It’s Tane Miller!
Heaven-fucking-forbid, someone like me for me.
She puts her hand on my chest, and I flinch. I sure as f**k don’t want her touching me anymore. I push her away and put my clothes back on, only thinking of Giselle.
Christ. She must be disgusted by me. And she would have every reason to be.
“Where are you going? We’re not done,” she whines. She tries to pout seductively, but it just looks ridiculous. I ignore her feeble attempts at seduction and concentrate on something else.
Giselle. I need to talk to her, now. I can’t leave things like this. Better late than never, right?
“I have somewhere I need to be,” I say. I put my shoes on and walk to the door. I pause with my hand on the doorknob. “Where does your brother live these days?”
“He has an apartment in Hale,” she says, her fists tightly clenched at her sides, giving away her anger. I’m tempted to ask for the address, but I decide against it. Surely I can figure it out.
When I open the door I feel her hand on my shoulder, stopping me from leaving.
“We’re gonna hook up again, right?” she asks, biting her lip.
I wouldn’t want to give her false hope, so I just mumble a goodbye and walk out.
*****
Thanks to social media, it wasn’t hard to get Gage’s phone number. He’d been shocked when I called and that made me feel even worse. Gage and Levi are good people, and we were thick as thieves back in the day. After I left rather suddenly, I turned my back on my old life. I only hope that I can make things right with all of them.
And Giselle.
How I’ve missed her over the years. I thought about her constantly, but I was too chicken-shit to reach out. Was she married?
The thought is like a punch to the gut.
Besides my mother, I’ve never cared for any girl as I did for Giselle. She’s kind, gentle, and beautiful. At least that’s how I remember her. The fit, tattooed woman I’d seen earlier was a stark contrast to the girl I knew, but she’s still her.
I knock on the door of apartment number twenty-eight. I run my hand through my hair and take a deep breath. Who knows what kind of reception I will get from Levi. I haven’t seen neither him nor Gage in years. We had been best friends and partners in crime since I can remember. But that was before, and this is now. So much has changed since then.
The door opens slowly, and I look up into the blue eyes of Gage Reece. A grin is spread across his face, and he pulls me into a brief, tight hug.
“Tane! Long time, no see, man,” he drawls. Gage looks bigger than I remember. Taller, more toned. More intimidating.
“I know. How have you been?” I ask.
“Can’t complain,” he says with a familiar grin. He waves his arm as an invitation for me to enter, so I do. The place is nice, but it’s clear that men live here. There is limited furniture, and pizza boxes litter the kitchen table. Gage opens the fridge and offers me a beer.
“Nah man, I’m fine.” He shrugs and grabs two.
Gage leads me into the living area where Levi is lying on the floor on his back, lifting up a little kid in the air with his feet, like a flying airplane. Gage hands Levi a beer when he puts the kid down.
“Uncle Levi!” The little kid laughs gleefully. Uncle Levi? This must be Keira’s kid; Giselle must have dropped him off here instead.
“Levi, look who I found,” Gage calls out. Levi tickles the kid a few times before looking up.
“Damn, man, when Gage told me you’d called I was in shock,” Levi says, standing up so that he could give me a clap on the shoulder. Levi looks a little different; his blond hair is longer, and he too is built bigger. However, his eyes are the same, both gentle and friendly. “Welcome home.”
“Ummm … thanks,” I mutter ungracefully. I wasn’t expecting this. I don’t know why, but I’d expected them to be angry and demand answers. I mean, I had left. I’d never sent them so much as a postcard.
“What brings you back?” Levi asks me. He takes a seat on the couch, so I follow suit and take the seat opposite him. The kid jumps up onto his lap and looks at me curiously, half his face hidden by a mop of black hair.
“I’m taking a six-month break, so I’ll be home for a while,” I say.
Both of them grin. “Sounds good, man, we can catch up,” Gage says.
“You both live here?” I ask them.
“Yep,” Levi responds.
“So, what are you guys doing with yourselves these days?” I ask, genuinely curious. I find myself realizing how much I’ve missed these two. It’s not every day you meet friends like them. Hell, I don’t have any friends in my life that I can trust like I can Levi and Gage, even after all this time.
“We own and run a security business,” Gage says. “Boring compared to you, but it’s doing us good.”
I laugh. “You’d be surprised. I’m jealous that you get to stay in one place. This break is much needed.”
The little boy comes and sits next to me, checking me out. I smile when I notice he’s dressed in the same black pyjama pants and white singlet as Gage.
“Hello,” I tell him, feeling like shit that I was about to bang his mother earlier. Again. Apparently while he was in the house too.
Fuck, I’m a bad person.
“Hi, I’m Parker,” he says, extending his hand to me. I take his tiny, chubby hand in mine and shake it.
“I’m Tane. Nice to meet you.” I feel awkward. I’ve never really spent any time with kids but Parker seems like a cool little guy. Gage and Levi must be good to him, because I don’t imagine his mother is winning any parenting awards.