The Stars Landing Deviant by Jessica Gadziala

Author:Jessica Gadziala [Jessica Gadziala]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-08-05T07:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Cordelia

I couldn't go into the inn. I couldn't walk past the faces of people who were supposed to respect me as a professional as I sobbed my eyes out like a teenager getting their first taste of disappointed love.

I walked around the back of the building, finding an old weeping willow, finding the irony too perfect, and sat down at the base. My knees went up to my chest and I wrapped my arms around them, sobbing out the poison. That was what the fight with Dane had felt like: like a toxin had seeped into my bloodstream, like a sickness that needed to be purged.

"Cordelia?" a voice asked, sounding unsure and concerned.

Great. That was just wonderful. The perfect end to a completely awful day was getting caught crying over a guy that everyone would have told me to stay the hell away from in the first place.

I was that girl.

I hated that girl.

"Cordelia, what's going on?"

I recognized the voice then. It was familiar. I knew it. I had forgotten it fit into this town. It was a voice I connected to other places, other times. Back when I wasn't this pathetic mess.

"I'm fine James," I said, my voice weak and shaky no matter how I tried to control it. "Leave me alone."

"Alas," he said and I almost wanted to laugh. Who the hell said alas anymore? "A gentleman is bound by the code of... gentlemanliness... to never leave a sobbing maiden alone. Is there a scoundrel I need to challenge to a duel, milady?"

I laughed. Damn him and his ridiculous charm. I laughed.

It was all the encouragement he needed and he walked over toward me, sitting back against the tree and bumping my shoulder with his. "I've seen you a lot over the years," he said, sounding thoughtful. "I've seen business Cordelia: calm and confident and sure of herself. I've seen the real Cordelia: shy and vulnerable and bookish. I've seen drunk Cordelia: a little slutty, kinda silly and in definite need of a chaperon. I've seen you tired and hungry and frustrated and disappointed. But I've never, in all these years, seen you look like you're just... shattered. What's going on?"

I took a breath, sniffling pitifully. "I'm in love with Dane," I said simply. It couldn't stay hidden forever.

"Dane is a great guy," he said, his voice full of an affection that can only mean the two had a pretty good bromance going on.

"Dane is an asshole," I countered.

"Yeah," he agreed, laughing a little, "but he's a good person underneath it all."

"Got any evidence of that? Because he just made a compelling argument to the contrary."

"Like... an actual argument?" James asked, sounding confused.

"Yes. With the nasty remarks and the yelling. The whole shebang."

"Dane never gets into arguments."

"What are you talking about? He' got this explosive..."

"Yeah, he has a temper. But he always makes his point in that laid back 'you're an idiot' way. He never gets riled up."

"Yes well apparently you don't know him as well as you thought.

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