Alive and breathing, Rayna, the one and only love of my life, is here.
“Hey,” she says, “did you really think that you imagined me?”
Yanking the sleeves down over my arms, striving to remain calm, I don’t bother to look her way. Don’t want her to see how messed up I am over the fact that she’s in my shitty world. “What do you want, Rayna?”
“Wow, you did,” she says with surprise in her voice. “Slate, that shit is really screwing you up.”
She’s right. Not knowing what’s real and when I’m hallucinating is definitely all kinds of screwed up. But, that’s me—I’m fucked-up. I turn to face her. “What are you doing here?”
“You don’t need that,” she says, ignoring my questions. She stands up and waves a finger at my chest. “I already saw them. You don’t need to hide your scars from me.” Holding my breath, I watch her walk over to me. She stops and lifts her chin. “What am I doing here?” She smirks. “Well, for starters, I wanted to thank you for taking care of Lady.”
I stare down into her slanted eyes. Is she fucking with me right now? Is that it? “I’m not fucking doin’ this with you.”
Her nose scrunches. She’s adorable when she does that. “Doing what?”
Now, I know she’s messing with me. “I’m out of here.” I walk away.
“Haven’t changed, have ya, Slate? Still running away from a little confrontation?”
“Fuck you.” I start up the stairs.
After a few seconds of trying to get the door open, I hear her say, “It’s locked.”
I start kicking it, calling for Jax and Zeke. I gotta get out of here. I have to get away from her. I need a fucking hydro. I need something to calm me down, to numb me, to make her go away. Somehow, though, deep in my empty queasy gut, I know getting rid of the real Rayna will not be as easy as fending off the illusion of her.
“I told them to board it up,” she says.
“What?” I turn around. She’s now standing at the bottom of the stairs. Damn. She looks great. Why does she have to look so good? She’s still beautiful—long, dark hair, ivory skin, and those eyes. I could look into them for-fucking-ever. Her figure hasn’t changed much, either. Her lush cleavage bursts before my eyes from my position. Man. I’ve missed those tits. “What the fuck do you want?”
“I wanted to see you. Ya know, catch up.” She gives me one of her cheeky grins, the kind that trouble usually follows.
“So you fucking locked me in the den?” I start down the stairs. “Couldn’t just come over like any normal person and say ‘Hey, Slate. What’s up?’” I stop on the last step in front of her.
Her shoulder lifts and she smiles up at me. “I wanted to spend some time with you, too.”
I cock my head to the side. “Yeah.” I search her sly green eyes. Shit! She’s up to something. “And just how much time are we talking about here?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She crosses her arms over chest, pushing those perfect tits up further. “I was thinking, maybe somethin’ like, three days.”
I glare at her. What’s going on...wait, did she really just say three days? Three days, why would she... Motherfucker! It hits me what she’s attempting here. I take the last step down from the stairs, but she doesn’t budge. She doesn’t back down. It’s so like her. When she sets her mind to something, she doesn’t give up. Just one of the many things I love, or loved, about her. “Not gonna happen,” I say between clenched teeth.
Her grin softens into that sweet smile, the one that I easily fell in love with. Eyes fixed on mine, she reaches up and pushes my hood down. Her warm palm moves to my cheek. Fuck. It feels good to have her soft skin touch mine. No one’s touched me this tenderly since...“No.” I push past her. “No!” I say again, more to myself.
“Slate, what happened to you?”
Is she kidding? I turn around and spread out my arms. “You need to fucking ask?”
“No. I get that!” She drops her arms and marches over to me. “I’m talking about the drugs, the fighting. That’s not you.”
“It’s me now, Rayna, and if you don’t like it, then get the fuck out of here. I don’t want you here anyway.”
She lifts her stubborn chin. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Fuck!” I rub my palm back and forth over my short hair. I throw my hand out in the air. “Fuck!” I know this girl. She’s not going to give up until she gets what she wants.