Any spark left in Shannon’s demeanor disappeared. Her mouth dropped open, fingers uncurling and revealing the handfuls of rainwater that had accumulated in the past minute.
They were both soaked. They were both about to jump off the bridge. What did landing in the river matter when they were already so wet?
“I got over you.”
Jess turned. It was her chance to run.
A significant part of her wanted Shannon to chase after her, to call her names, to beg her to stay and to make this right.That’s what I wanted to do eight years ago. I wanted so badly to hunt you down on the other side of the earth and make you understand how fated this was.No, fate didn’t exist. There were no messages written in the stars. She was the first one to say that astrology was nothing more than an excuse to get introspective and to psychoanalyze one’s self.No shit!Jess was great at that! Almost like it was built into being a Libra or something!
“Jess!”
Her name came like a blade to the back. Jess walked faster, face first in the rain, before she could bleed out and become Shannon’s next victim – yet again.
“Are you kidding me right now?”
Don’t think about her. Don’t acknowledge her.Jess closed her eyes. A bus flew by, splashing her with muddy water and transforming the already noisy air into a cacophony of deafening sounds. Cars honked as traffic grew thicker. The wind grew and grew until it blew with the power of Jess’s pain.Don’t think about how good it felt to love her. Remember how much it hurt when she disappeared.
The much younger, more naïve version of Jess Mills was convinced that getting one kiss – let alone one night in bed – would be enough to sate her for the rest of her life. It had been thrilling enough to know Shannon’s name, to hear the nameJesson her lips when they crossed paths, to lock eyes and share tiny pieces of their souls in electrified instances. A life of adventure was contained in their short conversations about nothing. Shannon Parker was a sexual awakening. She wasn’t the love of someone’s life.
That was it. That was what had scared Shannon enough to make her run away.
You didn’t sense truth and honesty within me, Shan.Jess held back her tears, not that anyone would know the difference between them and the rain on her face.You sensed more of the same. I would’ve treated you like those guys and gals in your life. You had no choice. You had to run.
Like Jess had to run now.
“Jess!”
That was the thing about fate. It dictated that Jess was so out of shape that she ran out of breath at the end of the bridge, while a smoker like Shannon powered across the arch and caught up to her within ten seconds.She’s coming after me. She loves me. She wants me. She’s sorry.
Jess doubled-over, hands on knees and breaths heaving for the gust of life that encircled and turmoiled her. Shannon came to a sudden stop beside her, yanking Jess up by the shoulders, that wet, unbelievable touch as intoxicating as it had been eight years ago in a warm, dry bedroom.
“Don’t sink to my level,” Shannon said. “You’re better than that. I need you to be.”
“Fuck you,” Jess spat. “How dare you exist.”
She shirked Shannon off her. This was it. The final straw. If she were a camel, her back would be broken, her spirit shattered, and the desert nothing but a graveyard for her tired bones.
I wonder who I could’ve been if I never saw you that day, Shannon Parker.What could she have been if this woman never broke her heart? If she had never been weakened to such a state at such a crucial time in her life?If I hadn’t been left a prime target for who came after you.
Shannon wasn’t the only one to end up with a guy who wanted nothing from her but sex and validation. She wasn’t the only one to move across the country, across the world for a man she knew she would never love as much as she did this one woman.
“Get over it!” Shannon called after her. “I exist, Jess! I wasn’t created to fuck with you! I’ve got my own life! My own shit going on!”
“You’re right. The problem is that we’ve always lived in different worlds. Our paths were never supposed to cross.”
“To be fair,” Shannon quickly retorted, “you’re the one who made our paths cross. I didn’t know you existed until you went out of your way to know me.”
“Thought you were grateful for that!”
They stopped. Perhaps it was the rain drowning their words. The wind choking the sounds in their opened throats. The sudden realization that this yelling was counterproductive and would only serve to scar them for life.
“I’m sorry,” Shannon said with a hush. “For running away and hurting you.”
“Are you?”
“Of course I am!” She snatched Jess’s hand. “Don’t ask me to figure things out so quickly, okay. All I know is that…” Their eyes met. Why did she have to have such beautiful eyes? Why did they suck the soul out of Jess’s body, like they had every damned right? “I feel like weweremeant to meet again. Maybe it’s not really fate, but maybe… you know?”
“No.”
