Chapter One #2
Wildly curly brown hair. Amber eyes. And that stupid smile. Liam Ashford looked the same as ever. Only, his face had lost a little of that youthful glow it once had, and his body seemed to be filled out a little more.
He was taller than the last time I had seen him. We had once stood at the same height, but he now towered a good six inches above me. I had to look up to meet his eyes now. As if he needed just one more reason to prove that he was better than me.
Even his height seemed to aggravate me.
It had been four years since Liam and I had last stood this close to one another.
The only time I had seen him over the past several years was at my family’s Christmas parties.
He always made it a habit to attend. No doubt, for the sake of annoying me.
But even at those, I avoided him like the plague.
“Why are you here?” The question fell from my lips, dripping with venom. A part of me already knew the answer, but accepting it as the truth felt unfathomable.
His smile only grew. “Straight to the point as always, but I think that I should be the one asking you that.”
I sucked in a breath and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Why on earth would you ask me that?”
It didn’t matter if I had last seen Liam years ago or yesterday.
The moment I laid my eyes on him, I could feel the hot, familiar rush of annoyance start to itch beneath my skin.
Maybe it was our history, or maybe it was just him.
Whatever it was, I found that my patience was all but nonexistent when he was involved.
Liam tsked. “I’ve never known you to ask dumb questions, Jessie.”
My fingernails dug into the palms of my hands. Liam Ashford was a lot of things, but a liar, he was not. So if he was alluding to what I believed he was, it meant that my life was about to be flipped on its head.
A wavering “Don’t” was all I could say in response.
Of course, that reaction only seemed to encourage him. “Don’t what?” Liam asked. His voice had a teasing lilt to it, which felt all too familiar. Everything about Liam felt too familiar.
Hoping that asking in another way would give me the answer I wanted, I changed the subject. “I own the bookstore next door. I came here to speak to the owner of this shop. Where are they?” Each and every word was laced with hope. Maybe I was wrong.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to be wrong. I wanted it more than anything.
But it was rare that I ever got what I wanted. Even more rare when Liam was involved.
“Well, you’re looking at him. So, what can I do for you?”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
My gaze flickered down helplessly to my wrist, where he was still holding onto me.
“Tell me you’re lying,” I pleaded. All five stages of grief came crashing through me at once. It couldn’t be true. This could not be my life.
“Wish I could,” Liam said with a half-hearted shrug and a tone that told me he absolutely did not mean a single word.
“But I can’t. This place is all mine,” he gestured widely.
“For the time being, at least. Until I renew my lease.” I could tell there was something more he was alluding to with those words, but I was too frustrated to try to figure it out.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, less to him, more to the universe. I had no idea what I had done so wrong in life for this to be my fate.
I was a good person. I never littered. I always made an effort to be kind, and I always rounded up my change to whatever charity the cashiers at the grocery store were collecting money for.
At the very least, I felt that I deserved a sliver of good karma.
But no, it seemed that no matter what I did, no matter how good or awful I could be, life always brought him right back to me.
Like a boomerang. Only if the boomerang was lit on fire and had a habit of lighting everything that ever mattered to me ablaze.
Liam ignored me. “So, what do you think of the place? Pretty cool, huh? I had a feeling you would stop by, so I—” He rambled on, and I proceeded to ignore him.
I couldn’t catch my breath. Panic was flooding my lungs. Each inhale felt too small. No matter what I did, I couldn’t take in enough air. Each exhale felt rushed and shaky. My mind was racing a mile a minute.
This could not be happening, I thought to myself. Not to me. Not on this day. Not after how hard I worked.
A gasping breath. A thousand more thoughts. The hand on my wrist tightened its grip.
“Are you okay?” Liam’s voice cut through my dizzying haze of panic.
My eyes met his. Amber brown and so unmistakably familiar. “I’m fine,” I replied stubbornly, taking the moment to snatch my wrist away from him.
“Alright,” he said slowly. “Well, would you like to tell me what you came here for?”
“I…” My heart was still pounding in my chest. It was real.
Liam—he was standing in front of me, the owner of the shop beside mine.
“I just wanted to ask if you could turn down the music.” That was all I could muster for the time being.
I needed to get out of here. More than anything, I needed to get as far away from him as I possibly could.
A knowing look flickered across Liam’s face. There for a moment, then gone. “Turn down the music?” he echoed with a playful smile.
He had always been so easily entertained by the way that he could rile me up. It was his favorite pastime.
“Yes. I could hear it through the wall.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes,” I repeated. The anger that had been simmering in my chest was threatening to boil over. “Will you turn it down or not, Ashford?” I was not interested in playing his games anymore. I needed to get as far away from him as I could.
Liam’s gaze bore into mine as I stared him down. Finally, he threw his hands up and sighed dramatically. “Fine. I suppose I can be swayed.”
I should have known. He would never do anything unless there was something he stood to gain from it.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Come by later. After you close up your bookstore.”
“No,” I turned on my heel. The way he had said the word bookstore, as if it was something to poke fun at, had me seeing red.
Fingers, warm and a little tighter than before, grabbed my wrist once again.
“You sure?” There was something unrecognizable about the look in his eyes.
I snatched my hand away once more and took two steps back so he couldn’t touch me again. “I’m sure, Ashford. The next time I come in here will be over my dead body.”
As I marched out of The Galaxy Gamers Cafe, I could hear the low chuckle of Liam behind me, amused as ever.