Shattered: A Salvation Society Novel Bella Emy (best ebook reader for laptop .TXT) 📖

back home and open the lounge, I’m going to be super busy. Who knows when I’ll get to go on vacation again.

A muffled club beat coming from outside makes its way into my ears. I turn my head toward it and my gaze darts over to the balcony window as a dazzling array of colored lights dance around, instantly gripping my attention. They look absolutely stunning, and I want a better view. I walk over to it and open the door.  The sound of the music coming from downstairs intensifies and I instantly feel like dancing. As I step outside onto the balcony, a warm breeze hits my cheeks and caresses my bare shoulders. When I got dressed earlier, I settled on a short black off-the-shoulder dress, which feels perfect for this evening.

Looking down to the left, people dancing and having a good time fill the area. The Tiki bar from the other day is surrounded. It looks like so much fun, and something I’d love to get into. I turn my head to look inside the room, and Erin is still passed out cold. I wonder if she’d be pissed at me if I were to head downstairs for a couple of hours.

After going back and forth with myself for the past ten minutes, I decided to take a chance. I leave a glass of water with a note next to where Erin is sleeping in case she wakes up while I’m not here. I doubt I’ll be gone for more than two hours, but I just write down that I’ll be back soon.

I exit the hotel and make my way onto the beach—I love that as soon as you open the doors, you’re right on the shore—and the music instantly captivates me. The excitement of the crowd of people dancing also gets my blood going. Everyone is so alive down here and it looks like they’re all having such a great time. I don’t really want to dance by myself, so I head to grab a drink.

I make my way past the crowd and find the Tiki bar, ordering something light to start. I already had one drink at dinner and don’t really want to push it with strong liquor. The bartender, a man in his late thirties with blond hair and a smile that makes him look like Zachary Morris from Saved by the Bell, walks up to me asking what I’ll have. I decide to keep it simple and ask for a Mojito. What’s easier than that right now?

“You never were one for the heavy liquor.”

A deep, sultry voice coming from the left makes me snap my head toward it as the bartender hands me my drink.

Emerald green eyes that I could never have forgotten bore into me. Holy fuck. Kalen Starling is standing just mere inches away from me. When the hell did he get here? Had I seen him earlier, I sure as hell would not have sat down here.

He points to the seat beside me. “May I?”

Too shell shocked to speak, I bat my eyes a few times and hear him chuckle.

“Okay, okay. I’ll play it safe and sit over there.” He walks to the next seat over and plops down into it.

I can’t stop my eyes from scanning him over. He’s in dark gray dress pants and a white dress shirt with only the top two buttons open. Over it, he dons a matching gray blazer. A shadow of a goatee covers his handsome face and—what am I saying? I’m supposed to be mad at him. I’m supposed to hate him. Yet, I can’t take my eyes off of him. What the hell is wrong with me?

After he ignored me for all those years after what we had, how can I even think he’s cute? Or handsome. Or downright fucking hot, making every inch of me crave his lips on mine like they used to be so long ago.

Ugh. I hate myself right now. I hate my body for going against me and betraying me. This is not the way things are supposed to go. This is not the way I’m supposed to feel when I see Kalen Starling. Not even close.

My eyes watch his every move as he tilts his head away from my direction and faces forward, raising one finger to alert the bartender. He orders a whiskey on the rocks, and after Steve—I learned the bartender’s name after Kalen thanked him—hands him his drink, he takes a swig and then faces me once more. A small but satisfied grin pulls across his face, and then he wipes his mouth with a napkin.

All the while, I still can’t peel my eyes away from him. I tried, but something about him and where we are now is making it difficult for me to look elsewhere. It’s like he’s cast some type of spell on me, not letting me pull my gaze away.

Finally he opens his mouth and speaks. “So, Lexi. How are you? It’s been so long. Are you enjoying your stay here at Starling Paradise?”

It’s been so long? Shit, that doesn’t even scratch the surface. It’s been years, almost a damn decade since we last saw one another. And yet, the way he’s talking, you’d think we just saw each other a year ago.

I swallow thickly, trying to find the way to form some words to answer his questions. But I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to answer him anymore. Long ago, I wouldn’t have been speechless. I would have known exactly how to answer him because he was one of my best friends. Today, he’s just a stranger. A stranger who I’m having a hard time not cursing out right about now. I think that’s the reason why it’s so hard for me to find the right words. I want to tell him to fuck off, to ask him how dare he speak to me now like nothing ever happened between us, but I don’t