CHAPTER 20 ELODIE
ELODIE
I don’t know what I was expecting to pull up to tonight.
Perhaps a dramatically huge mansion, a castle, or even a ten star fricking hotel.
But Alfie’s parked in the car park of a modest-looking restaurant.
A service station diner, almost. They all start filtering out the car, so I undo my seatbelt, trying to shake off the surprise of our destination, when Caden appears at my door, opening it for me.
To add another surprise, he holds out his hand for me to take. I stare at it like it’s a wrapped around gun.
He rolls his eyes. “Our faking starts now, Elodie.”
Knocking me out of my stupor, I place my icy fingers in his warm palm, and he closes his hand around mine, gently tugging me out of the car.
I’m still wearing his blazer, and he lets me go to straighten it out and buttons it at the front.
I’m just staring at him as he fusses over the clothes, the way his snakebite piercing wiggles all over the place like he’s playing with it on the inside.
The straight line of his nose pointing down to those full lips that are twisting with all sorts of moves of his tongue inside his mouth.
My heart almost stops completely when his hands come from the button on my waist up to my collarbone. His fingers linger there, over the jut of my bone across my chest, his eyes boring down into mine as I gawk.
His eyes drop briefly to the navy-blue velvet choker strapped across my neck. I watch him swallow, his lips parting once more, and his voice quiets as he says, “Just go with it tonight, Elodie. There will always be someone watching.”
I’m barely even aware of what he’s saying because I’m too busy mesmerised by how his eyelashes are fluttering as his gaze lingers on his fingertips brushing my skin.
But then I realise what he’s telling me.
I cannot even fathom how uncomfortable that prospect makes me.
All eyes are going to be on us tonight. We have to fake it.
We have to act like a fucking couple. I don’t really see how that’s going to go down well when Caden’s repulsed by me and I want to ram every piece of cutlery into those eyeballs when they stare at me too long.
I nod slowly and he drops his hands, only to take one of mine in one of his and he leads me to the restaurant, where Alfie and Fiz are already waiting by the doors.
“What is this place?” I ask, voice coming out thick and strangled. Get it together, El, come on.
“Family restaurant. It’ll just be our party in here. So, everyone you see will know who you are.”
Fantastic. “Then why are we dressed to the nines to sit in some motorway restaurant?”
Caden tugs me along, perhaps a little roughly.
“Any chance to flaunt how rich and powerful and pompous we are, obviously,” he says with disdain, as if he doesn’t live in a house that screams how rich and powerful and pompous he is.
We stop outside the door, and he fiddles with his tie again.
He’s making it all lopsided and I shove away the strange need to straighten it.
“Trust me, I’m just as unhappy about it as you are.
” He turns to me and his chest puffs out with a massive inhale. “Ready?”
“No.”
He reaches up and I hold my breath. He gently guides a loose curl away from my eye and tucks it behind my ear. “Let’s suffer together then.”
He doesn’t wait for me to respond, which is good because I have no idea what to say to that after he just did something so gentle and out of character. He turns to the boys who are holding the doors open for us. He takes my hand in his and we saunter through.
Is this what I’m going to get all night? Am I getting a gentle Caden Blackwood?
My thoughts are obliterated and replaced by an explosion of anxiety and nausea when I see just how many people are here.
Caden brings me into his body and lets go of my hand, only to slide it behind and place it on the small of my back as we walk through this sea of people. He’s doing an awful lot of touching and not a lot of hurting. I’m not sure I like it.
He leans down and says, “Just breathe, Elodie, it’ll be fine.”
“Who the hell are all these people?”
He leans back down to whisper, “Family, friends, employees. All part of our world, anyway.”
Every single person in here must be a criminal. The police would cream their pants if they walked into this place right now.
Caden guides me to a table with a few empty seats and I try to block out the people muttering and greeting us.
I think I’ve got a smile on my face, but I feel so cold and sick I haven’t got awareness of anything else.
Caden speaks to several of them as we pass, thanking them for coming, being all gentlemanly and polite and weird.
He pulls my chair out for me and I practically fall into it, my legs giving up on me. Why are there so many people? Why is this such a big deal?
Alfie sits beside me, Fiz on his other side so I’m nestled between the two Blackwoods.
I don’t recognise anyone, but I can’t bring myself to scan the room in case I do.
