Chapter 10
TEN
When Bree left me with Blair, I instantly wanted to follow her but was too shocked to make my legs move properly.
It wasn’t because Blair was rude to her or unnaturally aggressive.
It was because Bree was familiar with my work.
Obviously, she’d read my books. Everything she’d said about Basilica had been spot-on. Not that Blair wanted to hear it.
I was still absorbing the fact that Bree had read my books when she took off, probably annoyed that I hadn’t at least admonished Blair about being so aggressive.
Bree was gone in a shot, and I was left to extricate myself from a superfan before I could follow.
I wasn’t planning on chasing her into the bathroom—I was the king of boundaries—but I did plan on apologizing away from the waning crowd.
Instead, I found Bree being harassed by freaking Joey again.
What is it with that guy? Why is he even here?
I reacted immediately. The only thought in my head was getting her out of the corner she was boxed into, a spot where she was especially vulnerable. I had never been so relieved in my life when she took my hand without giving me a hard time. It would make things easier.
“You again,” Joey drawled.
I opted to play ignorant. “Do I know you?” Bree’s body brushed against mine as I put myself between her and the creeper, which was how I’d started referring to him in my head.
“I met you at the last event.” There was an edge to Joey’s voice, telling me he didn’t like hearing that I’d forgotten who he was.
“Huh,” I said, lifting one shoulder. “Sorry. Did I sign something for you?”
It was an innocent enough question on the face of it. In truth, I was elevating myself in his estimation. Not because I thought I was better or anything—I just wanted to remind him that the event organizers would call security on my behalf if necessary.
“No,” Joey sneered. “I don’t read about elfs.”
“Elves,” I automatically corrected then wished I’d kept my mouth shut. “Thanks for coming.” I beamed a bright smile that I didn’t feel. “We have dinner reservations, though. I don’t want to be late.” I gripped Bree’s hand tighter. “I have to keep my girl fed.”
Now, Bree was not my girlfriend. She was a girl, but she wasn’t even my friend.
Or… at least I mostly still believed that.
I couldn’t help drawing a line in the sand despite that fact.
I wanted to dissuade Joey from approaching her again.
He was likely just a guy who had a crush on an author.
Those things happen. Just ask Blair Bernstein.
Bree was obviously uncomfortable around him, however, and I couldn’t tolerate that. She deserved to feel safe. Everybody did.
“Your girl, huh?” Joey’s expression was hard to read as it bounced between us. Ultimately, he shrugged. “Have a nice dinner.” He brushed past me aggressively when heading down the hallway. The look he shot Bree was different but somehow still intimidating.
Once he was gone, I turned my attention to Bree. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m okay. I just wasn’t expecting him.”
“Where was he?”
“Just outside the bathroom.”
I looked at the hallway again. “Do you think he knew you were in there, or was he doing something else?”
“What would he be doing in a dark hallway outside the bathrooms?”
I shrugged. “Looking for a quiet place to make a call? The bar got pretty loud.”
“Oh.” Bree pursed her lips. “I didn’t consider that.
” She furrowed her brow. “He didn’t have a phone in his hand,” she said finally.
“He was just standing there, and he turned in such a way that made me think he was waiting for me specifically. He didn’t react with surprise when I left the bathroom. ”
“Which means he was waiting for you.”
“How could he even know it was me, though?” Bree asked. “He would have had to have been watching me.”
I arched an eyebrow and waited her out.
“I didn’t see him hanging around tonight,” she argued after a beat.
“I didn’t either. But I can’t say I was looking.”
“Yeah, I can’t say I was either.” She was rueful. “Thank you. If you hadn’t showed up when you did…”
“You would have been fine. You’re loud. All you had to do was yell.”
“You made that unnecessary. At least I didn’t have to cause a scene. I got really lucky that you had to use the bathroom when you did.”
The look in her eyes, profound gratitude for the bare minimum again, made me distinctly uncomfortable. “Yes, well … I actually came looking for you.”
“You did?” She straightened. “Why?”
“Because Blair was rude to you, and that wasn’t right.”
“You mean Blair the superfan with your face stretched across her superboobs?” Bree’s lips curved at the corners.
I made a face. “I have been rigorously trained not to comment on anybody’s boobs.”
“Like… at a camp or something?”
