Breathe You In (Sweet Torment 1)

“W-warren?”

He smiled, way too sinister and happy to see me.

“Look at you, moving up in the world.” He took my champagne glass and drained the contents. “And here I thought you were just a simple girl from Indiana.”

His breath smelled of something much stronger than champagne, and suddenly finding myself in his presence again made me want to bolt out the door.

“It’s been a long time.” His blue eyes skated over me, leaving me feeling cheap in their wake. “You look good.”

It wasn’t a compliment; it was a pity statement. Boredom and condescension dripped from every word.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to keep the shock from my voice.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I’m here with the governor,” I said, straightening my posture a little.

Pretending to be confident had never been so hard, mostly because the last time I’d seen Warren was when I’d walked in on him with another woman. He’d only laughed, and explained he’d been using me to maintain his grades and his standing in his family. Then he’d asked me to let myself out. I hadn’t seen him since.

“The governor, huh? I saw you on his arm earlier and thought he was doing some kind of charity work.”

Okay, that dig really smarted. But Warren had never been one to walk away unless he’d fully demolished you.

“That’s nice for you though, Amy,” he snickered.

My pulse beat in my temples. “Is there something you want, Warren?”

“No, just being polite to an old friend.” He grabbed another flute from a passing tray. “And I’m here to support my mother. Assemblywoman Cunningham. She’s retiring this year.”

I nodded and looked around, trying to find anything to save me from this conversation. Paige was still talking, but I caught Roman’s eye from across the room. He was still engaged in conversation, but his gaze darted from me to Warren and back, darkening with every sweep.

“So.” Warren stepped closer and pointedly looked down on me from his superior height. “How’s the family?”

I swallowed hard. “My family is fine.”

He nodded. “You still obsessed with saving the world?”

At any other time, with any other person, I would have called him out on his disrespect and walked away. But my feet were frozen, my pulse was rising, and every awful memory from my past was playing before me.

There was nothing I could say. In college, I’d talked constantly about what I was going to do when I graduated. How I was going to make a difference: preserve Lauren’s memory. And then, just like now, Warren had only mocked me, making it clear he wasn’t interested in my dreams. But to defend myself now would be giving him information I didn’t want him to have, like where I worked and what I did.

“I’m still passionate about the anti-drug cause.” I knew he didn’t care and was really making fun of me. I just wanted to get out of this conversation.

“Really? Well, that would be a change. You passionate about something.” He laughed and took another drink.

Water rushed to my eyes. He used to tell me how frigid I was…in every area of our relationship. Which was why we’d only explored those areas a few times, and I’d always walked away with tears and insecurity.

“You really are a terrible man, aren’t you?” I whispered.

“Excuse me?”

I stared at him, which I hated, because everything about him—from his dull blue eyes to his sandy hair and rude expression—made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

I looked around again, my glance resting on Roman for a few moments. I tried to think of good things, to grasp to the fact that a lot had changed since I’d seen Warren last, and I was older and smarter now. But despite that, he had all my dark secrets, all my insecurities, wrapped in a perfect package that he could unleash at any moment.

“You want to talk about terrible people?” he snarled, glaring at me.

He leaned in way too close for comfort.