Why Here?
Dahlia
The car comes to a stop, and I gawk at the stores outside the window. This is not where I thought we would go when I agreed to go shopping with Vex. “This isn’t the mall.”
“No, it’s not.” He makes no move to exit the car.
“But how are we going to eat pretzels and wander around holding hands?” There’s no way I just said that. Even a child would know better than to just blurt something like that out.
“You do know we aren’t teenagers.”
It’s been a while since I’ve been a teenager, and I’m more than happy not to remember that stage of my life. Still — “So? Pretzels and company are the two best parts of shopping.”
“Does your whole life revolve around food? You have ‘thank you’ cookies and ‘shopping’ pretzels. Are there any other food rules I should know about? ”
“They aren’t rules per se.”
“There are more.”
I shrug. He doesn’t need to know about engagement brownie cheesecake or any of the other dozen foods that mean something.
“Good to know. I look forward to learning your food rules.”
That’s going to be hard, since this is the last time we’ll ever see each other.
He steps out of the car and holds a hand out to help me out of the car. A quick scoot brings my legs over to the door, leaving part of the coat behind me.
No. No. No. I tug at the coat, trying to cover my legs. How do models walk around in all those micro minis without showing anything and I can’t even make it with a dress that’s longer than mid-thigh?
Vex moves to stand between me and the sidewalk, obstructing the view of everyone around, facing the wall sidewalk like the gentleman he isn’t supposed to be.
This would be the ideal time for me to develop some sort of grace and coordination. I tug and yank and twist until some semblance of coverage happens.
Why can’t this be a nightmare?
I could wake up and find myself in my lovely bed in my house in my safe little neighborhood.
But my life doesn’t work like that. At least no one caught that on camera for the world to see. “Thank you, I can get up now.”
Even though the words I whispered were barely a breath, Vex steps to the side with his hand held out to me. The second our hands meet, some of the stress melts away. He lifts me to my feet while I hang on to the coat for dear life.
Vex tucks my hand through his arm and waits for me to get my feet under me. “Where do you want to start?”
“Wait, I get to pick?”
“Dahlia.” He practically rolls his eyes in a sexy crime lord kind of way.
A new outfit is all I can think about. Something that I won’t flash the entire world in .
But it’s late. And if I know anything about men, they need to eat or they get grumpy. We need to get a snack at least to tide us over. That pastry shop will do. Vex seemed to enjoy his cookies. “Are you coffee picky?”
He turns to me with a raised eyebrow.
“What? People like all these fancy coffees.”
“I don’t drink coffee.”
What? “But you look like a black coffee type?”
“Black coffee has a type?” The corner of his lip turns up.
“Of course, it does.” Everyone knows the type of coffee you drink says a lot about who you are. “Black coffee says you’re strong enough to handle the bitter and determined to get your caffeine boost.”
“And how do you drink your coffee?” His eyes twinkle as he stares down at me, completely ignoring the people walking past us.
“I don’t. Coffee tastes nasty. There isn’t enough sugar in the world to make it taste like anything but burnt dirt. Why would I voluntarily drink burnt dirt when I can get my caffeine fix other ways?”
“Burnt dirt. What is your caffeine of choice?”
“Chocolate. I don’t need much caffeine. You probably don’t defile your body or something like that.”
“Defile my body.” Vex burst out laughing.
The smile that tags along with that laughter completely changes his face. My heart flutters.
“Dahlia, I’ve been defiling my body since I was a teenager.”
I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. “What did you do?”
Vex tucks my hand in the crook of his arm as he starts walking towards the pastry shop. “What didn’t I do is a better question. Before you can ask, the only answer is drugs. I did and tried everything possible except drugs.”
Should it surprise me more that he didn’t try drugs or that he’s so honest about it? “You don’t smell like cigarettes.”
“That vice didn’t stick.”
And what others did? More than the fact that I don’t have the nerve to know is the fact, I’m not sure I want to. Vex isn’t the man I’ve seen these last few days, and I need to remember that.
Wait… “Why didn’t you ask me about my vices?”
“There’s no need. You don’t have any.”
“Excuse me, I have vices. No one is perfect.”
“Chocolate and purses don’t count as vices.”
How did he — “Those aren’t my only vices.”
“But they’re the worst of the bunch.” He opens the door to the pastry shop, letting me step in first.
“They certainly aren’t.” The sweet scent of baked dough and spices beckons me in.
“Name one.”
That’s easy. “I read the last page of every book before I buy it.”
“The horror.”
“It really is.”
“I believe you.”
“Did you really do all those things?” Why did I say that? I shouldn’t have asked a crime lord if he did bad things.
“Yes, Dahlia, I did.”
“Why?” Nothing about this man makes any sense.
He shrugs. “Because I could.”
“Your mother should have grounded you. It worked wonders for my brother… sort of.”
Vex smirks. “Sort of?”
“He married the wrong woman. Who took him for everything. Then he discovered drinking and gambling for a while. We think he’s just starting to come out of his funk now. But you can’t ground grown men, now can you?”
“Was he mean to you?”
