Retribution

Chapter 5 - Glimpses of Before

I struggled to hide my burning cheeks as he caught his first glimpse of my past.

He dropped my hand and hovered both of his over my arms, inches away from touching me. Concern and confusion mixed on his face as he took in the dreadful scars.

"What on earth happened?" he asked.

"Just an old riding accident," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

His sparkling eyes searched mine for a second or two before he accepted my untruth. Picking my shawl up, he laid it gently around my shoulders. The hesitant care he took when he placed it against my arms made me feel awful for lying to him.

My heart was racing, thudding against my ribs. A small sweat coated my palms, which when Jake took my hand as we left, made me cringe.

The entire drive home, Jake chatted with me, never leaving a moments silence between us. Wringing my hands together in my lap, I tried my hardest to ignore my paranoia of an angry Adam storming into my life once again.

I learned a lot about the man next to me and each new fact only drew me in further. When I thought about my appalling behaviour this evening, it stung like a thousand bees because I knew he wouldn't want to see me again.

His favourite place to visit was Thailand because of the stunning scenery that nowhere else on earth offered. His first car had been a questionable shade of brown and so rotten that one day, he literally saw the road beneath his feet. In his younger days, when he'd spent his time drinking and chatting up girls, he'd woken up one morning to find his friends had shaved off his right eyebrow and the left side of his head—that had been the end of his relationship with absinthe.

By the time we arrived at my house, its solid presence looming in the night shadows, I was relaxed to a point where my earlier woes were mere whispers in my mind. But now I had to face the reality of a huge failed date—and I only had myself to blame.

He took my hand and escorted me from the car to my front door, despite it only being a matter of metres across my driveway.

"I've had a lovely time tonight," he said. He laid his hands on my upper arms, slowly rubbing them through the softness of my shawl. "I would love to see you again."

My heart leapt up into my throat, all but stealing my breath. "Really?"

He chuckled and took a step forwards, taking the last of the personal space between us. "Yes, really. That's if you want to see me again?"

His quiet, smooth voice raised goosebumps all over me. I shuddered. "Of course. I just...I've been so rude this eve—"

"You haven't been rude at all. We all have lives, issues, problems. Just because you go out on a date, it doesn't suddenly make all of that go away."

I smiled, albeit weakly. Being this close to someone again, having them say all the right things—it did funny things to my head and my heart. The more I looked into his sparkling eyes, the quicker I was losing my footing.

You will find someone, Louisa. And when you do, you need to learn to trust and give yourself to them freely again.

With a full moon gleaming above us in the clear night sky and the stars twinkling, it was almost my imagined Paris scene, except right outside my front door. But I didn't care—the setting was perfect for him to kiss me a tender goodbye.

He moved a hand towards my face. Half day-dreaming in Paris, I wasn't expecting it. Panic grasped me. I jumped backwards. The sudden movement on high heels I'd not worn for years could only spell disaster.