• Johnathon Townsend was a man who had sinister and wicked written all over him. He had the kind of looks any self respecting bad boy would kill for. Dark hair that fell over his eyes in a way that looked like it had been styled, dark eyes under brooding thick eyebrows. A stance that oozed nonchalance and lips the promised he would be gone by morning after they’d left imprints all over your body. And when our eyes meet across the room in Glory’s, I knew I was in for a bad trip. John hadn’t shown his face in town for 15 years. No one had got a call or a card, not even his mother and he was nothing but trouble, every dark wicked sinful inch of him. I was the first to look away, I didn’t want to see the familiarity in his eyes, I also didn’t want him to see how surprised I was. It was like a ghost had just walked through the doors and ordered a beer like commonplace. I sipped my drink and willed him not to come over to the table my friends and I were sharing. Rand, Fora, Kit and I were here to forget the stress from the week, loosen up and maybe dance with some guys who were a few years younger than us. And I was having a great time until I spotted John. Because there was no way in hell I could have predicted it. John and I had bad blood between us, it had been that way since our senior year of high school and then he’d left town without so much as a goodbye, or an apology. But what could I have expected? I thought he’d cared about us, about me. I’d been dead wrong.

    We’d grown up together like most people who end up hating each other. My mother worked as a nurse at the hospital with his mother. I still remembered the recipe swaps and laughter from the kitchen when his mother had visited, while John and I would play out in my back yard inventing adventures or getting in trouble playing with my father’s tools. In the end those bonds hadn’t mattered, we grew apart, and for the life of me I never expected to be haunted by him again.

    ‘Ladies’

    Inwardly I groaned. His voice was just as deep as I remembered, slow heavy, confident. It sent shivers down my spine and brought bitterness to the tip of my tongue. I hated him in that moment, my emotions turning over fresh in my heart. I didn’t look at him but I could sense him standing just behind my chair. I heard Fora gasp.

    ‘John? John Townsend? You’re shitting me.’ Fora’s voice was incredulous. I watched a predatory smile slide across her lips and I felt annoyance for her flirtatious mood. For chrissake the scumbag had just blown back into town and she wanted to jump his bones. I scoffed slammed my drink down on the table. I grabbed my jacket and got out of there. I wasn’t ready to deal with John, I wasn’t ready for the old wounds to be opened I didn’t want to deal with the insane happiness that had almost choked me when I met his eyes. Bad things would happen if I let those thoughts and feeling back in, and my life had just got back on track so I did not need the past to swallow me back down.

    The night was cold, but what could you expect in Chicago in April? I pulled on my leather jacket stuffing my arms angrily through the sleeves and fished my keys from my pocket walking as fast as I could without outright running. I wasn’t a coward running away from my past as long as I wasn’t really running. I got to my car before I heard food steps and his hand caught a hold of my arm just like I knew he would. I pulled roughly out of his grasp and whirled to face him. Up close I could see the changes time had made, his hair was long almost to his shoulders wavy and as black as night his face had filled out into high cheekbones and a strong chin that had only been hinted at last time I’d seen him. His eyes were still the same dark unreadable ones I had known for years, yet there were some hard learned life lessons there, some coldness and some sadness. But when I meet his stare full-on it became pleading. And my anger came in fresh waves. I turned back to my car and opened the door, but I turned back to him before getting in.

    ‘You think you can just walk back into town, say hi and all the bad blood between us will be washed down the river?’ My voice rose until I was yelling. ‘It ain’t just water under the bridge. Go back where ever the ******** you came from Johnny Townsend, and leave me alone.’

    I slammed my door turned the ignition and sped out of there so fast I almost clipped a Buick on my way out of the parking lot. I couldn’t resist looking the rear view, to see him standing there alone looking after me, and I felt dark satisfaction leaving him there.

    Just like he’d left me.