“Look, Red, we need to talk.”
He’d put his shirt back on before he followed me inside, but it was clinging to his sweaty skin, showing off those slabs of defined muscle I’d spent hours licking. I want to lick them again, the devil on my shoulder said on a dreamy sigh.
Pushing that thought to the back of my head, I crossed my arms over my chest protectively. “Pretty sure we don’t, Micah.”
His eyebrows lifted as he moved deeper into the kitchen, rounding the counter between us and resting his hips back against it. “So, what? We’re just gonna live next door to each other and pretend the other person doesn’t exist?”
“Sounds like a brilliant idea,” I muttered. “How about you get the hell out and we start now?” I was acting like a brat. I knew it and I hated it, but there was something about this man that pushed every one of my buttons, turning me into a petulant little shit, and I couldn’t seem to stop it.
Letting out a beleaguered sigh, Micah reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose before he started speaking again. “Us ignoring each other wouldn’t make Sylvia happy, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of making her unhappy. For her sake, we at least need to pretend to get along. It’s what she wants.”
“Oh, is it?” I asked snidely. “So you think you know what my aunt wants more than I do? Why? Because living next door makes you an expert?”
I regretted the nasty words almost as soon as they spilled out of my mouth. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t a bitch, and I really hated that, whatever it was about him, it brought out this kind of behavior in me.
His vibrant green eyes flashed with something unpleasant as he uncrossed his arms and braced his hands on his trim hips. The wall of anger radiating from him slammed right into me, nearly stealing my breath as he pushed off the counter and took a step closer.
“Exactly,” he seethed with his brows drawn. Just like that, he’d gone from sexy—in a wildly irritating way—to intimidating, and if I’d been able to, I would have taken a step back. “Because I’m the one who’s been cuttin’ her grass, and carryin’ her groceries in every goddamn weekend. I’m the one who sits out in her garden drinking Tom fuckin’ Collins with her when I hate gin, but she likes it, so I suck back the foul-tasting shit every time she makes me one. I’m who has dinner with her twice a week just so I can keep my finger on her pulse and make sure she’s doin’ okay, in this big house all by herself. Meanwhile, you’ve lived less than an hour away, and I haven’t seen your face once in the past five years. So yeah, I’d say I’m an expert on your aunt. Certainly more of one than you are, ’cause I’ve been here while you couldn’t take the time outta your precious life to visit.”
By the time he finished his little diatribe, my chest was rising and falling like I’d run a marathon at a full sprint, my sinuses were burning and my vision had grown blurry thanks to the dampness building up in my eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered, feeling each word he’d said like a slap against my skin.
His chin jerked back in mock surprise. “I don’t? I find that really fuckin’ hard to believe, Red, since I’m the one who’s spent the past five years listenin’ to her go on and on about how incredible her niece is. You know, she’s done nothing but sing your praise constantly since the moment she found out you were moving here, and I gotta tell you, the woman she described isn’t the woman I see standing in front of me. All I see is a spoiled selfish brat who couldn’t be bothered to spend time with her own flesh and blood until her world fell apart and she had nowhere else to turn.”
After landing that well-placed blow, he turned and started for the back door, stopping once his hand landed on the knob to look back at me over his shoulder. “You know what? I think you’re right. It’s probably best we pretend the other person doesn’t exist.”
With that parting shot, he slammed the door behind him, leaving me standing there, feeling like I’d just been cut right open.
I’d spent the better part of the day stewing over my confrontation with Micah. During my first two cups of coffee and all through my shower, I’d been outraged that a man who didn’t know me at all would accuse me of being such a selfish, inconsiderate person. It was halfway through my failed attempted at yoga, where I was trying to calm my swirling thoughts, that I realized I had no right being angry at anyone but myself.
Falling back onto my mat, surrounded by the stunning beauty of the garden my aunt had created, the truth hit me like a slap to the face as I stared up at the perfect blue sky. Micah was right. My stomach sank like a rock being dropped in the middle of an ocean.
Shoving up to my feet, I took the path, not back toward my new home—a home my aunt had so generously given to me—but to the apartment behind.
“Sylvia?” I called as I rapped my knuckles against the door. “Sylvia, you there?”
My aunt’s figure appeared through the wavy glass set into the door. “Hayden, what on earth—?”
“I’ve been a selfish asshole,” I blurted, pushing my way inside the adorable little apartment. It was decorated just as bright and crazy as the main house, every inch of it screaming my aunt’s—and now my—name.
“What are you talking about, sweets?”
“Micah said something this morning, and at first it really pissed me off. But then I realized he was totally right. I’m a selfish asshole!”
“Come on, darlin’. Sit down and I’ll make you a cup of tea.” She guided me to a stool at the small kitchen island upholstered in a paisley fabric with tassels hanging all along the edges. “You’ll have to explain what you’re talking about, because I’m afraid I don’t follow,” she said as she filled a kettle with hot water and placed it on the stovetop, lighting the gas burner beneath it. “Are you tellin’ me Micah called you a selfish asshole?”
“Yes—well, no. Not in those exact words. More like, he pointed out some ugly truths I’d been avoiding.”
“And those would be?”
Letting out a sigh, I slumped my shoulders and looked down at my hand, pulling the sleeves of my tight-fitted yoga jacket down past my fingers. “I should’ve made a better effort to come see you the past several years,” I admitted. “Or any effort, really. I let Alex dictate every aspect of my life, and that’s not who I am. It’s not who I ever was. And honestly, I’m kicking myself for not seeing it all as it was happening. I let him turn me into someone else entirely, and I did it at the expense of the one person who’s always been there for me. You.”
She placed two delicate china tea cups on the island, dropping a teabag into each one before looking back at me. “Oh, honey. I never felt that way.”
“I know, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Hayden, you don’t—”
“Please, just let me get this out.”
I waited for her to give me a nod before continuing. I leaned deeper into the island, placing my palms on the top of it. “I want you to know, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Every single thing. And not just recently, but my entire life. I’ve always known I could count on you, and I think a part of me took that for granted. But that’s done.”