3. Lucian

CHAPTER 3

Lucian

I sit on the bench and she sits next to me, her blue eyes wary and shuttered.

I sigh, knowing I deserve that.

"I'm sorry, Serena. I thought I was doing the right thing when I told you to leave. And it must have been good because you found a man who loves you. Who wouldn't?"

Her head cocks, her blond curls slipping down her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

I nod at the boy and the wedding band she's wearing. "You're married and happy. I can tell."

She throws her head back and laughs. "Wow! When was the last time you had your eyes checked?"

I rear back as she laughs, her head thrown back. She finally stops laughing and nods at her hand. "I just got divorced. And my ex just married the girl he cheated on me with."

I wince. That sounds too familiar. Just like her father.

"I'm so sorry, Rena. You didn't deserve that."

She snorts. "Nobody deserves that."

I huff. "Yeah. But with how your dad…". I stop talking when she stiffens. "Ummm. Anyway, I'm sorry that happened to you. That really stinks."

Another snort. "Yeah. Stinks."

I don't know what to say to her right now. I know that I'm weirdly relieved that the bastard left her. I'm not happy that she's hurt but I am happy that the bastard is out of the picture.

"What about your son?"

She turns her head and smiles and it's so heartbreakingly familiar that my breath catches in my throat. Fuck, have I missed that smile!

"When did you get back here?"

She turns to me and her lush pink mouth tightens. "Why are you here with me, Lucian? You made your feelings plain when you told me that you needed space and told me to leave to go to school."

I grasp her fingers, studying them like they're the most interesting things I've ever seen. Long, slender and tipped with clipped nails no longer painted.

"I didn't want to do that, Rena. I wanted you to go to school and dance like you wanted to. It's the only thing that made you happy. It's what you lived for."

Her blue eyes lift and there's something dark and jagged hiding behind those eyes. Something wild and scary. I gasp.

"I lived for a lot more than just dancing, Lucian. I loved you and you told me to leave."

She yanks her hands out of mine and stands, her curves almost shaking with anger. "I will never trust you again."

I watch her walk away and I slump into the seat. I knew as soon as I saw her I was still in love with her.

But I've been alone for awhile. She just lost the man she thought she loved.

I refuse to believe that she loved him like she loved me. I can still see it hiding in her eyes behind a boatload of hurt that the world has given her. That I gave her.

It might have been for the best reason. But it was still brutal and wrong and I shouldn't have done it because I fucking hurt her so bad that she still remembers the pain today. That hurts me worse than if she had smacked me into next week. It fucking guts me.

There should have been a better way to make sure that she got to live her dreams like I wanted her to. Some way that didn't hurt either one of us and that gave her my support for the rest of our lives. We both deserved that and we never got it.

Because I panicked when I heard her talking to her friends about what we were going to do after graduation and she wasn't going to school. She just wanted to be with me. I still remember the way my heart hammered in my throat and an icy chill skittered across my neck and up into my head, making me feel light-headed, guilty and sad all at the same time.

It's a mess and I'm not sure what to do about it. But we've been given a second chance. I've been given a second chance at something I never thought I'd get a chance to fix.

A chance at the one and only woman I ever really felt like I couldn't live without.

"Why are you looking at my mom like that?" I turn and face the young boy I saw earlier and eye him closely. He's the spitting image of Serena. Short blond curls and big, open blue eyes so guileless that it's like they can look through you. Find all your secrets and expose them to the world. When I stare at him he gives me a little grin that's just like his mother's.

The strangest feeling of seeing my future hits me again. A knowing that this boy was meant to be mine. My family. As surely as if he had been mine at birth.

I grin at him, liking the mischievous glint in his blue eyes. It reminds me so much of that girl I met in high school. The one that took the world by the tail and lived like she danced, wholeheartedly.

"I used to know your mom," I say, holding out my hand like he was a grown-up. "My name is Lucian Marino. What's yours?"

"Seth. Seth Talon."

I shake his hand firmly, not treating him like anything but a man. "It's nice to meet you, Seth."

He shakes my hand solemnly, his blue eyes still sparkling. "It's nice to meet you too."

I glance around. "I saw you talking to my daughter earlier. Have you seen her lately? The dark-haired girl with brown eyes."

"Ah! Yeah. She wouldn't give me her name but I saw her go to the barn with all the horses with another group of people."

"Oh. Good, I guess."

He glances around and then waves at someone and takes off, looking back at me as he runs. "See ya later, Mr. Marino. I've got to go!"

I smile and wave. "Have fun!"

I glance around and see if I can see who he's looking at but all I see is groups of kids squealing and milling around. Nobody sticks out.

I head for the barn where he said that I might find Connie. But when I search the aisle and all the kids I don't see her anywhere.

Where the hell is my little girl?