Page 44 of Frankie and the Fed
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf,” I say in a calm voice. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have to tell you something.”
Everyone looks at me with wide eyes. I continue. “I know you mean well, but you did a terrible job with Ethan. He never got over what happened to Anna. A young boy finds his sister in a terrible state, and all you did was send him to a psychologist. Did either of you even talk to him? Tell him he’s not to blame for what happened? That he couldn’t have expected what would happen? You are to blame for what happened, not Ethan. You left a thirteen-year-old girl alone at home.” I feel the anger intensifying in me now. My parents supported me all this time in everything I needed after Michael died. Once they realized how wrong they were with Michael, they were on my side. I don’t think I could have done it alone. And Ethan was all alone.
Ethan grabs my arm for the third time tonight and pulls me outside, away from the store and his parents, before they say a word.
His nostrils flare with anger. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Telling your parents what I think of them.”
“Why?” The intensity of the pain in his gaze makes it difficult for me to look at him.
“Because they need to know. Because I love you, and I can’t watch you continue to deal with something that was never your fault.”
He’s silent, and for a moment, I think he’s going to turn around and walk away from me. I shiver, and he takes off his jacket and puts it around my shoulders.
“Why did you say you love me?”
“Because I do.” I have no problem admitting it. “You are the one who decided that what was between us was over. I never stopped loving you. It’s not a switch I can just turn off.”
“Fuck!” he shouts, the emotions changing on his face, and he turns his back to me. I stand and watch, wondering what he’s going to do.
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t,” he turns to me and mumbles.
What? What is he talking about?
“I can’t let you go. Not when you’re here in front of me, telling me things like that.”
I don’t understand what he wants. “What are you talking about?”
He takes a step forward and is now dangerously close to me. “Come with me.”
I can feel the tension emanating from his body. I can smell it. My defenses start to collapse one by one when he gives me those looks that tell me he wants me. But he was very clear that what was between us was over. I’m not supposed to go anywhere with him. I need to close this chapter in my life. Nothing good can come of it.
His lips brush against mine, almost touching. “Please.”
I tilt my head up, and his lips capture mine, tasting.
His taste is divine, of coffee and alcohol and mint mixed with the familiar taste of Ethan Wolf.
He feels amazing, like I never left, and I have no doubt that I belong here, in this moment.
CHAPTER19
Ethan
Her hand is in mine, and that’s the only thing I feel right now, the only thing I’m capable of feeling. I take her to the car, to my house.
It’s easy to tell myself that she’s better off without me when she’s in San Francisco. It’s a completely different story when she’s here next to me and when she tells me she still loves me so easily.
Her blue eyes penetrate my soul and see through me. How can I stay away?
We are both silent on the way to my penthouse. I’m afraid to say something out of place. It’s hard for me to believe that she’s really here next to me, right here with me. I can touch her, and not just in my dreams.
She’s better off without me, but if it was hard to say goodbye to her when she was so far away, how could I possibly manage it when she’s close.
She enters my apartment but is hesitant, her eyes scanning the familiar place.
I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a whiskey. “Want some?”
