Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
CORA
I’m sitting at the café with my laptop in front of me while I try to work when Arlo comes to mind.
I’ve been trying to define what we are and what we are doing for a while now.
He tried calling this week, and I ignored him.
While I know I should end it with him, I enjoy it too much.
It’s so different from what I had with Luke.
Everything was clean and clear with him, but with Arlo, there are mixed feelings involved.
The moment I saw him, I thought he was striking.
But then he opened his mouth and demanded things, and I detested him.
Now, all I think about is him making me say “please” and the way he looks at me.
I’ve had many men look at me over the years, and I’ve learned to decipher the meaning behind the majority of their looks. Most men see a woman and automatically put her into a box in their minds. Attractive. Unattractive. Friend. Someone they want to fuck.
Arlo, on the other hand, is a completely different ball game.
Sometimes his eyes tell me he thinks I’m attractive and that he wants to fuck me, but other times his eyes are soft or thoughtful when he looks at me, like he wants to crack my head open and see what I’m thinking. It’s incredibly confusing.
“Hi, sorry to bother you.”
I look up from my laptop to see a woman I don’t recognize standing beside my table. She smiles softly at me, pulls out the chair across from mine, and I’m confused by her sudden interruption.
Glancing at my half-eaten cake and coffee, she says, “It looks good. Is it chocolate?”
“Yes,” I tell her. She’s dressed in a red suit that looks amazing on her. She has long black hair tied back in a tight ponytail and the softest baby-blue eyes I have ever seen.
But who the fuck is she?
And why the fuck is she interrupting me?
“Sorry, my name is Cressida. And I know it sounds weird, but a few sources have told me you’re close to Arlo Graves. Is that right?” When I don’t answer, she continues, “I can see your hesitation about answering my question. Smart. Have you met Soren as well?”
“Why are you asking me these questions?”
“These men are dangerous and very good at making people disappear. I want you to be aware of that.”
“Okay, thanks. Are you an ex of one of them?”
She laughs. “Absolutely not.” She shakes her head, and her full red lips curve into a smile.
“Woman to woman…” She leans in closer. “Stay away from them,” she warns before she stands.
But before she leaves, she pulls out a card and drops it on the table.
“Call me if you need any more information. Don’t hesitate. ”
I remain silent because what the hell? My first thought is she’s a jealous ex. My second is perhaps Arlo is hiding something. The problem is, I don’t know him well enough.
“Do you know what the hunt is?” I ask her as she turns to leave. Her back stiffens at my question, and when she turns back to me, her baby-blue eyes lock on mine.
“Word of warning. Don’t mention that word around any of those men,” she whispers, then, in a normal voice, she adds, “There’s a gala tonight. You should attend.” She picks up her card and then proceeds to write an address on the back. Smiling, she puts her pen away and then walks off.
With my mind whirling, I look down at the card.
What is going on?
And why does there appear to be so many damn secrets?
* * *
You could say it’s the wine, or you could say that I’m just plain fucking stupid right now. I’m going to go with a combination of the two. Because I can’t seem to work out in my head what the fuck I’m doing.
The sign in front of me tells me this is a private function. I look to my left, and Cressida smiles at me. She’s in a striking red dress that cascades to the floor. She told me it was a formal event, but I decided to go with a simple black slip dress.
I’d thought about her questions all day and then decided fuck it! I’m going to find out more about this man I have let into my life and into my body. Granted, neither of us has made commitments to each other, but he knows more about me than I know about him, and right now that seems to be unfair.
“Are we allowed to enter?” I ask as she steps up to the door.
“No, but all they can do is kick us out.” She winks and pushes it open.
The first thing I notice is the smell of cigar smoke. The second thing is that the room is full of people. Cressida saunters in like she belongs here and knows exactly where she’s going.
Me? I scan the room, searching for Arlo, but I don’t see him. I do catch sight of Soren though. He is the one commanding the room. You can tell by the way people appear to orbit around him, how their gazes repeatedly flick to him, even though he’s not paying them any attention.
“So, what are we doing?” I question.
“Do you see him anywhere?” she asks in return.
“No.” And after another scan of the room, I notice everyone here seems to be coupled up except Soren, who stands on his own with no one on his arm.
