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She’d been wearing a white dress he’d never seen before, and he’d been one to pay attention to what she’d put on her body. This dress fit her as if made for her curves, coming down to rest just below her knees. She walked with a confidence he wished he had, head held up and gaze straight ahead.
Long chestnut tendrils came down her back in a rivulet of curls that had his hand clenching. Stunned speechless, he’d watched until she disappeared. He hated the attraction he’d felt toward her in that moment, the urge to follow her out and discover who this new girl was. Hated how much he missed their childhood friendship when everything had been easy. Before her existence in his life had ruined his.
But the ceremony had continued without a hitch, and later he learned she had left town altogether. He’d felt jealous of her escape, annoyed that he wouldn’t be able to take his anger out on her anymore. Not in a physical sense. Never would he ever dare.
And sure, what he’d done to Violet in high school could make him an asshole, a jerk of the worst kind. But she’d started it first. Her family had fucked with his and won. It was only fair that she’d pay the price.
He froze, his mind spinning as thoughts bombarded. “Wait,” he rasped out, throat sore. “Did you help put us here?”
She scoffed, the sound natural. “You have to be kidding right now.”
“Answer me.”
“Fuck off, Elijah. No, I didn’t help put us in here. I didn’t even realize you were in Georgia.”
“I’ve been in Georgia for three years. Go to school at the University of Georgia.”
Her laugh was disbelieving. “You’re telling me I ran away to escape from you only to end up living in the same town some miles away?”
When she put it like that, it really was amazing.
He swallowed hard, not liking the sound of her running away because of him. Of course, his behavior had been awful toward her. “You leaving town like that was the topic of conversation for weeks.”
“Bet you just loved that.” Same sarcastic voice he’d heard before, only now she sounded very grown up. She’d felt much the same only minutes earlier.
He pursed his lips, blew out a quick breath. “To be honest, I was jealous as hell.”
Another scoff. “Pray tell, what in God’s whole glory would you have to be jealous about with me?”
He drew his brows down as he thought about how to word this. How to explain it to this woman whose family destroyed his childhood. He shifted, feeling something dig into his back. Reaching down to the offender, he pulled out what felt like a lighter.
“Oh, shit,” he said.
“What?”
“I just found a lighter, I think.”
“You think?”
“Well, sweetheart,” he started sarcastically, “not like there’s a whole lot of light in here to be sure. Only one way to tell, though.”
He went to flick it on, feeling his way around for the rind, but then a hand landed on his chest and felt around until she got to his hand, then covered the lighter.
“Wait, who’s to say this wasn’t in here to have us find, then when we light it, the whole box explodes?”
He let out a surprised burst of laughter. “What?”
“You’ve heard the speaker several times now. What if when you light it, we blow up into smithereens?”
“Smithereens?” he repeated with a chuckle.
“Elijah, please.”
He hated the way she said his name. Hated how his gut tumbled at the sound. Hated the feeling of her breasts pressed against his arm. Hated how he wanted to kiss her again.
He hated everything about her.
Closing his eyes as if that would give him time to escape her even though he couldn’t see anything, he let out another breath and tried to regain some control over himself.
