Read Online Things Remembered (Accidentally On Purpose Companion Novel #3) by L.D. Davis - Free Book Online

tight, and kissed me fiercely. My heart just began to hope when he stopped kissing me and rested his forehead against mine. We stayed that way for a little bit, just breathing each other in and holding each other up.
    Then he whispered the last words I would hear from him until thirteen years later on the streets of Philadelphia.
    “I need you, but you don’t need me. I’ll never be the kind of high that you need.”
    He released me, looked at me sadly, and left me on my own.
     

     
    I kept the extended version of that memory to myself and gave Kyle the bare bones. There was no way I’d say the words “he left me” out loud and look like a vulnerable damsel in distress.
    I deeply felt the contempt in my words. “He’s a disloyal, lying, cowardice, sack of feculence. That’s all you need to know.”
    “You don’t have to say feculence to demonstrate your inferior vocabulary,” Kyle said blandly. He turned his attention back to the work on his desk once he realized that I wasn’t going to go any deeper and talk about my feelings and whatnot.
    I chose not to use any words for my next vulgar statement and raised both middle fingers in his direction.
    “Do you not have your own job to do somewhere else?”
    “I thought you liked having attractive women locked in your office.”
    He didn’t miss a beat. “I do. You should leave so I can let one in.”
    I grinned. “You like my tits and ass. I think I qualify.”
    Instead of doing as he suggested, I sprawled out on the leather couch in his office as best I could in a skirt. There was only about an hour left of the workday, but I had eaten lunch at my desk as I worked and had taken no other breaks besides quick trips to the bathroom. I think I earned a little down time on the company’s dime.
    “Last night was the ‘family’ dinner.” I sighed.
    Kyle snorted. “Did you have to piss into a cup and give them a vile of blood?”
    “And I gave them a snip of my hair.”
    I told him about the brief visit to my mother’s house. When I got to the part about my cousins coming to the state for a week, I almost missed Kyle’s reaction. If I had blinked, I would have missed it for sure. He winced as if I had just lanced him with a wickedly sharp and long needle. It only lasted about two seconds, and if I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
    Just like his casual use of her name, his reaction made me feel a little uncomfortable in a way I couldn’t quite explain. I didn’t ask him about it, though. Emmy was Kyle’s one memory that he didn’t want to necessarily remember.
    “I guess I should go back to my desk and pretend to work for the next half hour,” I said, getting to my feet.
    “And what are you going to do tomorrow?”
    “About Grant? I’m going to pretend he’s not there.”
    He gave me a look of doubt. “You sure about that?”
    Speaking with an unshakeable confidence, I squared my shoulders and said, “Absolutely.”
     

     
    I walked down the street with a bold stride. I was one hundred percent confident about my decision regarding Grant Alexander. I spent most of yesterday and all morning thinking of reasons why I shouldn’t follow through, but in the end, I came to the same conclusion. I had to put a stop to the early morning surprise coffee shop visits and take back some of my control.
    I spotted him before he saw me. He was talking on his phone, awkwardly trying to write something down on a small notepad while holding the coffee and croissant that no doubt was purchased for me. By the time he put his phone and notepad away, I was almost upon him. I felt his eyes on me, but I didn’t look directly at him.
    I took a step past him, and then I stopped.
    I didn’t feel doubt about what I was doing, but I did feel anxiety. I harbored very hard feelings for Grant’s desertion of me all those years ago. I could not simply pretend that I had not been hurt or that the subsequent events that had followed never happened.