Things Remembered (Accidentally On Purpose Companion Novel #3) by L.D. Davis Page A

he said, more gently. “I’ll be here tomorrow morning. If you keep on walking without a word or glance in my direction…” He paused and gave me a look of doubt. “I’ll leave you alone.”
    Forcing myself to sound stronger than I actually felt, I asked, “Do you mean that? Do you promise?”
    “I promise, but…”
    “But what?” I demanded.
    “But you won’t keep walking,” he said with such confidence, that I almost blew a gasket.
    “Fuck. You.”
    “I can fuck you,” he whispered. “All you have to do is ask.”
    Then the bastard walked away, leaving me speechless and trembling.
    After I somewhat recovered, I decided right then and there that I wouldn’t give him any more of my time. I promised myself that the next morning, I’d walk past him and dismiss him from my life once and for all.
     

     
    “And then he said ‘all you have to do is ask.’ And walked away!”
    Kyle’s eyebrow shot up. “Are you going to ask him?”
    “Shut up, Kyle!”
    I hadn’t planned on telling him anything more about Grant, but it had been agitating me all day. I wasn’t the kind of girl to call up my girlfriends when I had guy issues—mainly because I rarely had guy issues since I rarely dated anyone. Also, Kyle wasn’t afraid to be honest and straightforward with me. Almost everyone else feared that they’d hurt my feelings, like hearing some honesty might to force me into some dark alley and overdose on drugs.
    I looked over at Kyle when I realized he had indeed shut up and had been quiet for a couple minutes. He was absently drumming his fingers on his desk as his discerning eyes watched me pace his office.
    “Does he know?”
    “Know what?” I asked, even though I already knew what he’d meant.
    “About the incident that sent you into recovery.”
    I shook my head. I had to work hard to keep the bitterness out of my voice when I answered.
    “No. He was long gone by then.”
    “What happened between the two of you?”
    I snorted. “You and I don’t discuss romance, Sterling. You know I hate to think of you putting your tongue in my friends’ mouths, and you’re not thrilled thinking about some dude doing the same to me.”
    I became friends with Kyle’s wife, Lily, after Emmy uprooted from the east coast, leaving Lily in charge of a bar she’d owned. I’d gone in there often to check up on things for Emmy and to have a drink. When the bar burned down about five years ago, I had helped Lily get a job at Sterling Corp. I gave her the very position that Kyle had booted me out of years before, the same position Emmy had occupied before she blew out of town. It had been rather amusing to see his face after he’d realized I had given him Emmy’s former bartender to take the job.
    Lily, however, had been no slouch. She may have been just managing Emmy’s little hole in a wall bar before going to Sterling Corp, but she had an MBA behind her—which had been more than what Emmy had. Lily was almost as good as Emmy, maybe even better in some regards because she didn’t take any of Kyle’s shit. After a short time, even Kyle was impressed. He was so impressed, in fact, that he put his dick in her and started another employer-on-employee love affair.
    It didn’t end violently for them, though. Five years later, they were happily married with two small children. Even Kyle freakin’ Sterling had a happily-ever-after.
    “We don’t discuss romance,” Kyle agreed. “But I’ve never seen you this affected by anyone. You’re very agitated. What did he do to you to make you react this way to seeing him again?”
    I didn’t stop pacing, but I did slow down. We didn’t discuss matters of the heart, but Kyle was correct. There was no one else that could affect me the same as Grant. From Kyle’s point of view, I probably looked like I was ready to call up my dealer at any moment to relieve the anxiety and restlessness I was feeling. That wasn’t too far from the truth.
    I stopped pacing in front of a