Page 114 of Fierce-Baker

She’d always known that, just thought she’d be more prepared.

And when he did find out, nothing would stay simple again.

“Fine,” Shane said. “I get it. It will take some time for you to warm up again.”

“You’re nuts. It’s been two years and you think you can come back here and just pick up where we left off? You know nothing about me. You don’t know if I’m single or married.”

“You’re not married,” Shane said. “I know. Unless you didn’t put it on your social media accounts.”

“I post little on there and never have. I’m in a relationship with someone. Sorry, you’re on your own.”

Shane frowned. Did he actually think she was still pining away for him?

“You loved me. I know you did. You didn’t say the words, but I saw it because I felt it too.”

“Stop, Shane. You’re only embarrassing yourself. I don’t know why you came here. Where I work. Just go.”

“You blocked me,” Shane said. “And you moved. I went to your old place. I knocked on the door. They said you hadn’t lived there in over a year. I didn’t know where you were, but knew you still taught here.”

“No.” She was shaking her head back and forth enough to make herself dizzy.

This just couldn’t be happening.

If she said the one word enough, maybe it’d all go away.

How could she have ever fallen for his insistence before? This was how he approached her the first time. Didn’t give up but turned it into a playful game.

“Tasha—”

“I said no,” she cut in, her voice steady even though her pulse was roaring in her ears loud enough it sounded as if the school bells were going off. “You don’t get to show up like this. You don’t get explanations. You don’t get access to me because you’re back and single. Or bored. Or maybe a combination of both.”

Shane scoffed lightly, like she was being dramatic. Like he was humoring her as he’d done when they were together.

Why hadn’t she noticed any of that before?

“I just wanted to talk.”

She didn’t believe it. He was changing his story now. He was backpedaling like he tried to do when she found out the truth.

“You lost the right to talk to me when you lied to my face,” she said. “When you let me believe I mattered while you went home to your wife. When you made me feel like I was crazy for asking the bare minimum of questions.”

Shane’s jaw tightened. “I told you things were complicated.”

“No,” she snapped. How many times was she going to have to say it? “You told me what benefitedyou. There’s a difference.”

He took a step closer. “I made mistakes, but that doesn’t erase what we had.”

Her laugh was short and sharp enough to be lethal. “We didn’thaveanything. You had a double life, and I was the part you hid.”

That one hit. She saw it in his eyes.

She saw him squirm like she lit a match to his balls and was just going to spray aerosol on his sack. “I’m not that woman anymore,” she continued, every word deliberate. “I don’t wait. I don’t accept crumbs. And I sure as hell don’t entertain men who think apologies entitle them to another chance.”

Shane opened his mouth again, his frustration clearly creeping in. “You’re acting like I ruined your life. Give me a break. We dated for two months. It was hard. It was fast. And it was intense. I need that again in my life. You can’t say you didn’t love every minute.”

She met his gaze head-on. That was all she was to him back then and what he wanted again.

“No. You don’t get that much credit. I rebuilt my lifeafteryou. And you’re not welcome in it.” The silence stretched.“Whatever you came here hoping for,” she said, reaching for her car door, “you won’t find it with me. Don’t call. Don’t text. Don’t show up again.”