Page 41 of Chasing You

I sink down behind the counter, running the cloth over the fridge door, hiding from the noise. Only one more hour and I can kick everyone the hell out of here and drag my ass upstairs and into bed.

My period was nearly two weeks ago now, and I’m still feeling the effects. The tiredness is what kills me, it absolutely wipes me out.

I was lucky Isla and Caio’s wedding fell two weeks before I was curled up on the couch for nearly six days. The combination of stomach cramps and back pain alongside the overwhelming exhaustion left me stuck in my tiny apartment for longer than I appreciated being there. But I could barely function simply making myself a meal before I needed to sit down again, I had no chance of going anywhere.

I was never one of the girls who had an easy period. Since the very first day when I cried to my ma because I had realized what was happening, it’s been more than uncomfortable. But in the last year, it’s only gotten worse. Painkillers do nothing for me anymore, though I still take them—wishful thinking.

The symptoms are only getting worse and lingering for longer than they ever used to. It’s not just a few days of the month anymore, it’s weeks.

God was definitely a man.

I take a deep breath, trying to exhale the headache away before I stand back up, but when I do, I freeze.

Soft green eyes look back at me. Nausea rolls through my body, whether it’s another version of PMS or if it’s my body’s reaction to the man standing in front of me, I’m not sure. “What are you doing back here?”

Miles takes another step closer to the bar, leaning his hands against the wood. It makes the veins in his forearms pop, and I have to force my eyes back to his face. “I decided to take a few weeks off work.”

Why would he do that?

I raise my eyebrows. “And you decided to take them here?”

“Yeah, I wanted to get to know the place a little more.” His sister lives here, meaning that maybe he’ll be visiting more, but Isla isn’t even here now. She and Caio still have another two weeks left of their honeymoon, so why did Miles decide to take time off now? Why here? And more importantly, why did he just walk into my bar?

Miles looks around the bar, as if finally recognising it. “When I first came here, I never realized it was yours.”

“The big sign with my name on it out front didn’t give it away?”Why am I even talking to him?

He shrugs, the corner of his mouth tugging in a little smile. I look away to avoid staring at it. “I was more interested in getting through the door to see Isla than paying attention to the building I was walking into. But now… It’s beautiful, Marina.”

I close my eyes now, that headache building. I wish he would stop appearing in my space and talking to me like nothing happened. Yet I don’t walk away either.

“You did it, this is exactly like how you used to tell me you wanted your own place to look. I’m so pr?—”

“Don’t say that,” I interrupt. “Don’t walk in here and pretend everything is okay between us, because it’s not.”

“I really want it to be.”

“Well, that’s too bad, Miles!” I clear my throat as the conversations around us hush at my outburst. “You walked away. You broke my heart back then, did you know that? Did you think that I didn’t care? That, oh, you just disappeared, and no worries, I didn’t feel anything for you because it was only a summer fling.”

I can feel eyes on us, but I don’t have the energy to care. My head is still pounding, but not because of the headache, no, now it hurts because of the jumble of confusion and anger that is bouncing around up there.

I can feel my eyes watering as resentment floods my eyes with tears. Miles’s eyes only soften from across the bar, and it just makes me angrier, makes one of those tears escape and roll down my cheek.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marco, my cousin’s security guy at Hotel Dolce, move in his seat so he’s directly facing us.

This whole bar is watching us, even if they’re pretending not to, but it doesn’t stop Miles from reaching for my hand that’s resting on the bar top.

“Don’t.” I take a step back, my voice coming out stern. I could just walk away, I should walk away, but I don’t. “It was more than a summer fling for me, Miles, and maybe it wasn’t for you, but…” I shake my head, at a loss for words on what to even say right now. If I should be saying anything at all.

“It was more than that for me too and you know it,” he says.

“Do I?” I whisper shout.

His eyes are laced with pain as he says, “I was just as hurt.”

“Well that was your own damn fault!” I close my eyes, willing myself to calm the fuck down before I scare any customers away. “Look, I don't even care anymore. Please just—thank you, for letting me get all of that out, but please just leave me alone, Miles.” I pick up the rag from before and swipe it over the already clean counter.

“I want to fix this, Marina. We are going to be around each other more and more, we need to figure out how to exist in each other's presence.”

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