An Ace Of Hearts (Book #1) (Completed)

Chapter 37: Blind Rage

AHVI TAKEDA

Hailey was waiting for me when I walked out of the office building. Now I was in the rental car with her and she kept stealing glances at me. It annoyed me, her discretion, her plan, her proximity, everything. If I wasn't afraid of the hospital bills, I would have yeeted myself out of the car by now.

"If you want to say something, just spit it out. It's creepy when you keep looking at me like that." I muttered, making her snap out of her stupor. She shifted in her seat, clearing her throat.

"I don't know why you are so wary of me, Ahvi. I am not here to hurt you," She replied, her gaze bouncing between the road ahead and me.

"Oh please. We both know that you didn't just show up on my doorstep for the sake of it. There is something going on in your head that I don't know about yet. But trust me, I will find out. Before I leave for New Mulliton, I am going to make you spit it out." I answered, rolling my eyes. If she thought that she could sweet talk me into believing that she was not here to sabotage me in one way or the other, she was more stupid than I thought her to be.

"You are going back to New Mulliton?" The car came to a screeching halt at the side of the road. Just then another vehicle raced past us, the sound of the concrete rumbling underneath reverberating through my seat.

I glanced at Hailey to find her face pale. She was scanning my face with a horrified expression on hers. Her reaction to my plan to go back to our hometown made me frown.

"What?" I asked. I couldn't help but be suspicious of her. It was hard for me to find anything about her not suspicious after the way she had fucked me over all those years ago.

"Why are you going back to New Mulliton?" She questioned instead of answering me. Her eyes were wild as if she couldn't bring herself to believe me, that I would want to go back to our hometown after all these years. I mean I wouldn't have thought I would decide to go back either but I couldn't understand her concern.

"Because-" I started but then shut up abruptly. Crossing my arms across my chest, I narrowed my eyes on her. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because I need to know. Why are you planning to go back? After all these years, why would you want to revisit New Mulliton?" Her questions were valid. She knew about my history, she had caused me the pain after all but I couldn't understand why she seemed so...worried for me.

"I don't need to answer your questions, Hailey. I wasn't even going to tell you that I was going. It just slipped." I muttered, annoyed at myself for spilling the information. I was good at keeping secrets but sometimes, I tended to blurt things out that I would rather not.

"It's okay." Hailey insisted but I was not trying to let myself be consoled by her. A beat of silence passed between us. When I didn't speak and the beat stretched into a whole minute, I felt Hailey's frustrated sigh. She threw her hands up in the air, letting out a string of colorful profanities.

"What is your problem? I am trying to rekindle our friendship. I am trying to make things better between us. But you refuse to let go of your suspicions. You are convinced that I am going to wrong you. It isn't fair and it is annoying me now." She snapped, startling me.

I turned to face her, too then. Irritation flashed through my chest. My cheeks turned hot with anger and I felt a scowl form on my face.

"You want to know what my problem is? You. You are my fucking problem." I matched the tone of her voice, sharp and unrelenting. It dripped with venom and it took every ounce of self-control on my part to keep myself from slapping her. "You waltz into my life as if nothing happened between us and try to act like my friend. You are secretive about your job and refuse to leave even after two weeks. You have weird conversations on the phone using mysterious, vague lingo, which might I add, were pointless because I understood that you were talking about me. And now you are trying to rekindle our friendship or whatever?!"