Page 17 of Rewind It Back

Regardless, she’s somehow even more beautiful than the last time I saw her, and that pisses me off. Because first off, how is that possible? And secondly, she fucked me over. Shouldn’t karma come into play here and give me a win?

She sets the box on Wren’s front step before facing me again, arms crossed at her middle as if she were using them as a shield against me.

But she’s not the one who needs a shield.Iam. It may have been six years ago, but I haven’t forgotten what happened.

“What are you doing here?” There are no pleasantries, no softness in my tone.

Her brows furrow in confusion as if she’s asking herself whatI’mdoing here.

I throw my thumb over my shoulder, pointing at my house. “I live here, Hallie. So again, what are you doing here?”

Her eyes go impossibly wide as she takes a step back. “But I live here.”

“No, you don’t? Wren doesn’t—”

Her new roommate.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

I take a step closer, panic taking over. “Did you know I live next door? Is that why you’re here?”

She scoffs, arms unfolding, hands anchoring at her hips. “Are you joking? I’ve tried to avoid you since I moved to Chicago. You think I’d purposefully move next door? To what? Be close to you? Relive our childhood? No thanks, Rio. I’m good off that.”

There she is. I remember that ferocity.

Since I moved to Chicago.

“Whendid you move to Chicago?” I say it as if I have every right to know the answer, and a part of me feels like I do. She knew I lived here. She should’ve warned me.

Her chin tilts up defiantly. “April.”

She’s been here for six months?

“And you didn’t think you should tell me?”

“And say what?” She exhales a laugh. “‘Hey, remember me? That girl you hate. Yeah, I moved to Chicago! Let’s get drinks!’ It’s been six years, Rio. You don’t own this city, and I don’t owe you a phone call. And besides, even if I did, I lost your number years ago.”

That feels like a fucking punch to the gut and hurts more than I want to admit. No, we haven’t spoken since I left Boston, but there were a few times in my first year here that I may have tried to call Hallie, but her line was disconnected.

I hadn’t allowed myself to try again since.

Tension lingers between us, neither of us knowing what to say.

“You can’t live here,” is what I finally decide on.

“I don’t have much of a choice.”

“The city is fucking huge. There are other options rather than the house ten feet away from mine, Hallie.”

Her lips purse in anger, her jaw setting in place. Oh, she’s fuming now.

“I don’t haveotheroptions. Not all of us get to make millions of dollars a year playing a game, Rio. Some of us are just trying to survive paycheck to paycheck. So yes, I will be living next door and trust me, it’s not because I want to be anywhere close to you. I’ll be here until May when Wren’s brother sells the house, and if that’s going to be an issue for you, you can go ahead and take some of those millions of dollars you have and buy yourself a new place to live.”

She wants me to buy a new place? That’s my plan. That’s exactly why I hired—

Wait.

No, she can’t be.

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