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Seven gulped down her nerves while nodding her head. "We spent two years of our lives together and spent 27 desperately trying to forget about each other," her light voice crooned into Jeremy's ears. She was the only woman he had ever met who was so soft spoken yet so assertive. Hearing her voice resurfaced tons of memories.

"That's the thing, Sev. I wasn't trying to forget about you," Jeremy admitted. "You've been the only one who’s been running."

Seven pinched the bridge of her nose. What was she doing? She couldn't be talking to him, especially not at her place of work. There was no conversation to be had. She had moved on. "I can't do this, Jeremy." Her tone was filled with sorrow as her eyes glistened.

"Why not?" Remy asked.

Seven stood up from her seat. "‘Cause there's nothing to talk about. I'm married now, and you're clearly still doing the same things." She waved her hand over him, referring to his current state.

Unintentionally, she waved the hand that her dazzling wedding ring decorated. It had become a routine for her to slip her ring back on whenever she was clear from her duties after her shift. Jeremy eyed her ring while taking a deep breath. A bitter chuckle escaped him.

"Guess I am doing the same shit," he agreed with her in shame. His condition definitely wasn't helping Seven believethat things were different. Gunshot wounds didn't come from ordinary days of being a civil citizen when it came to Remy.

Seven was confident that he had found himself knee deep in a shit hole with money laundering, drug obsessed crooks he used to run with back in the day.She no longer had that urge to fight to change him. If he couldn't see that there was more to life than the streets at the seasoned age of 51, then that was on him.

Noticing the deep gaze he had on her ring, she nervously stuffed her hands in the front pockets of her white coat, concealing the ring from his view. She let out a tired sigh while shaking her head. "Jeremy, what happened?" she questioned in her light voice. "I thought you were done with that. You lost fifteen years of your life because of it, and now you're back in it?"

"I put that shit behind me a long time ago, Sev," Remy told her.

"Then explain this to me. You came in clenching the short bit of life you had left. I had to rush you into surgery. Britain would have hated me if I didn't save your life," she stressed so he would understand the severity of whatever he had gotten himself roped into.

Licking his lips, Remy knew all the hard work he put in to progress into his better self had all gone out the window. He had a moment of weakness, and his pride refused to allow Leonard to play him out. Jeremy could have easily given the money to Leonard before Priest got involved and there wouldn't have been an issue. However, Remy was never one to take the easy route when it came to conflicts. His word was solid, and so were his actions.

"Your magic hands." A light smile graced his face while he pointed to her hands that she kept in her pockets.

At the reference to her hands, Seven instantly recalled all the times he encouraged her to keep going to school so she could put her magic hands to use. She had a steady hand, which shenever considered a talent, but Remy made sure to make her feel good about it. He manifested her future for her even when they weren't on speaking terms. Sadly, he forgot to manifest himself into her life as well.

"Rem, this is not the time." She shook her head while narrowing her eyes at him. "You fucked up, and you know that.”

Remy cleared his throat. Her old ways were showing. She was doing the same thing that led them into constant arguments when they were together. She would throw stones and hide her hands. "That justifies you keeping my daughter away from me?" Remy asked, completely turning the tables.

Seven instantly grew offended. It was evident just by the scowl that masked her face as she eyed him through a set of harsh orbs. "Don't you dare do that, Jeremy. You knew about Britain," she spewed.

"I didn't. You think if I did, I would have missed out on 27 years of her life? You know what kind of man I am," Remy refuted with a harsh scowl forming on his face as well.

Striding over toward the door, Seven locked it before making her way back over to him. "Don't you ever fucking do that, Jeremy. I told you I was pregnant, and you started acting out more and more," she coldly jeered. "You thought I was gonna allow you to treat me like shit while I was carrying the only person I loved more than you. I loved you, Jeremy. I really did, but you thought you could take advantage of that. The day I was calling to break things off, word had gotten out that you had gotten picked up with all that dope in your car," she scathingly recalled the downfall of their past.

"Stop trying to take on the victim role because I never came crawling back like you expected me to. No, I wasn't going to hold you down like the love-struck girl you thought I was. I was a 21-year-old with a child pursuing a medical career. You were the least of my worries, Jeremy, and that bothered you. You couldn'thandle the fact that my life no longer revolved around you, so you made no attempts to reach out to me, and the fact that I did the same gave you the perfect opportunity to flip the narrative so I would be the bad guy. I had to move on, Jeremy. My daughter and I couldn't wait for you to finally realize what it took to be a man. Your selfishness could never allow that to sit right with you,"Seven seethed, spewing the harsh truth to Jeremy, causing his chest to plunge and feel heavy. They could never come to a consensus about why they grew apart. Neither of them was the type to compromise, which left most of their arguments to end in tension and thick hostility. This time was no different. Jeremy had struck a nerve, and Seven was heated.

"Seven, you disappeared into thin fucking air. You don't think I ain't send for you everywhere I thought you would be?" Remy screwed his face up in frustration. It was evident that neither was listening to the other and they were only retaining what they wanted to. Neither of them understood that the bigger picture, the fact of the matter, was that they both left each other, and no one needed to be blamed for it. Life just didn't work out for them.

Seven shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "You were too late," she told him as she began making her way toward the door. "I'll let Mocha know you're awake."

"Thank you," Jeremy muttered.

Seven glanced over her shoulder, eyeing him. "For what?"

Remy shifted his eyes down at his lap. "For saving my life. Nothing else to thank you for," he slyly scoffed at her.

Seven chuckled dryly, trying her best to keep her composure. Shaking her head, she pulled the door open, making sure to hit him with a catty remark before exiting. "Same old Jeremy. Angry and undeserving."

Chapter Two

Britain filled her glass almost to the rim with red wine. It was her fifth glass this afternoon, and because she was such a wine drinker, she was just now feeling a bit of a buzz. Her weekends were spent alone, accompanied by red wine and a cheesy romance film she randomly chose from Netflix's endless options.

She never really thought of being alone since Priest had come into her life. Being so bored and alone reminded her of when she first stopped dealing with Cameron. She had to learn to be by herself and enjoy it. She reminded herself she shouldn't need companionship to feel normal. Now that Priest had filled that empty void, she couldn't help but miss him gravely.

Wrapping her plump lips around the straw that floated in her wine glass, Britain took in half the glass in one sip.Progressively getting drunk throughout the day was fulfilling for right now. She had spent her entire week working endless shifts at her mother's chiropractor office, and then right after work, heading over to her father's place. Her mornings were always extremely early, and her nights were always extremely late. Remy noticed the bags dragging underneath her eyes, so he gave her strictorders to take some time for herself. She needed to take care of herself before she could care for him.