Page 11 of Swan

My ears rang with how fast my blood pumped through my veins.

“Next” was called, and I think I whimpered.

I went to turn back to Maya and tell her sorry, but I was leaving, but a hand to my back pushed me through the curtain.

CHAPTER THREE

Squinting at the bright lights, I blinked a few times and then focused on the man sitting behind a table. He was laughing at something someone said, not even looking my way, so I got to study him. He looked just as I remembered, only better.

No one else in the room existed but him.

My throat felt tight. I reached up and wrapped a hand around it, squeezing.

Breathe, Swan. Breathe.

I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have come.

Yet my feet moved me towards the table like they had their own brain.

When I got close, he glanced over at me.

My heart spazzed out when his eyes widened.

I froze when he stood abruptly, which made his chair tip backwards.

“Swan,” he said. “Fucking Swan. What the hell?” He walked around the table and right up to me.

I let out a sound as he picked me up and hugged me tightly.

Tears filled my eyes. I wrapped my arms around him to return the embrace, completely and utterly stunned by his actions.

He placed me back on my feet, our eyes studying each other. He looked tired. No, exhausted. Yet he was smiling big and truly seemed happy I was there.

My heart skipped a beat.

I never thought this would have been his reaction.

“I didn’t think you’d come.”

A huff escaped me. I nearly hadn’t. “Why?”

“You ghosted me for fucking years, Swanny. What else would I think?”

Scrunching my face up, I shook my head. “No,” I whispered quickly, urgently. “You ghosted me. I didn’t think you’d want me to show my face.”

His head jerked back. “What? I texted, rang, emailed, and nothing.”

“Lock, I did the same and got nothing in return.”

My brain threatened to short out. He did what? He tried to contact me?

What the hell had happened? Where did we go wrong?

He blinked slowly and then clenched his jaw as he looked over his shoulder. Whatever he thought, he obviously didn’t like.

But then he shook himself and faced me again, smiling bright.

“Doesn’t matter now. I have you back in my life, and I want it to stay that way, Swan. Hear me?”

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