys’ brown-haired bodyguard, took his gaze from her and looked at Bastien. Bastien stood in front of the desk, his arms folded behind his back, his gaze a mask.
The mayor had trouble looking into the man’s gray eyes without thinking of the old days.
Three of them in her office. Three!
“You have nothing to worry about, Ms. Blair,” Bastien assured her formally, even though they had once been closer.
“If one of your guys breaks the contract, it’s not just a problem for you or the Copeland pack...” the mayor continued tensely. “The Circle will be affected as well.”
“The three of them are well-behaved,” Bastien countered.
The mayor thought she saw a smirk cross the lawyer’s lips, but ignored it with a troubling gut feeling.
“I understand if you have doubts. The situation is tense. However, it will resolve itself quickly.”
“Was this your idea, Bastien?” the mayor accidentally broke the formal tone, and the lawyer looked up in surprise.
