Page 7 of From You to Me

It reminded me of those days when I acted like an idiotic fool in front of him as a teenager. I missed those halcyon days.

It was a rare sunny day amid the gray fall in NYC. A gentle breeze doused my skin, calming the arising unease.

“Your breakfast,” I repeated. My shaky hands placed it on the table in front of him.

The open terrace was the second most beautiful place in this apartment. It was so expansive—a neatly kept lawn overtook the far side with glass railings making up the edges of the space. Closer to the apartment, a crescent-shaped lounge with plush seats and bean bags took over one side. While the other had a five-seater outdoor dining table where Jay was currently seated. It was practically an area for hosting parties or to chill out after a long day.

He stared at the tray stocked with his inedible breakfast. “There’s no coffee.”

My eyes widened. “Hmm, I thought you had already had one. So I didn’t make another one for you.”

His head snapped in my direction, his thunderous blues squared with mine. “Don’t assume you know things about me. I thought I made it clear that you do your job right or you walk away, which I guess is not that hard for you.” He dismissed me as he took a sip of his disgusting smoothie.

Way to go, Jay.

I blew out a painful breath. “I’ll go make the coffee for you,” I mumbled, returning to the kitchen.

I opened the walnut-colored cabinet to pull out an espresso mug and powered up the coffee machine. This was a coffee machine of dreams. It had so many settings and features that I couldn’t wait to try it out. The previous owners didn’t have it, so Jay must have brought it in.

The bitter-sweet aroma of coffee filled the air as the espresso mug brimmed with a double-shot single-origin Columbian brew.

I willed my body to calm down as I slowly took the tiniest steps to bring him his coffee. Thankfully, I didn’t trip, and my knee didn’t cramp.

“Umm, do you need anything else?” It felt so clinical to talk to him like this. It felt so weird like I was talking to a stranger. But the electrifying aura of his presence reminded me that it was him. He still did funny things to me now more so than ever because he looked like an actual god. Even back then, I used to think I was way out of Jay’s league. But now I don’t even fit in a certain category to be close enough to him.

He took a sip of his coffee while he ignored me.

I stood there awkwardly, my heart pounding as I watched his beautiful lips close in on the mug and his throat move as he swallowed it. I licked my lips as I started to feel hot. It was almost like watching porn for me. That was how gorgeous he was.

“If you’re done gawking, I want you to go back and do your actual job. Don’t stand there and waste my time.”

I flushed in embarrassment.

Asshole.

I almost tripped as I turned and rushed to the kitchen. I’m going to make myself the fanciest coffee ever and enjoy it. And not think about him.

Because my head and mostly my heart hurt.

Yes, he thought I abandoned him, cheated on him, and walked away from the overconsuming soul-wrenching love that we had for each other. So I couldn’t really blame him. But what about him? He abandoned me too. He didn’t even come for Auntie M’s funeral. The Jay I knew would have rushed to my side. I wondered what actually happened. It was so weird that none ofthem actually answered my calls. I felt it in my gut that it had to do something with that bitch.

I internally panicked. What if she comes here? I don’t ever want to see her fucking face again. All the hell that she put me through, put us through, I would never forgive her for that. I hoped she rotted in the darkest pits of Tartarus.

I sighed happily as the taste of the vanilla-flavored lungo hit my taste buds, waking up the happy hormones in my body.

My headache slowly disappeared. I was never drinking tequila again. My old body couldn’t handle alcohol at all. I smiled as I took in another sip. I was definitely using this machine every single day. Maybe even multiple times.

The hair on my arms stood up suddenly as I felt someone’s eyes on me. My chin lifted, and I coughed as my hot coffee went down the wrong pipe.

Jay stood across the kitchen table, watching me. The glorious view of the Manhattan skyline behind him from the full-panel glass windows.

Like he was a god straight from the heavens.

His eyes were almost the color of dark azure as he stared at me. His hands were clenched to his side as the muscles in his jaw ticked.

Uh-oh. What now?

But as if it never happened, he snapped out of it.

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