“My brother hated himself. It was hard for him to be nice to anyone.” A place that smells this good isn’t suited for heavy topics. “What are you going to get? ”
“I just ate cookies.” Vex doesn’t look away from me to glance up at the menu.
“So?”
“With logic like that, how can I disagree?” He glances up for the briefest second. “I’m going to have an egg white omelet on a croissant. What about you?”
Hmm. That’s a good question. There are so many scrumptious-looking items in the display case, and the drink menu is huge.
“Do you always have a hard time making choices?”
Maybe. Sometimes. More than occasionally. “Um…kind of.”
One side of his lip tips up.
Why does it feel like such an accomplishment to make him smile?
“You need to look at the menu. We’re up next.”
He’s polite too. A polite crime lord… that’s not much of an oxymoron.
“We should have ordered in.”
My head swings around to see if anyone heard what he just said. A blush burns up my cheeks. No one even bats an eye.
“I might have found a new hobby.”
“Huh?” I turn back to Vex.
“We’re up.”
“Oh.” I spin around.
“What would you like?” a teenage girl asks with more enthusiasm than anyone should have this early in the morning.
Vex orders, giving me time to glance up at the menu one more time. “I’ll have a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.”
“Anything else?” she asks.
“No, that’s it. Thank you.”
We step to the side after Vex pays.
“You didn’t order any food.”
Hot chocolate is food… kind of. “I never eat breakfast.”
Vex shakes his head .
At least he didn’t tell me that it’s the most important meal of the day like my mother does all the time.
They hand us our drinks in no time at all.
Vex looks like the type to sit and eat with a knife and fork or kill his meal and roast it on a spit over a fire that he built with a few twigs and his death stare depending on his mood. “Do you want to sit or walk and eat?”
He eyes the ever-moving sea of people around us with a raised eyebrow.
“Walking it is.” I don’t have to say that twice. We’re outside, walking arm in arm almost before I can blink.
Does Vex have a plan? Or are we winging it? Shopping is always the most fun when I follow my heart… and my eyes into a store, but Vex doesn’t seem like the type to shop for fun. He’s more of a get-in and get-out kinda guy.
Who am I kidding, with the money he probably has, he’s probably more like a personal shopper or designer comes to him kinda guy.
Mother would approve of his style and his money, even if Vex would terrify her.
Would he, though? Mom isn’t afraid of much.
I should probably take the lead since we’re shopping for clothing for me.
If I only have one store, which one should I pick?
Most of the boutiques around this area are frightfully expensive. They’re splurges. Not buy a quick outfit because your clothing had to be cut off of you by a doctor after you were drugged and passed out in a club bathroom.
A club bathroom.
I passed out in a club bathroom.
Dahlia Prudence Fleur passed out on the floor of a club.
“You’re shaking.” Vex stops in the middle of the sidewalk. “You should have gotten something to eat. Here, take a bite.” He holds out his half-eaten sandwich.
“I’m not hungry. This is good enough.” I lift up my cocoa and take a sip.
“Sugar isn’t going to help. You need protein. Take a bite.”
“No. ”
Vex blinks twice.
“People don’t often say no to you, do they?”
He raises an eyebrow like that’s a stupid question.
“I don’t like people telling me what to do. My mother says I’m a bit stubborn like that.”
He doesn’t move a muscle. The sandwich stays right there between us, hovering like a challenge.
Do I eat it or do I explain to him the thoughts running through my head? I take the sandwich.
Vex nods.
“But don’t think you’ll always get your way.” Between the buttery pastry and the gooey cheese, I can almost pretend it isn’t semi-healthy. I hold it out to him. “Thank you.”
“Take another bite.”
“You’re awfully bossy.” To be stubborn, I take the smallest bite… more like a nibble. “There.” I hold it out to him.
“We’ll have an early lunch.” He takes the sandwich back and tucks my hand into the crook of his arm.
We’re walking again, it seems.
Picking a store shouldn’t be this hard, but we walk half a city block before I find one that will suit me. “Can we go in that one?” I point across the street to the first moderately priced store that has modest clothing.
“No,” he says simply and keeps walking.
“Why not?” It’s perfect.
“Because those clothes aren’t for you.”
That tells me absolutely nothing. “I can assure you, I’ll find something in that store to wear.”
“We aren’t going in that store. End of discussion.”
He calls that a discussion? Men.
“We’re going in there.” His eyes move to the building that takes up almost a whole city block across from us .
One of the fanciest stores in the world. I’ve been in there once or twice… to buy a purse, but never to buy an entire outfit. Designers around the world vie to have their clothing stocked in there. “Um, Vex—”
“That’s where we’re going. I promise you’ll find something you’ll like.”
That isn’t in question. I like practically everything in there—except some of the more off-the-wall styles—but those price tags are going to hurt.
Stop stressing. You can afford to buy an outfit regardless of the price. It’ll sting a little, but when are you ever going to get to go shopping in a place like this with a man like Vex by your side ever again?
Never. That’s when.
Enjoy the moment. It’ll be an odd memory that you can share with the little old ladies in the retirement home. “I know I will.”