Page 21 of Poisoned Promise
“Keep your voice down,” she hisses, taking a step forward. Her entire body is rigid like a snake poised to strike at the last second.
“Keep my voice down? Why, so your son— oh my fuck, you have a son, Dove?” The anger ignites again and a sharp prick of betrayal sweeps through my heart. “You ran away and had a fucking kid with some other guy? Are you fucking kidding me?!”
“I said keep your voice down!”
“Then tell me what the fuck is going on! You didn’t… you didn’t die that night?”
Her eyes narrow and despite the confusion fogging the anger in my chest, the familiarity of such a look blooms warmth beneath my ribs.
“Obviously I didn’t,” she snaps. “Didn’t you catch on when you didn’t find my body with the others?”
My mouth hangs open. “Dove… there was barely anything left when I— why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you come and find me? You… what, you ran away with some guy and had a family? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Stop,” Dove scolds. “Just stop, okay Felix? Just stop.”
Felix.
After all these years, she says my name the exact same way and it pulls at all the aching strings in my heart.
Dove’s alive.
She’s really alive.
I nearly drunk myself to death mourning her and now, fifteen years later, she stands in front of me looking as glorious as the last day I saw her.
It’s not enough to quell my anger though and the warmth clashes with everything else. “Don’t you dare tell me to stop,” I hiss, advancing forward. “I fucking mourned you, okay? I mourned you and I built you a grave and I spent the past fifteen years tearing fire through this city because I was so angry that I lost you, and now you’re here? Like everything is normal?”
“Oh please,” Dove scoffs. “Don’t act like you ever did anything because of me. You’re talking about shit you don’t understand, alright?”
“And your kid… that’s Alex?”
Dove’s eyes narrow as thin as blades. “How do you know his name?”
“He was in the car crash, wasn’t he? Your son was…” There are puzzle pieces here and suddenly the death of Tee doesn’t seem as innocent as it first was. “Dove, what the hell did you do?”
Her weight shifts back and forth, and her cheek indents as if she’s chewing on it. “Not here.”
“I’m not fucking leaving.”
“You have to, Felix.”
“Fuck that. I want answers. I want the truth. You fucking left me, Dove. You left me in pieces because I thought you were dead so you better start talking right this second.”
“Fine!” She throws her hands up and glances over her shoulder at the kitchen door. “Fine, you want to talk then we’ll talk. Just not here.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“And I’m not talking to you here.” The sharpness in her voice cuts right through the anger in my chest and finally, my heart begins to slow.
“Fine. Come to dinner.”
“Where?”
“Our old place.”
“It’s still standing?”
“I bought it. Of course it is.”
