Chapter Thirty #2
“I intend to show her what a real man looks like.” Thi leans back slightly in his chair, completely at ease under the scrutiny.
Everest’s mood darkens, the suggestion that he’s not a real man rattling him in all the wrong ways.
I watch him swallow, waiting for the fallout that doesn’t come.
Instead, Everest takes Thiago’s cocktail and downs it, placing the empty glass back down.
“Then we need to set some ground rules.”
“Oh my god,” I roll my eyes and slump down in my seat, pinching the bridge of my nose.
This is like a slow-building nightmare. If Everest is the one coming to my aid, in whatever warped version of reality this is, then I’ve seriously gone wrong somewhere down the road.
Maybe it’s when I kissed him, twice, but Everest doesn’t do attachments.
He doesn’t do anything except brood and sulk until he gets his own way.
Yet here he is, knotting his fingers together to address Thiago formally.
“My parents expect Meg to accompany me to all big fundraising events, any galas they deem required, dinners if they should decide it. In the presence of the media, Meg is to be at my side, not yours. For all intents and purposes, she is to appear to be falling for me.”
“You’re insane,” I huff, folding my arms and sinking further into the seat until my head is resting on the back of it. The plus side is that my knees slip between Thiago’s, and his hand drops beneath the table to settle on my thigh.
“I’m not the one setting these expectations,” Everest’s jaw tightens, his eyes dropping beneath the table briefly. He clears his throat and then helps himself to my cocktail too. “It’s not my decision.”
The two of them stare each other down again, something dangerous and unspoken passing between their locked gazes.
Thiago’s expression shifts, the amusement fading just enough to reveal something more serious beneath.
I’m about to interject that he can’t actually be considering this when Thi speaks up.
“I’ll agree if you answer one question.”
My head snaps upright so fast, I nearly get whiplash. “Um, excuse me?! You don’t have any right to agree to anything Everest demands when I’m the one who—”
“Ask it,” Everest interrupts, his focus not leaving Thiago. I might as well be invisible, being sold like a pig at market. Although, I reserve standing and storming off for now, also curious what Thiago is going to ask.
“What do your parents have on you?”
Even I suck in a breath. The restaurant around us seems to dull, the tension over our table causing the edges to blur. Thiago’s question sinks like it’s weighed down by lead, rippling through the air, through my chest, through the fragile balance we’re somehow holding onto.
Thiago leans forward slightly to fill the silence. “This has nothing to do with Meg. It’s about how you are perceived. The disgraced captain becoming the hero, maybe that’s the story. But what I want to know is, what are you so scared of that you’d let them control you like this?”
Now, my eyes are wide, switching from face to face in rapid succession.
Everest doesn’t react in any obvious way.
He leans back further into his chair, putting another inch of distance between Thiago and himself.
Holy shit. Thiago has noticed something I’ve overlooked.
Everest isn’t complicit in his parent’s bidding. He’s being blackmailed.
Silence stretches on, the pressure around us coiling tighter and tighter, threatening to snap. Everest’s jaw clenches so hard, a tic pulses beneath his skin. Realizing he’s not going to get a response, Thiago brushes down his shirt and pushes his chair back.
“Well then. The answer is no, you can’t fake date my girlfriend. Let’s go, Amorzinha.” Thiago holds out his hand towards me, and I take it. My pulse is still racing, irritation and adrenaline tangling in my chest after being talked about like a piece of meat that can be traded and bargained for.
I don’t look back as we leave the restaurant, the cool night air hitting my flushed skin.
Thiago releases me to hail a cab, holding my bouquet under his other arm.
The ride is quiet, his thumb tracing absent circles over my knuckles.
Breaching the edges of campus, I can’t handle the tightness in my chest any longer.
“Were you really going to agree to me acting coupley in public with him?” I lean over to ask in a hushed whisper. “If he answered the question, I mean.” Thi’s brows raise, a flicker of surprise in his blue gaze.
“I knew he wouldn’t answer. I just wanted him to know that I’m not afraid to call him out on his bullshit.”
I nod, retreating to my seat and staring out of the window for the rest of the ride.
We don’t speak again until we’ve entered Thi’s suite.
The door clicks shut behind us, sealing out the rest of the world.
For a moment, I just stand there, inhaling deeply and blowing out the tension that Everest created.
Shrugging out of the coat, I drape it over the desk chair, spotting a pile on the wood that wasn’t there this morning.
A packeted toothbrush and charging wire sit upon a folded stack of pajamas and clothes, all new with tags.
Any lingering stress that had been locked between my shoulder blades loosens, and a shadow of a smile touches my lips.
Thiago hangs back, setting the flowers down and watching on with an edge of hesitancy.
“I’m sorry about all of that,” I sigh, waving my hand towards the door and everything that lies beyond it. “Not an ideal first date. I hope it didn’t kill the mood.”
A slow, dangerous smile spreads across Thiago’s face. He closes the remaining distance between us, catching my waist between his large hands. My breath catches.
“Quite the opposite,” he murmurs, his voice dropping as his grip tightens just enough to pull me flush against him.
I recognize the light in his eyes. It’s the same look from the restaurant, the moment when our playfulness tipped into desire.
“Knowing everyone wants my girl but I’m the only one who gets to do this.
” He bends and lifts me effortlessly, my back meeting the nearest wall.
His palms are burning through the thin material of the dress, the fabric peeling upwards to allow him to step into me.
My hands raise instinctively, gripping his shoulders as he cages me completely.
Thiago’s head dips, his lips just shy of brushing mine.
The heat of his breath fans across my skin, and my eyes flutter closed on instinct.
“I find it hot as fuck.”