Page 53 of Flame Kissed

Adaze hesitated. It really wasn’t her thing, but she wanted to be a part of Leilani’s world

“You don’t have to?—”

“No, I want to.”

Leilani lit up. “Great! We were hoping to plan for Monday evening. Do you think you’d be free?”

Diana was going to kill her, but… “I'll make it work.”

“That’s perfect. I’ll let her know and get everything set up.”

When Monday evening came around, Adaze picked Leilani up in her porsche and they headed to one of the state parks. She had had Diana pick her up some designer hiking wear and suitable footwear as it wasn’t her usual scene.

As they pulled up in the parking lot, there was a small cluster of about three people already there, waiting for them. She vaguely recognized two of them as people Leilani worked with. The third on the other hand…. That couldn’t be who she thought it was, could it?

As they pulled to a stop, Adaze couldn’t help but frown when she saw a familiar face. Her blood ran cold as she realized she was right.

Standing there decked out in hiking gear with a one-eyed dog was her ex-wife.

But that couldn’t be right.

This had to be some mistake.

But then they parked and Leilani raced over to her, greeting her with a smile

“Hey, Veronica!” she grinned. “Did you have an easy time finding the place?”

“Yeah, I—” she fell silent when she saw Adaze.

Adaze spun to face her girlfriend. “Is this who you’ve been spending time with?”

Leilani didn’t seem fazed by any of this. “Oh, yeah, this is Veronica, the one I’ve been telling you about.”

“Her? Are you serious?”

Images flashed through her head. She could see the way the two of them must be when she wasn’t around. Veronica was an untrustworthy snake!

“Um, yeah? What am I missing here?”

“Her?”

Leilani had the audacity to look confused. Was she really going to pretend she didn’t know who she was standing beside?

“Yes?”

Adaze shook her head. “I can’t believe you would do this to me.” She turned and walked back to her car.

“Wait!” Leilani dared to call after her. “I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”

But it was too late. She was already gone.

15

LEILANI

Leilani’s heart pounded in her chest like a jackhammer, threatening to burst its way out from where it was supposed to live tucked away safely behind her ribs any second in its desperation to follow after Adaze. None of this made even the slightest bit of sense to her. How could everything go so wrong so fast?

Things had been going so well between them, so why did Adaze run off without so much as a word. Why didn’t she just talk to her about…. Whatever that was.