Lyla James and Haiden Lucas are stuck in an endless cycle marked by fated encounters, tainted love, and tragic deaths.
*****
In one hundred different realities, one thing remains...
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Lyla James was done.
She leaned down to give Flint—her Labrador retriever—one last pet before gripping the edge of the counter to stand up. "That was great," she said, her voice quiet. She wasn't speaking to Flint, though—no, Lyla had another guest.
"Yeah, it was." Haiden Lucas had driven a stony Kait home following their lunch at Iris's, and then he had followed Lyla to her house. They had both agreed that they had a few things to talk about. Now, they stood in her kitchen on opposite sides of her granite island. Haiden was not grinning, and for perhaps the first time, Lyla really wished he would.
"Why didn't you tell me about Kait?" she blurted—just as he was failing to smile, Haiden was also failing to look her in the eye. The air between them was tense and uneasy, empty of the million words and comments that Haiden would have unloaded by now had they not been in the middle of this.
"I—" he turned his head, and Lyla finally caught sight of that silver star. "It...it wasn't important."
Lyla scoffed. "You don't think your girlfriend is important?" If that was how Haiden thought of Kait—
"No!" Haiden said quickly. "That's not what I meant. I just didn't mention her because it never came up." He shrugged.
Lyla felt the need to look away. "I never asked you, you mean." Lyla was once again reminded of how selfish she'd been in their history. She'd never asked Haiden about himself, never asked about any part of his life, about his hopes and dreams, nothing that concerned him. What was worse was that she'd never felt like she needed to know. And didn't that say something about her? About them?
"What? Ly, that's not what I meant at all. You're twisting my words." He laughed cautiously, his eyes tightening as he stared at her.
Lyla fell silent. This was it; back at Iris's, she'd had a revelation—a new thought that changed things with Haiden. Not that their dynamic hadn't already been altered quite a few times in the past.
For one, where had she gone? Queen of intimidation nation. Loner extraordinaire. Where had Lyla James gone? Well, Haiden had swept her away, she realized. He'd pushed her to the side, revealing a part of Lyla that she had never known existed. Now, Lyla acted differently around Haiden...because she felt different around him.
"Ly?" he called to her, and as furious vibrations engulfed her body, Lyla's eyes flickered to his hand on hers. She immediately pulled away, falling back hard to lean against her gas stove. Shaking her head to clear it, Lyla locked eyes with Haiden.
"Do you have any siblings?" The question was abrupt and rash, but it needed to be asked. There were a lot of questions that needed to be asked if Lyla was ever going to feel alright.
He stared at her for a second, his expression wary, but he answered nonetheless. "Bree, my sister."
by reflectives
