Page 21 of Unravel Me

“I’m rather enjoying it. But if space is what you want . . .” he says. Before releasing my chin, he cups my cheek, dwarfing it in his large hand and letting it drop as he takes a single step back. I immediately feel the loss of him.

“Better?”

“I mean, I can definitely think more clearly without you that close to me,” I huff. “Ivy. My name is Ivy,” I stutter like an idiot. His head rears back like I slapped him and his eyes squint as he cocks his head to the side and studies me.

“Ivy,” he repeats in a statement.

The way my name rolls off this man’s tongue just sounds too good. He drops his head more and shakes it slightly as if comingto a realization and he needs to pull himself together. I mean, I’m a goddamn stranger for fuck’s sake. Reel it in, buddy!

He mutters something under his breath that sounds like “of course” and takes a few large steps back from me.

“Ahh. The daughter. This is your place. That makes more sense.”

“How did you know that?”

“I told you, my father and his firm handled the estate. Since you never came to claim the place and I live next door, he asks me to check on it. I’m aware of who you are, Ivy. I just didn’t expect you.”

“Oh-Okay. Yes. You did say that. Sorry. I spoke to him last year after my parents passed.” My heart picks up pace and this time I know for certain it’s not because of hottie Reid in front of me. It’s fear of him tellinganyonethat I’m back in Aspen Ridge.

“As much as I’m enjoying this little meeting, I am sorry for scaring you. I really wasn’t expecting you. I stop by once a month to make sure everything is okay with the place. Make sure no teenagers are breaking in, that kinda thing.”

I take a moment to stare up at him. His eyes are still heavily lidded, but they look sincere and full of kindness. Maybe he’s telling the truth.

Maybe.

Possibly.

“Yeah. So, you’re right, I’m the daughter that inherited this place. I’ll be living on the property for a few months.”

“Just a few months?”

“Well . . . I plan to spend the time fixing up the place, I figured it would need some sprucing up, and then selling it so I can move back to . . . home.”

“Hmm,” is his only response.

“Hmm? What’s hmm?”

“I think you should keep the place.”

“Well. You don’t know me or what’s best for me so, sorry to tell ya, but your opinion is moot,” I say with a bit more attitude than intended.

He turns and heads for the front door. “We’ll see about that.”

Fear squeezes my heart again and has me moving after him. I reach out and grab his wrist, pulling him to a stop and demanding his attention. His eyebrows raise in question.

“Hey, uhm. I know we just met and all, but is there any chance that maybe you could keep it to yourself that I’m here?”

He stares into my eyes for several moments before he nods once and pulls away. I try to stay confident, but I know my face is giving the desperation and fear away.

“Enjoy the rest of your day, Ivy. I’ll be seeing you.”

Reid pulls the door shut behind him, leaving me alone with my head spinning as I slide down the wall until my bottom hits the hardwood floor. Bringing my knees up to my chest, I fold in on myself, my mind lost to the bizarre interaction and the fear of people finding out I’m here. Before I know it, the lonely memories that haunt this house invade me once again.

After having a mini pity party, I pull myself together, grab one of my bags, and head to my old room. The old, wood stairs creak and whine under the weight of each of my steps. I pass by my parents’ closed bedroom door and continue to the very end of the hallway. Opening my bedroom door, nostalgia slams into me. The large window at the end of the room casts shadows across the space that hasn’t changed since the day I left. A twin bed sits in the center, my desk across from it. I float over to the desk and look at the pushpin board hanging above it that Ileft filled with photos, running my fingertips across the faces of friends I left behind. Us at homecoming junior year, a Goo Goo Dolls concert we drove all the way to Emerald Queen Casino for, wearing wetsuits and learning to surf at Grace Beach. I pull a pin out of a photo and bring it closer. It’s me at senior prom. I’m wearing a deep-red gown that hugs me perfectly, my dark black hair in ringlets and half up, but it’s the boy next to me that I can’t look away from. I’m looking at the camera, a smile on my face, but he’s looking down at me like I’m the most perfect thing in the entire world. He’s wearing a black tux, his arm wrapped around my waist possessively. He was always possessive and brutally protective. Not in an abusive way, in a, “I know I’m the only one who’s ever loved and touched her” kind of way. I was his. Sawyer was my first and only love. The one person in the world who knew all of me and still loved me. From the time we met in the sixth grade he was convinced we would be together forever, and he reminded me of it every chance he could. No alternative existed for him.

Tapping my pencil aimlessly on my desk while I sit in Mrs. Pierce’s English 4 class and try to follow along with her lesson on The Tempest, my eyes linger for a moment on the closed classroom door. Sawyer stands in the hallway, off to the side of the window, and cocks his head to the side, ushering me to follow him. I hesitate only briefly before I raise my hand and ask for a hall pass to the girls’ bathroom. Once outside the classroom with the door pulled closed behind me, I look up and down the empty hallway to see that Sawyer is nowhere to be found. Chancing a solid guess at where he’s waiting, I walk the hallway until I’m forced to turn into the stairwell where his firm hand grabs my wrist, yanking me further in, and pushing me up against the wall.

“Hi, butterfly,” he whispers with a devilish smirk as his hands snake up my arms, shoulders, neck, and then find their homegrasping my face. His thumb brushes lightly across my lower lip as he hums.

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