VERSUS (Second Chances 2)

I rest a hand on my hip. “It was my first time in a Manhattan courtroom and we had a sidebar over the fact that Dylan didn’t recognize me. I said my name. He said I wasn’t the Eden Conrad he used to know and…”

“Oh, shit.” Noelle rushes to me. “Eden, I’m sorry.”

I let her take me in her arms for a hug.

She leans back and studies my face. “I think you look even more beautiful now than you did in high school.”

I’ve lost track of how many times she’s said those words to me since I was seventeen. I reply the same way I always do, “You’re the best.”

“I know it’s hard when you see someone from your past.” A sigh escapes her. “I’m a call away if you ever need me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Her gaze drops to the watch on her wrist. “I have to be at work before dawn. I need some sleep.”

I need sleep too, but it won’t find me. I can’t quiet my mind. It’s not the Alcester case that’s consuming me. It’s Dylan.

I know he didn’t show up at my office today just to return the watch. He wants answers. I’m the only one who can give them to him since I’m the woman who crawled into his bed and his arms without telling him that I was the Eden he walked away from on the night we graduated. It was the night that changed the course of my life forever.

Chapter 9

Dylan

“I’m all for helping out an old friend, but this is bullshit.” Barrett slaps my shoulder. “My flight was delayed for two hours. Do you have any idea what time it is?”

It’s just past one in the morning.

I’ve been pacing the floors of my apartment since he texted me from O’Hare International to tell me that he was hand delivering our senior yearbook.

“I owe you.” I take a step back and look him over.

I make it a point to see Barrett at least a few times a year. That typically happens when I venture back to my hometown to visit my parents and their significant others.

I time those visits so they don’t coincide with any major holidays or events.

My family is manageable in small doses. I don’t need the pressure of being thrown headfirst into a reunion with cousins, aunts, and uncles I haven’t seen in more than a decade.

Beers with Barrett make my time back in Chicago more bearable.

“You can start paying me back by inviting me in.” His blue eyes survey the room behind me. “I see you’ve done nothing with the place since the last time I was here.”

I step to the side to let him pass.

He slides the handle of the duffel bag that’s slung over his shoulder down before he drops it at my feet.

“I’m taking the bedroom without the view.” He stretches both arms. “I’m beat. If I give you the goods, can I hit the sack?”

Judging by the way he’s dressed, he didn’t make time for a change of clothes before he went to the airport. He’s still dressed in a tailored gray suit, a button-down shirt, and a tie.

Jeans and T-shirts are his usual attire when he shows up here for a rare weekend trip.

I’m wearing the Yankees T-shirt and dark sweatpants I put on after my second shower. I took the first when I got home from work, but restlessness set in while I waited for him, so I went for a run.

The evening heat bore down on me, so another shower was in order.

“Where’s the yearbook?” I eye the bag on the floor.

“It’s on top.” He points to the zipper. “Now is as good as time as any to explain why the fuck you wanted it, Colt.”