AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Apart from cyber stalking him, I’ve had no contact with Cole since his mom passed, and he ditched. The man hadn’t accepted a single request of mine on social media. I know next to nothing of his true life. Sure, I follow every profile he has open to the public, but his posts are all surface level, and mostly about Devils Heartbreak. When it comes to him, I’ve always craved the deep. I’ve always yearned for a taste of his secrets. Always lingered, hopelessly praying for those eyes to land on mine.
It's been so long.
Seeing him in the flesh now is a shock. He’s so big.
Really, images online don’t do the man justice. He’d been big eight years ago, but now. Whoa, boy.
Defined muscles stretch the material of his black t-shirt over his chest as he angles his head back another slow inch, taking me in, and then my suitcases next to me on his porch, before they slide back to me.
He takes a single step forward, so I do the same, taking a single step down from his porch. My knees wobble. My heart lurches in my chest painfully. It’s a true struggle to keep my mask in place.
Finally, I hear his deep voice rumble, “Pipsqueak? Is that you?”
No. Don’t call me that. I’m not that little kid anymore.
I lift my chin higher. “It’s just Olympia, now. Or Pippa, if you prefer.”
I give myself a mental high-five when my voice remains cool and calm. Unaffected.
I’m anything but unaffected.
I’m a mess of emotions and forbidden feelings.
Did I mention his voice? It’s dropped at least ten decibles since the last time I saw him.
Because I couldn’t tear my eyes from him if I tried, I see the way his jaw tightens, a muscle twitching. I’ve seen enough of that kind of tensing to know he’s pissed at me. Inside, everything coils tight. Outside, I’m a cool cucumber.
It’s the same body mask I wear when Remira gets it in her mind that she can beat the wild out of me, so I might not embarrass her like Ophelia. Only, I’m not wild. I do nothing with my life that can be claimed wild. This—running away from a lifetime of pain—is the wildest I’ve dared to be since everything that went down, went down.
Even though, technically, Ophelia is the one keeping our mother from living like one of the people she gives ‘charity’ to. Remira’s kindness cloaks something much uglier. A need to surround herself with those she views as less than, so that she can pass superior judgement.
I know it’s not nice to hate. But, honestly, I think I might hate her.
“What are you doing here?” Cole juts his chin to the suitcase as he widens his stance, folding massive arms over a wide chest.
I keep my hands hanging at my sides with effort. I want to cross mine like him. I want to put that faux barrier of protection up to guard against the onslaught of his obvious hate for me. For my last name.
For her.
I’m not her.
I swallow hard and take another step forward. “I need your help.”
A single brow lifts. Even though nothing else of his face changes, I know I’ve surprised him.
It’s been eight years, and here I am, no longer the little girl he remembers, on his porch with a suitcase. I can only imagine the things that are running through his mind.
I almost want to laugh, but that might make me seem unhinged. I don’t want him to throw me off his property before he hears what I have to say.
“Go on, Pipsqueak.”
I fight my flinch, but a little seeps out. That moniker had once been filled with affection, but now there’s something hideous in it.
“Don’t call me that.”
He cocks a mean grin, and I know I’m in for it. “What the fuck do you want, Olympia?”
You. It’s only ever been you.
