Edward
Trees, houses, and passing figures swept by outside the window. They blurred into an indistinct backdrop, one shape blending into the next.
The day was bright. Light bounced off every surface: shop windows, house windows, passing cars, and even the glasses of people walking along the pavement.
I barely noticed any of it.
My heart refused to calm down. One moment, it hammered against my ribs with frantic force, as though it meant to tear itself free from my chest. Next, it seemed to falter, leaving behind an unpleasant knot of nervousness.
My thoughts were in complete disarray.
I hadn't been prepared for them to agree so quickly.
I'd expected resistance. Doubt. Questions.
I'd been certain I'd have to convince them. That there'd be negotiations, compromises. Perhaps I'd have to offer more than I'd intended.
I'd expected anger. Resentment. Hatred directed squarely at me.
I'd even considered the possibility that they might refuse outright.
But they'd agreed, and it'd thrown me completely off balance.
Yes, it was good news. It meant I'd have a chance to see him. A chance to do something before my father forced his way into all of this.
And yet their willingness left me uneasy.
The moment James told me they'd agreed to meet, I said I wanted to see them the following day.
Michael disagreed. He'd even tried to talk me out of it, insisting it was too soon, that it would seem strange, that we ought to wait a bit longer.
Wait for what?
What exactly was I supposed to wait for?
The truth was, I'd been ready to appear on their bar doorstep the very second James gave me the news.
For the past day, I hadn't been able to think about much else. My mind kept returning to the same questions.
What had his reaction been?
What expression had crossed his face when James told him about me?
What had he felt at that moment?
Had he felt anything at all?
It was ridiculous.
I was wasting every spare moment dwelling on it when the answer was perfectly obvious. They'd agreed without much hesitation. That could only mean one thing - he no longer hated me.
Perhaps he had even forgotten me already.
By all accounts, that should've been a comforting conclusion. We had put that behind us and were moving on.
The thought of it made my chest feel so tight that I found it hard to breathe.
Part of me was terrified he'd forgotten, terrified that I meant absolutely nothing to him.
However, the other possibility was no better.
I still remembered that day far too clearly. The look on his face. Soot across his skin. Cuts and bruises. The traces of fire on him. Shock was written all over his expression as I left.
If he hated me for it... would I be able to fix it?
With all of it pressing against my ribs, I sat in the car, doing everything I could to not show that anything was wrong. I kept a calm demeanour and steady breathing, staring ahead as though I hadn't a care in the world. As though I was perfectly fine.
Because the last thing I wanted was for Michael or James to notice. I couldn't let them see that I was on the edge of panic.
"Oh, come on. Look at me for a second, will you? Can't you see I'm terribly bored?" Michael said to James playfully, with far too much emotion as usual.
That dramatic energy of his distracted me for a moment from my own spiral.
"Leave my secretary alone. How many times do I have to tell you not to harass people who work for me?"
"To hell with you." He waved me off. "This drive is taking too much time. I thought we'd be there by now. I'm going to fall asleep. Honestly." Then he looked at James, who sat in the passenger seat beside the driver. "He's cute, isn't he? I can't help it. It's too tempting to tease him."
"I don't understand why you're coming with us," James muttered under his breath so quietly that we barely heard him.
Michael burst into loud laughter. "You're hilarious. Where would you be without me?"
"I think James is right. I don't understand why you're here either," I said, giving Michael a serious look.
"Did you truly expect me to let you go to such an important meeting unsupervised?" He looked at me, then pointed a finger directly at my face. "Just look at this face. Does that look remotely suitable for negotiations today?"
Then his gaze shifted to James.
"And you, sweetheart. Those ears. Those lovely little whiskers. You're so adorable that I'm not leaving you alone at a meeting with that enormous wolf. I'm right, aren't I? That big hairy guy will be there, won't he?"
James only murmured in reply, which I took as confirmation.
"Though something tells me your behaviour would irritate someone far quicker than our appearance, which you worry so much about."
Michael waved me off again.
"Stop being so dramatic. All this tension and miserable silence from both of you. Someone has to bring at least a bit of madness into this little trip."
The car jolted suddenly, pulling my attention to the window.
We'd turned onto an older stretch of road, uneven beneath the tyres.
It was their neighbourhood.
My eyes moved across the passing buildings.
We were close now. Very close.
The nervousness returned, stronger than before, washing over me so suddenly that I almost winced. My fingers started fidgeting against one another before I stopped myself. I straightened in my seat, forcing my hands still as if nothing had happened.
Then the car began to slow.
"Um, sir…" The driver's voice came from the front, uncertain. "I think we may have a problem with parking."
I looked up, not understanding what he meant, then froze.