Page 11 of Havoc

“Guess so.” Her irritation slips for just a second, and the amusement that paints her smile is beautiful.

“You have a way of leaving a mark.”

At that, she wipes her face clean and turns away. Shutting down like she’s good at.

“Aimee—”

“We were kids back then. What did we know?” She shakes her head, rinsing her glass in the sink.

“Nothing apparently.”

Aimee stands with her back to me, and I consider the scars we now bear. The marks that are too deep for the eyes to see. Just how far we’ve both fallen.

“So why are you here?” Aimee straightens, still not facing me. “If you’re just here to check on me, then as you can see, I’m fine.”

“I can see that.” I clear my throat, looking at anything but her. “But the safe house is my territory, so Steel wants me checking in.”

“Wouldn’t want to disappoint your president, right,Havoc?” I’m not surprised she laces my road name with venom when she must have some sense as to why I chose it.

“The club’s not what it used to be.”

“I’m sure.”

“It’s not.”

“I don’t care.” She glances over her shoulder, meeting my gaze. “And it doesn’t matter anyway. The past is the past.”

“Except it’s not if you’re still pissed about it.”

“And you aren’t?”

My jaw tenses.

She breathes out an unamused laugh. “That’s what I thought.”

“What do you expect, Aimee? I shipped out and you disappeared—”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She spins, finally facing me again.

Except she’s somehow now more closed off than ever.

“Then explain it to me.”

“Why? So we can bury the hatchet? So we can make amends and absolve ourselves of our sins? You wouldn’t understand.” She drops her chin. “Too much has changed, and I don’t have the energy to get into this right now. I need to shower, but you can see yourself out?”

I nod, swallowing down everything I want to say.

There’s no point arguing with her when her walls are a mile high and her eyes are distant.

Her lips purse as she lifts off the counter. “Bye, Havoc.”

I’ve never hated my road name as much as I do from her lips. I’ve never hated the back of her head as much as I do when she turns away from me again. Just like she did three weeks ago.

Just like she’s good at.

4

Aimee