Old flame

"Nyx! We've missed you so much!"

Anna threw her arms around me the moment I stepped into the café, nearly knocking the breath out of me. Marco was right behind her, grinning like we hadn't just seen each other two nights ago when I'd made a complete fool of myself.

"It's only been a few days," I said, extricating myself from Anna's enthusiastic hug.

"A few days too long." She pulled me toward their usual corner table. "We need to do this more often. You've been locked in that restaurant like a hermit."

"I've been working."

"You've been hiding," Marco corrected, sliding a coffee across the table to me. "From what, we're not sure yet but Anna has theories."

"I do not have theories."

"You absolutely have theories. You texted me seventeen theories last night."

I took a long sip of coffee, letting their familiar banter wash over me. This was normal, this was safe, this didn't involve stepdads I'd kissed in moments of weakness and who'd been avoiding me for three days straight.

"Earth to Nyx,"

Anna waved her hand in front of my face. "You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"That thing where you go somewhere else in your head." She leaned forward, her expression shifting to concern.

"Are you okay? Really okay?"

"I'm fine." I lied.

"Is it the restaurant?" Marco asked. "Because if you need help, my cousin knows someone who might want to invest."

"It's not the restaurant."

"Then what?" Anna's eyes narrowed. "Oh my god, is it a guy?"

"No." I denied,

"It's totally a guy. I can see it on your face." She turned to Marco.

"She has the guy face."

"I don't have a guy face."

"Everyone has a guy face when they're thinking about someone. Please tell me you're not still hung up on Sven."

The name made my stomach turn. Sven, my ex from photography school who'd spent two years systematically destroying my confidence, criticized every photo I took, every job I applied for, every dream I had but I've finally left behind when I came home.

"God no," I said. "I'm definitely not thinking about Sven."

"Good, because that guy was toxic waste." Marco took a bite of his pastry.

"So if it's not Sven, who is it?"

"I didn't say there was anyone."

I left the café and started walking back to the restaurant, my mind spinning with everything I was trying not to think about.

My head revolved around the kiss. The way Gus had looked at me afterward, like he was drowning.

The three days of careful distance that felt worse than hatred ever had.I was so lost in thought that I almost ran into the man standing in front of my restaurant.

"Hello, Nyx."I froze, my entire body going cold. That voice, I knew that voice even though I'd spent six months trying to forget it.

Sven stood there in expensive jeans and a designer jacket, flowers in his hand and that same apologetic smile he'd perfected during our relationship.

The smile that said he was sorry, he'd changed, please give him another chance.

"What are you doing here?" My voice came out uninterested.

"I came to see you." He held out the flowers like they were a peace offering.

"I know showing up unannounced is crazy, but I needed to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about, We've been done.""I know but I was an idiot to let you go."

He took a step closer and I took a step back.

"But I've changed, Nyx. I've been going to therapy, working on myself. I realize now how badly I treated you and I want to make it right.""You need to leave," I said.

"Just give me a chance to explain, that's all I'm asking."

"She said leave."Gus's voice cut through the air, slowly I turned to find him standing a few feet away, his expression calm but his body language anything but.

He looked dangerous in a way I'd never seen before.

Sven's smile faltered. "And you are?"

"Someone who knows when a woman doesn't want to be bothered."

Gus moved to stand beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him.

"She asked you to leave. So leave."

"This is between me and Nyx."

"There is no you and Nyx," I said, finding my voice.

"Baby, please." Sven reached for my arm but Gus stepped between us before he could touch me.

"Don't," Gus said quietly. "Don't touch her, turn around and go back to wherever you came from."

Something dangerous flashed in Sven's eyes.

"What are you, her father? Her boyfriend? What gives you the right to speak for her?"

"I'm the person who's asking nicely for the last time” the threat in Gus's voice was unmistakable.

"Walk away now while you still can."

Sven looked between us, calculation clear on his face.

"I see what this is. You've moved on to someone older, someone with money probably. That's fine, Nyx but this won't work out, I'll still be here."

He dropped the flowers on the ground and walked away, but not before shooting Gus a look that promised this wasn't over.

The moment he was gone, Gus turned to me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Who was that?"

"My ex from Milan." I picked up the flowers and threw them in the nearest trash bin.

"He's been texting me since I came home but I've been ignoring him. I didn't think he'd actually show up."

"What did he do to you?"The question was so direct it caught me off guard.

"What makes you think he did anything?"

"Because I saw your face when you recognized his voice, you went completely still like you were preparing for an attack and that's the reaction of someone who's been hurt."

Gus's hands were clenched into fists at his sides. "What did he do?"

"He never hit me, if that's what you're asking. But he made me feel small like I was lucky he even bothered with me."

The words came faster now, months of buried hurt spilling out.

"He'd criticize my photography until I stopped showing him my work and he made me believe I was nothing without him, that I should be grateful he stayed."

"Nyx." Gus's voice had gone rough.

"I know it's pathetic."

"It's not pathetic. He's a predator and you survived him. That's not pathetic."

I looked up at him, at this man who'd been avoiding me for days, who'd kissed me like I was everything and then told me it was a mistake.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do." He reached up like he was going to touch my face, then stopped himself. "Because the thought of someone hurting you makes me want to do things I promised myself I'd never do again."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you should stay away from that man. If he comes back, you call me immediately."

His eyes were dark, intense. "I mean it, Nyx. Don't try to handle him alone."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm asking you to be smart because men like him don't give up easily."

"Men like him," I repeated. "You say that like you know the type."

"I do." Something flickered across his face, there and gone before I could name it.

"Trust me on this."

We stood there on the street, too close with tension crackling between us. I wanted to ask him about the kiss and why he looked at me like I mattered when he kept saying this couldn't happen.

"Gus," I started.

"I need to go." He stepped back, putting distance between us.

"Wait."But he was already walking away, leaving me standing there with more questions than answers and a sick feeling in my stomach that Sven showing up was just the beginning of something worse.