“Yes, the camp of common sense,” I said. She laughed, and I felt myself relaxing. “She was really rude to you, and that wasn’t right. I just got thrown there for a second. Sometimes my brain isn’t as fast as it should be. I wanted to apologize once I got away from her.”
“Yeah?” She tilted her head then smirked. “Where did you land on Basilica?”
I wanted to ask her when she’d read my book. No, I wanted to ask her why she’d read my book. I didn’t. Instead, I shrugged. “We’ve agreed to disagree.”
“You do realize when you kill off Basilica in the next book—which is obviously coming—Blair’s going to hunt you down and castrate you, right?”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Hopefully, she’ll have moved on to somebody else by then.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” She glanced through the opening that led to the bar. “I really appreciate what you did. Nobody else would have done that. You defused the situation quietly without causing a scene. You were great.”
I hoped that wasn’t true—the part about nobody else stepping in. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was a huge deal. I appreciate it.” She took a step away. “I guess I should be going. I don’t want to get stuck waiting for an Uber alone again.”
For some reason, the idea of her fleeing and ending the night on somebody else’s terms didn’t sit well with me. I was suddenly in a panic to stop her.
“Dinner,” I blurted.
Her brow knit as she glanced over at me. “What?”
“Dinner,” I repeated. “I told Joey I was taking you to dinner. Just to be on the safe side, in case he’s waiting outside, I should follow through.”
“You want to take me to dinner?” Bree was understandably dubious.
“You didn’t get to eat all the appetizers you ordered. You were hangry before the event started. You must be fangry by now.”
“What’s fangry?”
“Furiously hungry?”
She considered it. “I guess that works.” When she smiled, it was like the sun had come out after a week of clouds. “I could eat. What did you have in mind?”
I TOOK HER TO B. MATTHEW’S EATERY, one of my favorite low-key places.
It was just down the road so an easy walk.
She smiled when we entered, looking around appreciatively, and in that moment, something inside me settled.
I’d been nervous, uncertain what she would like.
The fact that she approved of my choice allowed me to unwind, however marginally.
I didn’t know what it was about her that got me going.
She made everything in me clench inwardly in ways I hadn’t clenched since I’d been in high school.
At first, I assumed it was because I couldn’t stand her.
She was going to do something weird to embarrass me again.
She was just messing with me and would show her true colors at some point. Now I wasn’t so certain that was true.
Is it possible what had happened two years ago really was an accident and she isn’t the devil? Was I wrong about her? Or was I right, but she wasn’t the only one to blame?
I was wound tight, and maybe I had overreacted. How different would things have been had I not freaked out that day?
“What’s good here?” she asked once we were seated, drawing me out of my bubble of self-reflection.
“I’ve never had anything bad here.” I smiled. She smiled back. “What do you like?”
“I’m not too picky.” She smiled happily as she looked over the menu. “Well, other than oyster po’boys. I don’t want to agree with Nathan, because that seems like a bad idea on principle, but oyster po’boys are disgusting to even think about.”
I was right there with her. “I’m not a big fan of oysters.”
“Me either. You’re either eating snot if they’re raw or eating fried snot if they’re not.”
That made me grin. “Eat a lot of snot, do you?”
She shrugged. “According to my mother, I was a booger picker.”
“Thanks for that visual,” I said dryly.
She laughed in a way that made something inside me tingle. “You can’t always trust what my mother says. I’m not sure if it’s true or not. I don’t remember a lot about that time. Plus, what I do remember involves a variety of babysitters, not her.”
That was the first private thing she’d ever told me. “You’re not close with your mother?”
She seemed to consider it. “Not really,” she said finally. “She shows up when she wants something—usually money—and claims she wants to spend time with me. Then, the second something better comes along—usually a man—she takes off. I go months without hearing from her.”
My heart pinched. “I’m sorry.”
She waved it off. “I came to grips with who my mother is a long time ago. She loves me, at least to the best of her ability, but she never put me first. My whole childhood revolved around her snagging a guy. That was her goal. If she had time to spend with me between those missions, she would take me places and make it a big adventure. The thing is, when I was little, I thought that was great. I always associated her with a good time. As I got older, I realized that I was only a priority when there was nobody better to focus on.”
My heart ached for her. “I am really sorry. That is … awful.”
She shrugged it off. “She’s given me nothing but fodder for my books.”