Haunted still
623 Words
He's a jerk. Before limping toward the kitchen, Lucille threw her coat onto the nearby chair after peeling it off.
The pandemonium in her thoughts was not lessened by the quiet buzz of the metropolis outside.
She pulled a handful of ice out of the freezer, wrapped it in a towel, and pressed it against her sore ankle. She let out a loud hiss.
The pain of previous wounds returning was far worse than that.
More than ten years had passed since she last saw Edward. But as soon as she saw him, all of her suppressed feelings—including sadness, bitterness, and anger—clawed their way to the surface.
He had changed appearance. Sharper. More difficult. A guy whose presence demanded attention and whose every action radiated sheer power and dominance had taken the place of the youngster she had known.
And it infuriated her, damn it. For years, Lucille had persuaded herself that he was unimportant, that nothing had been destroyed by his absence and betrayal.
Then he was back in a flash. She was startled out of her reverie by a knock on the door. Her heart froze. She was already aware of its identity.
Glaring up at the man who had no business being here, Lucille hobbled to the door and wrenched it open.
After lowering his eyes to her ankle, Edward raised them again to meet hers.
"You require medical care." She clenched her fingers around the door frame.
"There is nothing I need from you." His mouth tightened.
"Lucille"
"No," she interrupted, her tone tinged with subdued rage.
"You're not allowed to speak my name that way. Not after your actions.
Edward's face grew serious. And precisely what do you believe I did? " She laughed sharply and bitterly.
"Oh, I'm not sure. Perhaps leaving your whole family behind? Possibly destroying my sister's life? "
His jaw muscle twitched, but he remained silent. Lucille took a step forward, her voice becoming a whisper.
"You ruined her." Something inscrutable, something perilously near regret, flared in his eyes.
Lucille, however, wouldn't believe it. She had hated him for too long to let doubt slip in now.
With a gentler but no less strong tone, Edward released his breath.
"You are unaware of the whole story, regardless of what you believe happened."
She balled her fingers into fists. "I am sufficiently knowledgeable."
An unseen conflict between the past and present was evident in the tense air between them.
When Edward stepped forward to close the distance between them, Lucille's breath caught.
His aroma enveloped her, simultaneously intoxicating and enraging.
His voice was like silk over steel as he whispered,
"You think you hate me." "But you don't."
Lucille's heart jumped. Even when her body betrayed her and her skin pricked with awareness, she said,
"Don't flatter yourself."
Edward c****d his head and fixed her with his intense gaze, which caused her stomach to turn.
“Why then, are you trembling? " She gasped.
He's a jerk. He knew precisely how to irritate her, and damn him for it.
Lucille stepped back purposefully, her chin raised in defiance.
"Edward, get out of my way."
She briefly believed that he would press harder, that he would grab her, that he would touch her, and that this touch would tear apart everything she had constructed to defend herself.
However, he took a step back as fast as the storm in his eyes had risen.
"All right," he said softly.
"I'm going to go."
As she saw him turn and go, she felt a mixture of relief and frustration.
But he looked back over his shoulder before vanishing down the corridor.
"Lucille, this isn't over."
She felt a chill go through her body.
- Writer
