Chapter 02

"The handsome guy?" Alicia stammered with the irritating conviction that the handsome man could only be him, even though the other three men in the group were not without beauty. None of them were as tall, strong and stunning as him.

Not that she noticed or anything.

"Yes, Mr. Exotic CEO. Did you see his eyes? I thought they were so beautiful, like looking into a forest," Beth sighed. She loved those romantic sighs. She was the most romantic person Alicia had ever met, which made Alicia wonder how the two of them could be friends when they were such opposites. While Beth believed in love at first sight and happily ever after, Alicia thought that love was just an excuse people used to act impulsively and do things they later regretted.

"Anyway, I think I'd better go before I have to wait any more tables," Beth smiled. "I'll see you later, then you can explain to me why you're acting so strangely

"I am working at Malone's today," Alicia mumbled, pretending not to have heard her friend's comment about her behavior.

I didn't feel like explaining anything on the subject.

"You work too much, you should..."

"Quit that horrible job," she added, knowing exactly what her friend would say, just as she knew where the conversation would end: nowhere "I'd like to quit my job, but I still need money to pay for college and rent and my mom's expenses, so..."

Beth stopped complaining before she left. Alicia spent the rest of the afternoon telling herself that she didn't need to worry, that there was little chance of him showing up in the same room as her again.

When she got home from work, she still wasn't convinced. Something in his chest said it wasn't over yet.

"I was under the impression that you were hiding from me earlier. I thought we were past that stage, Little Bee," the words full of sarcasm and her childhood nickname gave her pause. Alicia didn't need to turn around to know who was talking to her. "Aren't you going to look at me?"

His presence was like a mountain of energy behind her.

This couldn't be true.

"Little bee?"

She took a deep breath, put on her most convincing smile and turned around while her brain pondered how she could escape this horrible situation.

Damn, did he have to look so good?

"Hi, Hunter," she tried to sound as natural as possible, "Sorry, it's been a long time since I have been called Little Bee"

"Yeah, I can imagine" he raised an eyebrow, "I was the only one who called you that, wasn't I?"

She didn't want to remember that. She really didn't want to. He actually wanted to turn around and leave, but instead he shrugged and answered:

"Yes," she crosses her arms, trying to show the same indifference she sees reflected in his eyes, "it was you who invented the nickname, I think you used it for about two years before you disappeared without saying goodbye"

Alicia's eyes widened as she realized what she had said. The last part of the speech was full of... Pain?

Oh, God, what was she doing?

She wasn't hurt that he had left.

Well, maybe she was hurt that he'd ignored her apology and everything else she'd written in those damn messages years ago. And yet he didn't want to show how he felt. Why had she said that?

The appearance of indifference Hunter had maintained until that moment vanished instantly. He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"Did you want to say goodbye?"

She couldn't understand the emotion that permeated his tone.

"No, it wouldn't make any difference anyway," once again the words came out without her meaning to. And they sounded completely wrong. Just like anything his stupid, teenage self would say to him would sound. As if he was completely unimportant and she hadn't been shaken in the slightest by his departure. Which was a big lie, but she wouldn't admit it to him. Not when he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response.

"I really wouldn't," he muttered dismissively. Why was he being so arrogant? And since when did he act as if he owned the world when he looked at her so superior?

Something about his indifference irritated her. Perhaps it was the realization that he had been indifferent to her for some years, while she had agonized for some years for letting him go as he did.

"Do you still do that when you're angry?" he asked with a smile that annoyed her even more. Why was he smiling?

"What I do?"

"Rolling my eyes," he joked. It could only be a joke.

"Yeah, it seems not everyone turns their back on the past overnight and changes completely like you did," more words escaped her without meaning to, and the defensive tone in her voice made her irritated, but she couldn't help it.

Sometimes she had imagined what it would be like to meet Hunter again. Imagine the awkwardness. Imagine your apologies. She even imagined him telling her how stupid she was. She imagined what he would say for ignoring the apology and plea for help she'd sent. But she could never have imagined that she would encounter such an angry and arrogant version of him. A version that would act with such indifference to their past.

What was his problem?

And what was her problem with acting like that? She should be glad that he's so superior, that he's overcome everything they have both been through. She should be glad that he's not pointing his finger at her and saying something like "I told you so"

But she wasn't happy, she was angry. And I didn't even know why.

Hunter's expression darkened as soon as her words stopped echoing in the street, his gaze taking on a stormy tone that made the green of his eyes even more beautiful and darker than usual.

"Did I turn my back on you overnight? Did I do that, Alicia?" he uttered the words angrily, and a part of her was pleased with that. This was what she needed, a discussion, she needed to see that she wasn't the only one who was shaken by what had happened between them. It might be selfish and completely absurd, but she wanted him to fight with her and tell her what a bitch she was.

I wish he still cared. Even if it wouldn't change anything.

Alicia crossed her arms, ready to answer, but the ringing of his cell phone interrupted her.

"I have to take this."

He turned his back to her and walked towards the cars on the other side of the road, his voice trailing off in the distance.

Had he left in the middle of their argument?

Unbelievable.

But that was okay, because if the bored man didn't need closure from the past, she didn't need it either. With an obscene gesture toward his back, she turned and hurried off in the opposite direction. Hunter was certainly too busy and disinterested to look for her again.

She tried to convince herself that this was exactly what she wanted: that he would never come face to face with her again.