*FREE WITH PAID BONUS CHAPTER*After being dumped by her boyfriend, Elodie Shepherd resigns herself to loving her older brother's best friend from afar, just like she always has, even though he only sees her as his best friend's immature kid sister.
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It rained for five days after Matthew drove me home that disastrous night.
Gloomy, chilly and downright miserable, the streets puddled up and the gutters gushed out rainwater in copious amounts, so much so that even my black rain boots became soaked from the inside out just from the overspray of water.
Glistening off the slick asphalt, the slush of muddy tires stirred up the stagnant spill off and splashed up the sidewalk where I clutched my umbrella tighter, wishing I'd worn more than a windbreaker over my workout clothes.
My fingers trembled as I nudged open the glass doors to the martial arts studio, the familiar scents filling my nose as I trudged up to the front desk after shaking my umbrella out and leaning it up against the coat rack at the entrance.
Leila noticed me immediately, her face lighting up with a sweet, excited smile and balancing out her otherwise badass exterior.
Clad in leather and chains, Leila was someone who you needed to remain on the good side of, mostly due to the fact that she was openly vocal of the fact that she carried around curved blades in her thigh straps and a taser on each ankle. Don't even ask her about her open carry license, either, because she'd go off on a tangent about the different types of guns she preferred and why everyone needed to take a safety course even if they didn't ever want to own a gun.
We mostly stuck to Krav Maga and our past traumas, but I pitied the customer who started arguing with her over a Glock or Smith & Wesson.
"I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. That can't be my little Ellie in the flesh, can it?"
My face broke out into an ear-splitting grin, the kind of smile that hadn't graced my features in ages, not since I'd given the sport up for good so long ago.
"How long has it been, a lifetime?"
"Try a year and a half. I've missed you, Leila-Bug!"
She came up to me in the middle of the studio, mats spread out haphazardly along the edge of the mirrored walls for the upcoming beginner class I knew began in about thirty minutes.
"Let me look at you. Well, they've definitely been hiding the food from you. Look at you, you've lost weight! Your cheeks, your hips, I can see your bones, girl!"
"Yeah, well, I haven't really been able to define my muscles lately..."
"Well we are changing that right now. We are changing that right now, right? Because god help me if that brother of yours thinks that he can control you now at eighteen years old, a full adult, you can move in with me and we can-"
"Eli isn't controlling me, Leila. He's actually been pretty okay about everything, especially considering I might have wrecked a dirt bike the other day..."
Something that I hadn't stopped feeling guilty over, despite Phoebe reassuring me over and over again that it had already been paid for by an anonymous purchase, and I could only hope that Miller had come to his senses and done the right thing, though I had a feeling it was more Eli territory than a selfish seventeen year old kid.
