Page 15 of Havoc

He came closer, but I needed to keep a distance between us. I couldn’t handle if he got much closer to me and I knew it.Know your limits, York’s voice pounded through my brain.

“So are you.”

“Prison will do that. What happened to you?”

“Prison…of sorts.”

“Why’d you come back?” he continued.

“I had things to take care of,” I replied. He watched me closely, and I felt my heart hammer in my chest. I’d been preparing for this for so long that I had made myself anxious just being in his presence. “Why are you here?”

“You think I’d hear you were back and not come and see you?”

He was too close now, and I made a move to go and sit down. I wasn’t scared of Lennon Fulton and if it came down to it, I would kill him if he posed a threat to me. I had too much riding on this. I’d slit that throat and end him right here on the floor.

Wouldn’t I?

“See me and what?”

He sat opposite me, just where York was a little while ago. But he wasn’t York. Could I trust Lennon? The very man I had condemned just to please my father.

“Pres. I don’t know what he did to you, but I want you to know I’m not mad for what you said, I’m not mad for you giving me up.”

“Why not?”

“Because I know the effect Gideon had on you back then, he had one on me too.”

“So, where have you been all this time?” I asked him, trying not to look into those eyes that could captivate me with one look. Lennon wasn’t going to ensnare me again.

“Prison, and then I made tracks to Brisbane when I got released.”

“And what do you do there?”

He was hesitating, and I could see him figuring out whether he should tell me or not. Those deep brown eyes held me captive once before, and I needed to be careful here. There was no one in this house to stop me from having what I’ve wanted for ten years, and then where would I be? A slave to a man yet again.

No.

Lennon was not going to get in my way.

“I see,” I said, before he could speak again. “Well, it was nice to see you, Lennon. I’ll be seeing you.”

I looked to the fire, away from that gaze that had gotten me into so much trouble as a young teen.

“Don’t dismiss me like that, Pres. I know you want me here, I can see it in the way you’re gripping that chair.”

I looked down to my fingers, white with the pressure I had on the arms of my chair. I let it go and tossed back my drink. God, I needed to drain the entire decanter for this encounter.

I pushed up to get another drink, but he stood with me and took my glass. “Allow me.”

All I could do was scoff and take the glass back. “I don’t think so.”

I left him standing behind me as I poured another drink and gathered my strength to kick him out of this house. He was going to be a wrinkle in my plan, one I didn’t want to deal with either. He had wanted to run away with me at one point, that one decision that had led to an avalanche of movements that sealed Gideon’s fate.

“You can trust me, Pres, you know that. Somewhere in that broken heart you know that.”

Broken heart.

I spun around quickly. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know me, Lennon. You knew a scared little girl back then. I’m nothing like that weak, lovelorn teen. Now, leave before I lose my temper.”

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