He was always a big guy, but he’s somehow gotten even bigger in the last decade.He dwarfs Doogie and me both.And makes the reception area of the parlor look tiny besides.
“Me and my girlfriend are just having a little chat,” Doogie says.“Why don’t you take a seat?”
“I’m not your girlfriend and I never will be,” I say and finally manage to rip my arm from his grasp.
The words were more for Blade and he heard them loud and clear.We haven’t been able to take our eyes off each other since he walked in.His are still the sweetest chocolate brown they always were.Soft.Betraying the core of him which is loving, gentle and kind.And nothing like the hardness he projects outward.I didn’t just break his heart.I smashed it.And told him it was for his own good.
But that doesn’t stop me from going up to him and wrapping my arms around him in the tightest hug I’ve given anyone in a very long time.
“I missed you, Blade,” I say.
“Yeah,” he mutters back.
So maybe he doesn’t have the right thing to say for every occasion anymore.Or maybe this is it.
“What’s going on?”Doogie asks.“You know him or something?Or are you just a total slut?”
“Let’s just go for a coffee,” I tell Blade before he reacts.
“Yeah, I know him,” I say to Doogie.“And you don’t wanna mess with him.”
I think even Doogie caught on to that by now.It’s why he’s only talking to me and why he doesn’t say anything more, as I slide my arm under Blade’s and lead him out into the biting cold.He doesn’t resist.
“And don’t bother coming back if you’re gonna be such a bitch,” Doogie yells after us.
Blade stops and turns, the air around him electric with pent up rage.I grip his arm tighter.“Leave it.He’s an asshole and he’s shit in a fight.You’d just kill him and where would that leave us?”
I smile at him, but his face remains completely still and unreadable.“Exactly where we’ve been for the last ten years?”
It’s a valid point.We’ve had absolutely no contact.But now that I have him back, I’m not letting him go again easily.Because I meant what I said completely.I have missed him.Every single day that we’ve been apart.The only reason I stayed away was to protect him.But by the looks of things, he doesn’t need anyone’s protection anymore.
He also looks a little like maybe he missed me every day too.
3
Blade
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t imagine running into Bella over the years and how that would go.The way it actually went never occurred to me.Saving her from an overzealous boss in a small tattoo place in Brooklyn was never on the list.
She always liked drawing, ever since I first met her back in third grade.But she was never big on tattoos.I guess that’s changed.Her hands are covered with them and I suppose the rest of her milky pale skin might be too.I’m not complaining.
She still looks amazing, her ass perfectly round in those tight skinny jeans she’s wearing, and that leather jacket does nothing to hide the rest of her curves.She’s holding onto my arm like her life depends on it and we’re walking in perfect sync down the crowded sidewalk, somehow managing not to jostle against anyone.I think it’s because she’s leading me.I didn’t do this well in the sidewalk crowd on my way to find her.But I’m not ready to start thinking of all the ways we’re perfect for each other yet.
New York’s a strange city.It seems that no one sees anyone else, yet they flow seamlessly by each other on the sidewalks like rivers of varying currents, free and un-bridled, un-concerned with anything but their own path.I could do without the cold though.
“Here,” she says and leads us into a Starbucks that’s somehow noisier than the street outside.But at least it’s warm.
She’s winded from the pace she set to get us here, her cheeks slightly rosy.Her hazel eyes, big enough to suck you right in, are fixed on mine.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she adds.
“I’m sorry you had to live it.You should’ve let me teach that guy a lesson.”
She shakes her head.“He’s pudgy and weak and I wasn’t kidding, you probably would’ve killed him.”
“I have more control than that,” I say, eyeing the menu above the counter.“But maybe he’d deserve it.He came across as a sketchy rapist type to me.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” she says then orders the largest latte they offer.
