Facing The Past

| Chapter Two |

The silence was nauseating, the machine beeps sounding so much louder than they probably were.

My Mum stared at me with a look of shock that seemed frozen to her face. I waited for her answer, but it never came.

"What is he doing here?" I repeated.

"He..."

"He what?" I practically shouted when her voice trailed off.

"I work with your Dad; it was me that brought him in."

I wasn't prepared when I turned round, I really wasn't. Adrian wasn't that lean boy anymore. He was ripped, completely and utterly covered in thick muscle. The grey top he wore clung to him and I couldn't help the gasp that escaped my lips. His arms were huge and covered with tattoos, something he definitely didn't have the last time I saw him.

He was no longer a boy; he was a man and a damn sexy one.

I found his face eventually trailing up his beard to those brown eyes. When I met them that smirk took his lips, the one I was definitely familiar with.

"What do you mean you work for my Dad?" I asked slowly.

"I meant what I said?" He remarked handing my Mum her coffee which she took with a thank you.

His arrogance had me silent. I was at a complete loss for words. The air was filled with awkward tension and the smugness of his face just angered me more. I stood looking between my Mum and Adrian.

"How long have you worked for him?" I asked having a feeling I wouldn't like the answer.

"A few years." He answered taking a sip of his coffee.

I was drawn to his lips. Those lips were my first kiss yet somehow I didn't recognise them, they looked sinful.

I snapped back to reality when I realised what he said. A few years, and I was just finding out about it now?

"Are you kidding me Mum. Did you not think of telling me he was working with Dad? How could he work with him of all people?" I honestly couldn't comprehend this situation.

"Old Mike retired honey and he needed the help."

I felt betrayed. It wasn't just by chance they didn't tell me. They knew how I would react; they knew how I felt about him. They damn well knew what he done to me.

"I can't believe this, I need air." I choked.

"Honey please." My Mum gripped my arm. "If it weren’t for Adrian your Dad could have ended up dead. What if nobody was there when it happened?"

The fact that she was trying to guilt trip me only made the whole thing worse. I looked at my Dad shaking my head in despair at his weak body.

"Someone would have been their Mum. It just could have been someone else he hired. But no, it had to be him."

With that I went to leave but Adrian blocked me. I needed out of here, I needed away from them all.

"Please move." I whispered praying he would.

I couldn't look at him, Adrian was the one person I didn't want to be weak in front of. I had all these plans in my head that I would see him and just ignore him like he didn't bother me in the slightest, but this situation had ruined everything.

"Are you ok?" He almost sounded caring.

"Fine." I remarked far too quickly.

He stepped aside after a few seconds and I all but ran from the room and out the front door.

The sob fell from my lips without permission as I sat on the old wall at the side of the hospital. He made me so angry, and this situation made it worse. My own parents had lied to me for years, they had kept him in their lives and suddenly it was me that felt like I didn't belong. They had just disregarded everything that happened.

"I hate this town." I sighed throwing my head in my hands.

"There was a time you loved this place." Adrian remarked.

Suddenly, my body was alive. It was like I could sense him, and I didn't like it. I rubbed my arms calming the hairs that had stood to attention.

Why couldn't he just give me a minute.

"There was a time I loved you, things change." He looked like I had just slapped him.

It was a cheap shot and honestly I felt bad for saying it, but he infuriated me. He was the one that made me hate this place simply because he was in it.

"You should really let that bitterness go Sydney, stuff like that ruins a person."

"You almost sound concerned, it's a shame I know better." I seethed.

"You know nothing. A person can change a lot in five years, you certainly have." He gave me an appreciative look up and down and I honestly hated him that bit more because my body craved his attention.

"Men like you don't change, they just put a knife into people's hearts." I sighed hating how vulnerable I sounded.

"Well like it or not, you're going to be around for a while so you're going to have to put all that anger aside because your Dad doesn't need the tension while he is trying to heal and he's a good friend of mine so I'm going to be part of his recovery."

I choked back the snide remark that had about a million swear words all telling him to go to hell. Wiping my tears, I straightened up deciding to act like the adult I was. He made me feel like a girl, but I wasn't anymore. I was a grown woman. I had to just ignore him.

"That isn't how this is going to work. We may need to be around each other and as you are close with my Dad I need to accept that, but we are just going to pretend the other doesn't exist. I don't want to talk to you Adrian, you bring back too many memories I've tried so hard to forget. I need to concentrate on my Dad and nothing else."

My phone rang before he could respond, and I smiled at the name.

"Who's that?" Adrian asked a frown on his face when I looked at him.

"My boyfriend." I felt so awkward telling him that, but I wouldn't lie. I had found a man who made me happy.

"Ah," Adrian laughed. "The boyfriend."

I didn't respond to his smug tone. I lifted the phone to my ear. Adrian began to walk away as I did.

"Hi." I smiled.

"Hey baby, how's your Dad? How are you?" I smiled bigger at the familiar voice. Nick was everything I could ever want.

"He looks so ill; I'm going to have to stay here for a while. I need to get him better." He knew how much I loved my Dad.

"Of course, you stay as long as you need to ok, I'll come out as soon as I can." He promised. "I don't want you going through this alone."

He was so sweet. The smile he had on my face fell when I saw Adrian stop before my car.

"I'm going to have to go, I'll call you back later."

"Ok, love you." He responded the love clear in his voice.

"Love you too." I sounded miles away.

I watched in horror as Adrian took a pocket knife out his jeans and stabbed it into the front wheel of my car. I had never cursed my personalised number plate more. Honestly for a moment I just stood there in shock. Adrian turned towards me with a satisfied look on his face waving at me with the knife in his hand.

"What the f**k are you doing." I shouted across the car park my anger clear.

"I didn't like your idea." He shouted back with a shrug. "I think us talking is a much better idea."

Was he serious? I swear in that moment I would have done time for his murder. I had never felt a shocked anger like the one that ripped through my veins.

"I can change a tyre you i***t. My Dad's a mechanic, I've been changing tyres since the age of 9."

"A spare is for emergencies darling. You're going to need a proper tyre on that car and you're going to have to get it from the only mechanic in town."

He looked so proud of himself. I swear to anything that was living I had never seen a man look so satisfied with his actions. Looking at the tyre I watched as slowly it deflated taking with it the last bit of energy I had. This day had been the worst.

"You would do well to stay away from me Adrian, I'm not that girl who put up with your crap anymore."

"Sure thing Sydney." He laughed. "As the only mechanic in town I'll see you very soon." With that he got in his truck and drove off.

I watched him go until the truck was out of sight.

"I hate you." I shouted into the air looking like a person who had gone crazy.

I couldn't believe he had just burst my tyre. He was right, he had changed in five years. He had changed into a bigger dickhead than he already was.