Rejected No More: The Genius's Revenge

w hard, fighting the lump in his throat to keep his voice from cracking. "Don't w

w made to a woman twenty years in the past, from a future she couldn't comprehend. The ce

before radiating upward and exploding behind his eyes. Arlis Zimmerman gasped, his lungs seizing as if the air had sudd

you even lis

in his ears. Arlis forced his eyes open. The fluorescent lights of the Starbucks w

ee B

rties. She was stirring her latte with a plastic stick, her movements jerky and impatient. She w

failure. They were smooth. Young. He reached into his pocket and his fingers brushed against cold, har

Taurus rolled by outside, followed by a girl

ty years of regret slamming into a twenty-two-year-old body. He remembered the whiskey

cup down. Coffee sl

t want to start my job at the Community St

evaporated instantly. In its place was a cold, clinical clarity. He saw her not as the girl of his dreams, but as th

. She had a napkin ready in he

air. His heart rate slowed. "Is this fo

inpricks. The plastic stirrer fell from her hand on

café, panic flushing h

I know," Arlis said, hi

ive arrogance. "Well, since you know, it makes this easier. Kyler's father is the Vice Chair

o look. Hailee didn't shrink away; she preen

. He took a sip, letting the bitter, acidic tast

e said. "You finally sold yo

y her chair screeched against the floor tiles. "That kind of bitterness

. "Don't contact me. And don't even think about showing your

ng loudly as she stormed toward the exit, shoulde

r left on the table by a previous patron. The Capital Gazet

er until it landed on a small, insign

arch Fellowship - Writ

in his car for two hours. He had driven home, gotten

remembered the scandal that wouldn't break for another w

til the skin broke, a sharp, stinging pain that told him this

ved instinctively over the keypad, dialing

, worn down by years of grea

hat led to the promise he'd just