By the time I’d sobered up, it was five hours past when I was supposed to be at her house. I’d texted her immediately. Apologizing profusely. It was after eight a.m. now. She was definitely awake. I cringed. It wasn’t a good sign that I hadn’t heard from her. Maybe I could grab her a muffin and her favorite coffee to ease myself back into her good graces. She loved the hazelnut lattes here.

The bell over the bakery rang, and I looked up. I had the sudden urge to hide under the table. My brain could not deal with Alicia this morning.

“Crosby,” she bit out. “You haven’t returned a single one of my texts.”

“Why would I?”

Alicia’s cheeks reddened. “I’ve had just about enough of this. You’re throwing a temper tantrum like a spoiled little boy. I messed up. I’ve apologized. You need to get over it so we can return to Boston and get back to our lives. It’s been four years. That should’ve been long enough for you to lick your wounds.”

Now, this was the real Alicia. The one who demanded everything to be her way, on her timetable. The woman who had no concept of how her actions might affect other people. The person I hadn’t recognized for far too long. “I am over it. What’s amusing is that you think that after four years, you have some magic hold over me. You’re poison, Alicia. And I won’t let you infect the new life I’ve built here.”

But she already had. Her presence alone had thrown me for a loop, made me question everything that I had with Kenna. It’d sent me into a tailspin where I’d done the last thing I wanted to do—I’d caused Kenna pain.

Alicia rolled her eyes. “Always so dramatic.”

I pushed to my feet. “By dramatic, do you mean that I have a heart? I know it’s a foreign concept to you. But most people find it an asset. You wouldn’t because you’re a vampire. You suck the life out of everyone around you. You take and you take until they have nothing left to give, or you find someone else who looks like they have more. I’m done playing your messed-up little game. If you don’t leave this island in the next twenty-four hours, I’m filing a restraining order. I’d say your string of text messages and showing up unannounced on my doorstep would give me a pretty good case.”

It would be embarrassing as hell to have to present that case to a judge, but I didn’t care. I was done letting this woman ruin my life. Through allowing her to twist my mind.

Alicia blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

“Test me.” I’d do whatever it took to finally be free of her.