“Okay, he should be here somewhere. We’re technically late.”
We get a few curious looks as I follow her through the crowd. As we get closer to the bar, I note a familiar woman.
“Cora, isn’t it?” she says, and the man behind her flicks his gaze to me. He stands with his hand on her hip in a claiming way. “I haven’t seen Arlo tonight. Did you come with him?”
“Hi, I’m Cressida. So nice to meet you.” Cressida jumps in at the perfect time and holds out her hand to Lilith, who looks at it, confused, before raising her gaze to mine.
“Arlo doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” Lilith asks me.
“No,” I say.
She smiles at that, but the man behind her is eyeing us skeptically.
“How much fun that’s going to be. And it will piss Soren off, which is one of my favorite things to do. Apart from fucking my husband, that is.”
Cressida coughs, but she doesn’t seem insulted that Lilith didn’t shake her hand.
“Arlo’s here,” Lilith’s husband announces.
I turn to face the door, where I see Arlo walking in with a woman next to him, and he has his hand on her lower back.
My stomach drops. His gaze sweeps the room until it lands on me.
His hand immediately drops from the woman’s back, and he leaves her standing there as he stalks in my direction. His dark eyes are trained on me.
“Cora, what are you doing here?”
“Who is that?” I ask him, peering behind him, where the woman stands. That’s when I realize I’ve seen her before.
“She’s Soren’s sister,” he tells me.
“Evil bitch,” Lilith comments, drawing all our gazes to her. Her husband just smirks.
“Lilith,” Arlo says, tone disapproving.
“What? She is.” Lilith shrugs. “Is she trying to get her claws into you now that she can’t have what’s mine?”
Arlo ignores her question and turns back to me. “Cora, how did you get in?”
“I was invited.”
“Only wives are invited,” he says.
I guess that explains all the couples.
“Oops,” Cressida says.
“Hello, Cressida. I’d like to see your invite,” a dark voice says from behind us. Soren stands there, holding out his hand as he glares at Cressida.
She lifts her hand and brushes it behind her ear. “I think it got lost in the mail,” she replies with a grin.
His gaze flicks to me, then back to her. Someone wraps a hand around my arm and begins to pull me away, and I look up at Arlo.
“Are you married?” I ask him, and then I hear someone almost choke on their drink, but I don’t look back as he ushers me away from the group, his hand burning a hole through me.
“No,” he says without hesitation.
“You said only wives were invited, and you walked in with a woman,” I remind him, in case he forgot, because that was a stupid thing to do—especially if he broke into my house to sleep in my bed. Yet, here he is, walking in with another woman.
“As I said, that’s Soren’s sister. She needed a lift, and I obliged.”
“Soren couldn’t collect his own sister?” I throw back at him.
He goes to speak but stops, and a slow and steady smirk curves his lips before he asks, “Are you jealous, sweetheart?”
I pull my arm free from his grasp, annoyed that he insists on calling me that. I hate it.
Arlo leans in close, careful not to touch me, as he says, “Nothing to be jealous of. I only have eyes for you.”
“Who else are you fucking?”
“I told you, no one.”
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him.
“I was told not to use a certain word around you or your”—I wave my hand around, indicating to the crowd—“friends.”
“I don’t have many friends.”
“The word starts with an H,” I tell him in a soft voice.
His eyes spark, and he looks back to where Cressida is still standing with Soren, the two of them going toe-to-toe with each other. I wonder what that’s all about.
“Are you referring to what you asked me in my bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t, Cora. I would hate to end this thing between us earlier than anticipated.”
“You have a timeframe with me, do you?”
“Yes, I do.”
I raise a brow. “And what is that? Care to fill me in?”
He simply smiles in return.
“Cora, we should leave,” Cressida says from behind me. I turn around to face her, and over her shoulder, I see Soren still by the bar, watching her. His gaze hardens as it moves from her to me to Arlo.
“Yes, since it’s wives only, I suppose we don’t belong here,” I reply.
I make to follow her to the exit, but Arlo grips my hip, stopping me. “I’ll see you later,” he says, tone low and sensuous.
“Better not. I have plans now.” I shoot him an evil grin. “To go and fuck someone who isn’t you.” I leave without him getting the last word in.
And he doesn’t follow.