“Stop,” I gritted.
Her head was still bent, fat ugly tears rolling down the planes of her creamy cheeks. “I said I was sorry.”
“So that makes you entitled to my forgiveness? Think again, rich girl.” I glanced over my shoulder to see a cop car slowing at the curb before coming to a stop at the start of the path we were on, eyes nailed on us.
“Shit.” I breathed, realizing this would look really bad if I took off running now. I was as good as caught red-handed.
“Jameson?” Her voice sucked in a breath of air at my shoulder. “Jameson Styles?”
My jaw physically hurt, I was clenching it so damn tightly. The cop was walking toward us now, eyes on me, and I could only pray he hadn’t heard this fucking meek little thing just utter my real name.
“Evenin’, kids.” The middle-aged officer stopped short of us. “Pretty late to be out in the park.” His voice trailed off, forming a question, and I hated him for it. When neither of us answered, he shuffled on his feet, throwing a nod over his shoulder to the shop owner, still talking to himself on the corner as he tried to watch. “Any chance you may have seen anything…suspicious?”
I could feel the way he was taking me in, trying to determine if I was the criminal he was looking for or just another waste of his time. I cleared my throat, thrusting a hand through my dark hair and about to make up some excuse about the night shift, when little miss meek threaded her fingers in mine.
A tremor of disdain rushed through me before her tiny voice spoke up. “We haven’t seen anything, Officer. My boyfriend here thought a stroll through the park at night would be romantic, until I spilled coffee on both of us and…” She rolled her eyes, bouncing her shoulder into mine like we’d known each other for ages.
“Hm.” The officer’s gaze hovered at her hand clasped with mine, a cloyingly sweet smile decorating her face as she rocked back and forth in her designer boots. “Well, stick to the well-lit areas. There’s been some reports of an uptick in crime around here this late at night.” He shoved a hand into his back pocket and pulled a card out, passing it to her. “Please, give me a call personally if you see anything that stands out.”
His eyes lingered long and hard, and then I physically had to restrain myself from kicking his arrogant fucking teeth in.
I’d only been adding a little artwork to the face of one of the fine establishments on Fifth. This guy was visibly eye-fucking a strange woman at night under the guise of law and order.
I shook my head, ready to speak up to him, when she put her other palm on my chest, siding herself a little closer and putting her body in between him and me. She tipped her head to one side, silky teased ringlets following over her shoulder when she whispered, “Honey…”
The desperate saccharine tone in her words caught my attention, and I finally dragged my gaze down to meet hers.
And then I knew where we’d met before.
How could I forget this girl?
She was the fucking bane of my existence.
“Can we go home now? It’s getting chilly out here.”
I almost shook with her lie-riddled words, the memories dousing my ability to manage my emotions properly in this situation.
“Please?” Her words clung to mine, begging.
My teeth ached with the pain of grinding my teeth, preventing my ability to talk and forcing only a jerky nod out of me.
“Well…” The officer was still lingering, this time his gaze not on me but on her ass. His glance travelled up her form before he stopped on my face. “Have a good night, then, kids.”
As soon as he turned on his shiny shoes, I tore the officer’s card from her hand and threw it in the garbage behind him. “I wouldn’t let you call him, even if I did give a shit about you.”
Her face fell, hand dropping from mine. “Wait. I just saved your ass. Call me crazy, but I thought you’d be a little more grateful, Jameson.”
“Stop using my name.” I kept walking, but unfortunately for me she kept up.
“Well, I know it’s been a while, but unless you changed your name—”
“I didn’t. I just can’t stand the way it sounds on your lips.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Maybe I should run back to Officer Feinman and tell him where he can find those cans of spray paint you tossed right before I walked up, then.”
I froze, chest heaving with the adrenaline still coursing through my system. “You would do that, wouldn’t you?”
“Why so cruel, Styles? Doesn’t Park Avenue High have some time-honored rule about being loyal to your Park Avenue Crew first?” She tipped her head to the side, sarcastic grin flirting on her lips.
“I’m more loyal than you’ve ever been.” I put myself in her personal space, my hand hovering at her hair, whether to pet her hair or yank it, I wasn’t yet sure, before I whispered, “The thing is, you’re not a human at all. You’re just a spoiled Park Avenue Barbie desperate for attention. You were then, and—” I made a point of looking her up and down “—from the looks of things, I don’t think that’s changed.”
I turned, leaving her behind me, right where she belonged.
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Mila Crawford
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Aria Cole
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