Thief (A Bad Boy Romance)(25)
“Doesn’t know about what?”
“About us.”
Silas raises a brow but I shake my head. “No, not about us being together, I mean…” I take a big gulp of air before looking up into his eyes, my own narrowed. “Your best friend doesn’t know you fucking married his little sister before you ran out on her does he.”
His mouth goes tight, and I bark out a small laugh. “Yeah, he doesn’t know about this, does he?”
I suddenly reach into my loose beach shirt and yank out the thin silver chain, with the pendant that was once my wedding ring hanging from the end.
Silas stares at it, his mouth hanging open.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I mutter. I’m the idiot who kept it.”
“Ivy-”
“Stupid, I know.” My gaze darts from his bare finger to his eyes. “I’m sure yours is long fucking gone.”
Slowly, Silas shakes his head, his eyes never leaving mine as he swallows. “Eight years later and you still don’t know me, huh?”
Before I can say anything, he suddenly reaches down, grabs his shirt, and whips it off his body.
“There.”
And suddenly he’s right in front of me, the manly smell of him invading my senses, and his bare, chiseled and inked body right in front of my eyes. And right there, laying against his chest on a small silver chain…
The silver ring.
The one I slipped onto his finger eight years ago in the back rectory of the church in Stoborough.
He kept it. It’s not tossed into the ocean, or flushed down a toilet, or hocked, or whatever I imagined he did with it after he left. It’s right there, laying across his heart on a chain that practically matches mine.
“It’s not long fucking gone, Ivy,” he growls, so close to me, his words a warm tease across my upturned lips.
“It’s been right here,” he growls, tapping his chest as his eyes pierce right into mine. “For eight. Fucking. Long. Years.”
I nod, my eyes dropping again to the little silver band dangling from his neck.
“Did it hurt?” I say quietly. “All those years?”
He nods, his jaw fighting. “Yeah, it fucking hurt, Ivy.”
I take a deep breath as I look him full in the face.
“Good.”
Somehow, I manage to pull myself out of the gravity of him, taking a step back from the proximity of him.
“Now multiply that by a hundred, and you can get a taste for what I went through not even knowing if you were alive or dead.”
He shakes his head. “Ivy, hang on.”
But I don’t hang on. I don’t “wait” - not anymore.
Instead, I turn my back to him, step back onto the dock, and walk away.
Chapter Fourteen
Ivy
“Can I borrow your car?”
Sierra looks up from the book she’s reading in the big armchair in the living room.
“I’m going to go down to the train station and grab Blaine.”
Sierra raises a brow. “He finally get on one?”
I scowl.
Yet another reason I’ve been in a sour mood the entire afternoon and evening. Because if running into Silas Hard, again, wasn’t fun enough, my boyfriend is apparently incapable of making a damn train to come see me.
She puts the book into her lap. “Look, I’m sure he just had stuff to do that he got caught up in.” She shrugs her shoulders. “You know how you get when you’re sucked into those conference calls with marketing or whoever.”
“He missed four trains today,” I mutter out, pouting.
Sierra purses her lips. “Hey, you okay?”
“Fine.”
I haven’t told her about bumping into Silas earlier. I’m also trying to convince myself that doing so has had zero effect on me. I’m trying tell myself that the sole reason for my sour mood is Blaine missing trains, not Silas bringing up the past.
Sierra nods. “Keys are in my purse by the front door.”
“Thanks.”
By the time the parking lot is totally empty at the train station across town, I know I haven’t somehow missed him.
He’s just not here.
I can feel the heat rising in my face as I dial his number for the eighth time in as many minutes, letting it ring and ring until it goes to voicemail. Again.
I slump in the seat, blowing air out through my lips and drumming my fingers across the steering wheel. I glance down at my dark phone, as if watching it will miraculously get Blaine to call and let me know that, yes, I have somehow missed him. Yes, he’s waiting at home with my whole family, waiting for me to get there so he can tell me everything is normal, and calm, and on track, and that the past is going to stay there.
But it doesn’t. I check my call settings for the third time, to make sure I’m getting service or on the right network or whatever. But I know at this point I’m just fishing in the dark.