Page 10 of Bound By Temptation

Even after all these years Ax Monroe still made my heart rate speed up. Only now it was from rage. An anger so harsh that I knew it wasn’t healthy for me.

I should be over it, but deep inside my soul I just couldn’t let it go. I wanted to. Damn, did I want to. It would make life so much easier, but it was there every day.

GramO always said, “There was a thin line between love and hate.” Then she told me that was what Ax was to me. Even though she was always right, I so wanted to doubt her.

I was not a fish about to get on some man’s hook.

Something inside of me just wouldn’t shake it or him. No matter the hurt he caused me, he was there like a scar on my heart always bleeding. Moving away from Sumner didn’t help erase him from my memories. Instead, it made me remember him more if that was possible. I hated being away from my family, and he would not keep me from being with them, so I came back.

First time I saw him when I returned was like my heart stopped then caught fire. It was pain and sorrow. Then it turned to rage and anger. I could deal better with the latter than the former.

It’d been years. Years. How this man had kept some type of control over me, I did not know. Maybe if I figured that out it would be a start to ending it. To moving on fully with my life. To forget about the past and start living again.

What I needed was my mom to come and sage me out. Maybe this time it would erase all negativity, and I could ignore the hundreds of times it hadn’t. She always had this way of cleansing the aura around people. She had a gift. Unfortunately, when it came to Ax, she had troubles with those gifts.

All this inner turmoil sucked and sent me in a bit of a downturn.

I thought it was because we never actually had closure. Maybe? Hell I didn’t even know anymore.

Ahhhhh!!I needed to scream it out.

“Stop it. No one brings you down,” I murmured to myself when not a soul was around.

A prickle hit me and slithered down my back. Someone was watching me. I hated that feeling. It always took me back to a time I never wanted to revisit. A time that taught me to always watch my surroundings. Here, though, I felt safe, and this feeling was unwanted.

Turning, I released a breath of air I didn’t know I was holding as my eyes landed on a very attractive man with blond hair neatly styled, wearing a navy polo shirt and khakis who was sitting at a table by the window looking at me. A smile came to my lips as I moved around the counter.

“Hey, Blaine. What are you doin’ here? Thought you had to work?” I asked him as I got closer.

He pulled me into his arms and wrapped me up in them. “Had to come see my girl and see how her day’s goin.”

I squeezed him tightly and pulled back. “Friends, remember, Blaine? You said you could do friends.”

Blaine and I met several months ago at a bar here in Sumner called Bimbo’s. I was out with a friend when we met. Our eyes connected across the room, and we didn’t leave each other’s side the entire night.

“I can want my friend to have a good day,” he retorted as I pulled away and looked up at him.

“A text would’ve fit the bill. Now you’ve gotta drive all the way back to Dawson.” He lived about an hour away, which was another reason why I wanted to just be friends.

“I’ve got the day off actually and wanted to take you to dinner tonight. You up for it?”

Dinner. Okay. “Sure. I don’t get done until around seven.”

“Not a problem.”

“Indie! Get back here!” My sister Meadow finally made her appearance at work and was already yelling.

“I’ve gotta go. Pick me up here at seven. Okay?”

He pulled me into his arms again and kissed the top of my head. “I won’t be late.”

We disentangled ourselves from one another and stepped back. “I’ll be here.”

Blaine’s eyes danced and I had this strange feeling that he was going to kiss me.

Moving quickly, I stepped back. “I’ve gotta run. See ya later.” I practically ran to the back where my sister was, my heart beating hard.

Meadow was standing by one of the large stainless-steel tables in the kitchen, looking down at a clipboard and paying me no mind as I got my heart to slow down. “All the cardboard hasn’t come in yet. I put that order in weeks ago,” she said.

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