Thief:A Bad Boy Romance(8)
I know I have zero right to own the anger and the raw fury I feel at the mention of that word, but it doesn’t do a damn thing to keep my temper from roaring up inside.
Of course, I know about the boyfriend - Blaine. The fucking douchebag with the bleached white teeth and the goddamn ponytail that’s always popping up in her social media posts. The smarmy looking prick with the store-bought tan and the magazine smile.
The guy she’s clearly head over heels for.
The guy that was me, in another life.
“I can’t believe you came back here,” she says quietly, her voice like shattered ice as she slowly shakes her head at me.
“I told you, I came-”
“I don’t care,” she says sharply. “But whatever you think you’re looking for? Whatever ‘big conversation’ you think we’re going to have? Whatever bullshit answer you have for fucking me over all those years ago?” Her eyes narrow into mine, her face a mask of cold fury as she brushes hair back from it.
“Forget about it.” She blinks twice. “I have.”
She turns again on her high-heels and starts to march down Commercial Street, her suitcase rolling loudly behind her.
“Go back to Ireland, Silas,” she calls over her shoulder.
And then she’s gone.
Again.
Chapter Five
Ivy
I force myself to keep walking - shoulders back, head high and forward all the way until I get around the corner of Hasting’s hardware store. It’s only then that I exhale, my legs turning to jelly and my heart skipping along at a hundred miles an hour. I drop onto the bench that runs along the side of the store, my hands pushing into my hair as I suck in lungsful of air.
Silas.
What the hell he’s doing here, how my brother managed to not tell me about that little detail before I got here, and about a million other thoughts go roaring through my head as I focus on breathing in and out.
As I focus on holding onto my sanity.
The man I never thought I’d see again, in the flesh, face to face.
“Uh, are you okay?”
Ainsley’s voice pulls me back into the now, and I quickly blink away the thoughts. “Yeah,” I force a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just-”
I just saw the ghost of heartbreaks past and now I’m finding it sort of hard to breathe.
I smile at my assistant. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just hungry I think.”
She makes a face. “After that boat-ride?”
I grin. “You get used to it.”
“No thanks.” She looks up at the old brick-style New England buildings that line the waterfront streets - the cobblestone pedestrian streets, the knick-knack shops, the touristy bars and restaurants all serving the same seafood menu and drink specials.
“Cute town.”
I make a face as I stand from the bench and pull out my phone. “Trust me, it’s all bullshit.”
“Oh, Blaine called, by the way.”
I roll my eyes as I glance at the blank screen of my phone. Blaine’s developed this annoying habit of calling my assistant instead of me - like he’s calling to network with me instead of to tell me which ferry he’s taking to my home town.
“Oh yeah?”
Ainsley clears her throat. “Yeah, he’s, uh,” she looks uncomfortable. “I think he missed the ferry after us.”
I groan, but my phone buzzes in my hand as my sister calls.
“Hey, I’m here,” I say quickly. “We’re next to-”
I stop as I see Stella’s Volvo pull up to the curb at the top of the pedestrian side-street we’re standing on. Her hand sticks out the window and waves.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, my mind still reeling from the man I’ve just come face-to-face with. “Okay, I’ll-”
“Look, why don’t you go home?” Ainsley says, as ever, looking at whatever she’s typing on her phone instead of me. She looks up. “Go say hi to your folks, get something to eat, and relax. I actually just reconnected with a friend from college who lives like, thirty minutes from here.”
I raise a brow. “Wow, really?”
“Yeah, she’s gonna come get me for coffee or whatever. You go chill, and when Blaine gets in, I’ll have her bring me back here and we’ll cab it to you or whatever.”
She frowns as she looks up. “Wait, are there even cabs here?”
“There’s like one cab here.”