I don’t want to see my father or any of his employees.
I don’t want to see the masked man and any of his weirdo freak minions or other employees.
I just want to crawl under the table and burrow in between Alfie’s legs until it’s over.
There are so many huge men here. Any one of them could be Drago.
But then, why would he be at our engagement party?
I need to stop worrying about him. He lives in the shadows, he’ll never be spotted out in public. I have nothing to worry about.
Alfie pours an open bottle of champagne into the flute before me. “This’ll help.”
I thank him, having no intention of drinking from it.
Caden’s butt barely touches the seat beside me before a man approaches us.
He’s the same height as Caden, towering well over six foot, but slightly bulkier.
He’s got short, brown hair that fades into a mullet.
A long, tanned face, speckled with freckles across his cheeks and nose that would give him an innocent look, if it weren’t for the terrifying face tattoos.
A cross under his left eye, the word “loyalty” above his right eyebrow.
Cutting brown eyes that seem soft as they land on me, his slender face breaking out into a gentle smile.
Do I want to smile back or throw my champagne flute at him?
Caden taps me on the arm and rises, so I follow suit.
“Elodie,” he says, “this is Milo, our right hand.”
Milo extends his hand to me, that confusingly endearing smile still pointed at me. “Lovely to meet you, Miss Valor.”
His voice is welcoming enough. I find myself smiling back. “Nice to meet you too.”
He offers me a wink that doesn’t feel menacing and turns to Caden. “Your dad’s just got here, he’ll be over in a second.”
“Great. Any reports?”
Milo shakes his head. “All quiet on the western front.”
Caden smiles, a small, subtle thing that looks foreign on his face.
Milo turns back to me. “If you ever need anything, Miss Valor, I’m your guy. Have a good evening. And welcome to the family.” With another one of those oddly settling smiles, he disappears into the crowd.
Caden motions for me to sit down again.
“He seems nice,” I note, mostly to myself.
Caden nods. “He’s a good man. One of the only good ones in this room, I’d say.”
I’m not sure what that means, if he’s aware he’s just admitted that everyone he knows in life is a bad person, or if it was more of an unconscious comment. I shake it off before it transpires into anything more profound. I don’t care about these people. They are all bad.
He fidgets in his seat for a second before straightening back up and walking towards someone approaching us. They stop a few feet away.
I’d have to be blind not to realise who it is.
His father doesn’t have the same lean frame as his son, he’s much burlier.
But that dark, hard air that Caden carries around with him is the same.
I sense it from over here. His dark eyes catch mine over Caden’s shoulder, and I quickly look away, a jolt of anxiety shooting through me.
I give it a few seconds before daring another glance.
He’s talking with Caden, but beside him is a brunette woman who doesn’t look to be even my age.
I lean closer to Alfie. “Who’s the girl?” I ask, thinking this has to be Caden’s little sister or another cousin.
Alfie takes a quick look at who I’m referring to, then whispers, “Probably the flavour of the week.”
“Where’s Caden’s mother?”
Alfie takes his glass of orange juice and chugs the whole thing. “She died.”
“Oh,” I say, stunned. “When?”
“Years ago,” he says, and it’s clear he doesn’t want to elaborate.
I look back at the young girl, whose bright eyes are gleaming at Caden, a red-painted smile spread wide and eagerly at him as he says something. “She looks like a child.”
Fiz leans across to get in on the conversation. “Russell likes his pussy fresh. She won’t be older than twenty-five.”
“I think she’s twenty-three,” Alfie mutters noncommittally.
I look back at her and scoff. “She’s a paedophile’s dream in that case.”
A snort of laughter erupts, and I turn briefly to catch a glimpse of Fiz’s lips pulled back, cheeks pinched, and he’s holding the end of his nose.
A futile attempt to suppress his laughter.
I feel a flutter of pride for a moment, knowing I’d made him laugh at the expense of someone else for a change, rather than my own.
I turn back to the woman in time to see her reach out to Caden. It looks like she’s straightening his tie. I pull my lips in and clamp down, shoving away whatever alien jolt just attacked my chest and made my cheeks hot. I should have straightened his tie outside.
Caden turns around and crooks a finger at me, beckoning me over. Shit.
I push my chair back. Alfie gives my knee a quick pat. “You’ll be fine.”