~Chapter 15~
After coming out of the water, we headed to that small restaurant by the beach. It had light wooden tables, and the sunlight coming through the windows made everything feel warm. We sat at a round table near the windows.
Emy was already lounging in her seat, hair still wet, sunglasses pushed up on her head.
“I swear, this place has the best lemonade,” she said, waving the menu like a TV commercial.
Sergio raised an eyebrow.
“Of course you say that. You live on lemonade. If someone cut you, it wouldn’t be blood — it’d be citrus.”
Theo almost choked laughing, and I leaned on the table, nudging him lightly with my shoulder to calm him down.
“Come on, let’s order already. I’m starving,” I said, flipping through the menu.
On the first page was a picture of a massive burger. The kind that makes you feel life is worth living.
Emy looked at me.
“You’re getting that four-patty monstrosity again, aren’t you?”
I waved her off quickly.
“No, today I’m responsible. I’ll take the three-patty one.”
Theo rolled his eyes but smiled.
“What’s it like to live without fear?”
“Excellent,” I replied, even though Theo didn’t know it was a lie.
The waiter came, took our orders. Everything went normally… until, out of nowhere, I heard a familiar sound from the table behind us. A laugh. Sharp. Annoying. All too familiar.
I froze halfway.
Sergio noticed first.
“Don’t tell me…”
Emy slowly turned her head, like in a horror movie.
And yes.
Two tables away was the last person I expected to see here.
Ezra.
With his group.
Laughing.
Perfectly relaxed.
As if he had nothing on his conscience.
Theo rested his elbows on the table, voice low:
“What do we do?”
I felt my jaw clench on its own. I didn’t even fully turn my head. Just enough to confirm I wasn’t imagining it.
Ezra laughed with his head thrown back, just like he always did when he wanted to seem easygoing. As if he didn’t care about anything. As if he had never hurt anyone.
I looked back at our table.
“Nothing,” I said. “We eat. We’re here for ourselves, not him.”
Sergio raised an eyebrow, slightly cynical.
“And if he comes?”
“He won’t come,” I answered. But something in my stomach told me I was lying. And it wasn’t the three-patty burger talking.
Emy wet her lips nervously, tucking a wet strand behind her ear.
“If he sees us, he’ll come. You know him. He loves the show.”
I forced a small smile.
“Then let’s not give him a show.”
Theo let out a short laugh, but it was joyless.
The waiter returned with Emy’s lemonade, my coffee, and the others’ drinks. He placed them carefully on the table. Meanwhile, I felt Ezra’s gaze stick to the back of my neck.
I felt it.
Exactly like when someone studies you.
I didn’t turn.
I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
Sergio leaned slightly toward me, just enough for me to hear.
“Do you want to leave?”
And for a second…
yes.
I wanted to leave.
Be anywhere but here.
Far from everything I knew about that man.
But I wouldn’t run. Not today.
I inhaled slowly.
“No. We stay.”
Theo tilted his head in approval, saying nothing.
Emy placed her hand on my forearm, briefly. Not to save me. Just to anchor me. And it worked.
The food arrived. The smell was good, almost comforting.
But before I could take a bite, I heard chairs moving behind us.
Steps.
Approaching.
Sergio looked up, ready.
Ezra stopped beside our table, a smile that had never been sincere on his face.
“Well, what a surprise.”
Theo didn’t blink.
Emy stopped breathing.
Sergio massaged his wrist, calm but ready to spring.
I lifted my gaze toward him.
Slowly.
Controlled.
“Yes.”
Just that. One word, sharp as a blade.
He laughed.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.
”
“Neither did we,” I replied. “And yet, here we are.”
He looked at me a second longer than he should.
“You’ve changed your hair.”
“And you’ve kept the same character,” I said, without raising my tone.
He laughed again. But now, he no longer seemed relaxed.
And for the first time that day, I wasn’t on the defensive.
Ezra smiled, but the corners of his mouth never reached his eyes.
His gaze shifted from me, to the others, then back to me.
“Still with the same crew, I see,” he said, in too casual a tone.
“Still with the same need to be everywhere,” I replied.
Ezra leaned slightly, resting his palm on the back of my chair.
He was close, but not enough to be a visible threat.
Just enough to make me feel.
“Calm down, Cassian,” he said, then leaned a bit further, “I don’t eat people, you know.
”
As if I were the problem.
As if he were just passing through, a wild innocent angel.
His eyes searched mine. Maybe weakness. Maybe regret.
Maybe submission.
“I’m not upset you left the group,” he continued.
“You should have just said something.”
He raised an eyebrow, theatrically.
“Or… not left in that way,” he said, locking eyes with me.
“You upset my friends.”
That was the hit.
Low blow.
Theo reacted first — pushing his chair forward with a short, clear, calculated creak.
“Let’s stop here,” he said. Neutral, solid, like a wall.
“Not the time, Ezra.”
Sergio rested his forearm on the table, seemingly relaxed — but I knew that posture.
“If you raise your voice, I raise mine.”
Ezra saw him.
All three of us.
Us.
And for the first time, he adjusted his stance.
Emy, instead of being scared, did exactly what she knew best:
She tilted her head and smiled…
sweet, venomous, without lifting her gaze from the straw.
“Ezra, darling… if you want to talk to Cassian, get a number,” she took a theatrical sip of lemonade, “because some of us actually want to eat.”
Ezra paused.
Just a second — but a second that felt like an earthquake.
His gaze returned to me.
No more laughter.
Tone lowered:
“We’ll see each other again, Cassian.
My friends are very upset About you, you know…
”
He turned his back without waiting for a response.
His steps calm. Controlled.
Too calm.
And that’s always more dangerous than anger.
When he reached his table, the boys stopped laughing.
Ezra said nothing.
But the glance he threw over his shoulder said it all:
This isn’t over.
I inhaled slowly and leaned back in my chair.
Theo nudged my knee under the table, bringing me back.
“Eat before it gets cold, okay?”
Sergio murmured,
“If you feel like leaving again, we can go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.
And the truth?
I really wasn’t leaving.
Emy raised her glass, snorting.
“To us. To our stomachs.
And to the fact that no chairs got overturned today.”
I raised mine.
“To that.”
But inside, something was already stirring.
Not for a fight.
Not for drama.
For a return.
While we ate, I caught him glancing at us a few more times, but I said nothing.
We paid the bill and headed back to the hotel. It was exhausting standing in the sun at 40 degrees.
I entered the apartment with my friends behind me and said,
“I’m going to take a shower. You can move around here if you want.”
I climbed the stairs to the bathroom.
I undressed, and the cold made itself felt across my back.
I stepped into the shower and let the water take over, washing away all the stress.
I still thought about what Ezra said.
“My friends are very upset with you.”
What did that mean?
It sounded like manipulation to me.
I finished the shower, wrapped a towel around my waist, grabbed some pants, and went downstairs.
Sergio was on the couch, Theo and Emy nowhere to be found.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Went to get water… and Emy’s lemonade too,” Sergio said, fiddling with his phone.
“You staying with me?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Cass…
” he said. “Emy’s still upset with you, you know?
”
“Sorry,” I said, and went straight to the table to open my laptop I’d brought.
Five minutes later, Emy and Theo returned with water and Emy’s lemonade.
They came into the living room where I was sitting, and Emy said,
“Let’s go to the club later,” happily.
“It’s not far, only a ten-minute walk,” Theo added, sitting on the couch with Sergio.
“Okay,” I said shortly, and Sergio nodded too.
“Great,” Emy said, disappearing from sight.
It was going to be a very interesting evening, if you ask me.