Chapter 0
Excerpt of What’s in Store
She turned and I had to watch her talking to him. I had no clue why but when I saw Autumn laughing with Tyler, touching his arm, as they both stood there looking like the world’s best couple, something inside me snapped. I couldn’t keep my gaze off of them. It was almost as if they were glued to them, to their every move. Especially to her face, her smile, the glint in her dark brown eyes.
Coming here was clearly a mistake. It was better to stay away. At least I could dance around the idea that she was missing me every now and then. But it had been too damn long.
Five years, ten months, and twenty-two days since the last time we were in the same room although I could hardly call it a room, more like a small confined space in the back of the ambulance. She had been frantic, tears strolling down her beautiful face, and I had been so afraid of dying yet at the same time glad that she was there for me in the last moment of my life. Images were plastered beneath my eyes and I tried hard to shake them all off.
My shoulders were too tense, my muscles taut and my neck hurt. I took a deep breath and looked back down at Natalie Preston. She had this odd expression on her face that I couldn’t interpret. “What?”
“Great. You didn’t listen to a word I said.” Nat took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm herself. “It’s her, isn’t it?” she finally asked after a moment or two.
“Pardon?”
“That girl. The brunette. She’s the reason why we’ve never had sex.”
“Is this your way of telling me that you wish copulation to be added to our menu?” I joked.
She seemed to ignore me altogether as she continued to talk as if I hadn’t said a word. “She’s the reason I only got a fucking forehead kiss even after four months of dating. Gosh, I’m such an idiot.” Nat let out a deep sigh, lifting her hand to touch the side of her temple as if it would cure her sudden headache. “I thought it’s because you’re of royal blood that you’re trying to court me or something. I should’ve known that you’ve never moved on from your ex.”
“She’s not my ex,” I answered curtly, dropping my eyes to the surface of champagne I was holding in my right hand.
“Yet she’s the reason you’re always hurting. Tell me, why are you still pinning on her?”
How could I not? She was the reason I continued fighting the deadly disease, she was the reason I wanted to live.
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