AUGUST

"Hi there," August greeted as Josephine rounded the corner, gun in hand.

"Jesus Christ," Josephine exclaimed, "I could've killed you."

August rolled her eyes, "I seriously doubt that."

Josephine lowered her gun, but her guard was still clearly up. The other woman simply sat in the chair completely unbothered.

"If you're here to see Clint, he's not here right now." Josephine explained.

August shook her head, "I'm here to see you, Josephine."

The slightly younger woman crossed her arms, "Why?"

"I know quite a lot about you Miss Bryne," August spoke carefully, "But since you don't know anything about me, let me introduce myself."

Josephine didn't say anything but rather studied the woman carefully.

"My name is August King, but more commonly referred to in the business world as the Shadow." She spoke, a twinge of sarcasm in her voice as she leaned forward in her chair.

A flicker of recognition caught on Josephine's features.

"So you've heard of me then?" August inquired.

"I'd say," Josephine quipped, "You were pretty famous around the Red Room, Dreykov really wanted you under his control."

August scoffed, "I'm sure he did, a lot of people wanted that."

Josephine shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Not to be rude or anything, but I would prefer to know what you want from me before my girlfriend or my girlfriend's hero return."

August cracked a small smile, "I'm here to recruit you."

"Recruit me?" Josephine's eyebrows shot upward, "For what?"

She shrugged, "A job. My boss is forming a sort of team, I guess you could call it."

"Why would I want a job?" Josephine quipped, finally sitting down.

"No one wants a job," August stated, "My boss told me to mention something about paying off student loans."

Josephine sighed, and August continued, "I hear you're studying to be an anthropologist. Quite interesting."

"What does this job entail?" Josephine asked quietly, although she was fairly certain that she knew the answer.

"Don't worry you have the skill set." August stated, "The pay is pretty damn good too, you would have the loans paid a lot more quickly than with any sort of regular job."

Josephine rolled her eyes, "Plenty of people have to pay student loans."

"Look, Josephine—"

"I'd prefer it if you'd call me Jo."

"Ok," August smiled, "Look Jo, I know what it's like. You and I are really similar."

Josephine met August's eyes to verify that she was at least telling the truth.

"This job, which is eventually going to be a team," she paused, "It's not like the places we came from."

Josephine could tell she was telling the truth or at least that's what August honestly believed.

"Look August," Josephine spoke up, "I have a life and I'm happy. I have Kate, I have school—"

"Just," August cut her off, "Just think about it."

"Here's my boss' business card, don't contact her unless you're taking the job. If you have any questions contact me, ok?"

Josephine studied the card, she did not recognize the name that was displayed in bold letters.

"See you around, Jo." August stood up from the chair, and Josephine nodded, tucking the business cards into her pocket.

August couldn't stop thinking about Maya wearing the ring. She couldn't for the life of her stop picturing what could have been.

It wasn't fair.

Nothing ever was though, August knew that better than anyone.

She sipped her coffee at the table they sat at the very first day they met. August remembered how embarrassed she was by how she introduced herself in front of the beautiful girl.

Maya never once let it go either, always calling her August like the month.

August was ripped from her memories flinching at the knocking against her table, "Can I sit?"

It took August a minute for the hurt and anger to settle back in at the sight of her ex-lover, "Absolutely not."

"I just want to talk." Maya signed with a frown.

August shook her head, "I don't have anything to say to you."

"Okay," Maya signed, before pulling the chair out, "You don't have to say anything."

So August didn't, she just looked at the woman that she used to love so much and realized that just maybe...she still had some of those feelings.

"I'm sorry," Maya signed.

"Sorry for what? How our relationship ended?" August signed angrily.

"I'm sorry for all of it." Maya sighed.

August swallowed, blinking away stubborn tears, "Yeah, me too."

"How can I make it better?"

That is what set August off. Almost as if it was one queue the snow storm whirled outside of the coffee shop's windows.

"You can't just come to me and expect to make everything better." This time August spoke as she signed too upset to care what the people around the coffee shop thought.

"That's not how relationships work, Maya!"

Maya flinched slightly about to defend herself when August kept going.

"You broke my heart." August frowned.

Maya sighed, "I know."

"You wanna know the truth, Maya?" August questioned, not even letting her respond before she continued, "I don't want to see you. I've moved on. The only reason we ran into each other was because I was trying to do my job."

"Okay." Maya swallowed, standing up from her chair, and undid the necklace chain that held the ring, "I'm just gonna go..."

Maya understood that she hurt August in the worst way possible.

August didn't say anything, she just let the woman walk away. Her eyes fell on the ring that now sat on the table.

She sighed, shoving it into her pocket out of frustration.

"Girl problems?"

August's eyes flickered up to the woman speaking. She was gorgeous blue curly hair and very artsy makeup.

"Always." August muttered swiping away a tear that escaped her eye.

"Oh, sweetie," the barista frowned, "We don't cry over people who don't deserve us here."

"You're right," August forced a small smile, "It's been two years since we ended things...it's time for me to move on."

"Attagirl," the barista smiled, and the two shared a look.

August decided it was time to move on, and so she did.

"My shift ends in like five minutes if you wanna grab dinner or something." The barista smiled.

August laughed, "I don't even know your name."

"It's Kala," she smiled, "Very nice to meet you."

The brunette laughed again, August wasn't exactly one to be spontaneous. Mostly because she never had a whole lot of control over her life until she was a teenager.

August wanted to live. She had been wallowing in self-pity over the way things ended with Maya for  far too long.

"You know what? I need to live a little." August smiled, "I would love to grab dinner or something."

"Oh so, I don't get a name?" Kala asked teasingly.

"August."

"Alright, see you in a few, August." Kala turned around waltzing back over to the counter to clock out.

Author's Note:

Thoughts?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!

— Via <3