Chapter 16
The pile of shredded paper napkins on the table grew larger and larger as I waited for Theo. The thick sunglasses I had on, along with the bright purple wig, were doing a good job of keeping me from being recognized. So far. But I kept the big coffee cup close to my face, obscuring it as much as possible as I sipped my chai, and nervously ripped up the paper.
I yearned to go out in public on a regular basis without a disguise, but it was very rare that I was able to pull that off.
From a table in front of me, my bodyguard, Charlie, kept a close eye on everyone in the coffee shop.
When Theo walked in the door, my heart skipped a beat. The image of his hooded figure kneeling between my legs in the temple flashed in my head, sending a surge of hot sparks through my veins.
The annoyance on his face only made him more handsome, somehow. He looked much different fully clothed than he did in the temple. Clad in tight Levi’s and a black button-down with the sleeves folded up to expose the muscles of his forearm, he had that effortlessly handsome look that made everyone jealous with how easy he made it look.
“Nice wig,” he said, sitting down. “The purple creates an interesting contrast to the green of your eyes.”
“Thanks, I guess?”
He shrugged. “It’s pretty. What’s up?”
Pushing aside both the torn pile of napkins and his out of nowhere, and very rare, compliment, I slid my phone across the table towards him.
“I got another text. Last night. After I left the club.”
“If you don’t respond, you’ll regret it,” he read aloud, squinting his eyes.
“Right,” I said. “So, now what?”
He shook his head, his eyes trailing around the coffee shop before returning to meet my gaze. “What are you drinking?” He glanced down at my cup.
“Huh? A chai, why?”
“Sounds good, I’ll be right back,” he said, standing up and walking to the counter.
A sigh of frustration crossed my lips as I waited for him. How could he be so nonchalant about everything? How could he stay so calm? I was about to jump out of my skin and he acted like this was all normal.
When he came back, he had his own steaming cup. He looked at me for a moment before speaking. “Give me your phone.”
I slid it across the table to him again.
He pulled up the text and replied. My heart raced as I watched him hit the send button.
“What are you doing? What did you say?”
“I just asked what they wanted. Simple.” He shrugged. “Now we wait. Did you ever suspect that this might be your mother?”
“What? My mom? No, why?”
“You cut her off, Ev. That had to have pissed her off, right? West told me she didn’t take it well.”
I sighed. It was true. My mother was a money-grubbing opportunist and has viewed me as her own personal ATM since I was a kid. She’d been extremely upset when I cut her off two years ago, but from what I’d gathered, she was doing okay without me now.
“Even so, how would she know?” I hissed, my voice a low whisper.
“How would anyone know, though?”
“Theo, we have to get in front of this,” I insisted.
“Look, we have unlimited resources between the two of us. We’ve got money. We’ve got connections. I have a gaggle of attorneys that I trust with access to the best private investigators in the state. I’ll call my guy and have him look into it.”
He looked so assured and confident. I wanted some of that to rub off on me, in more ways than one.
I shoved away the constant yearning for Theo’s touch and asked for clarification. “Your guy? What kind of guy?”
He shrugged. “Let me handle it. Send me a screenshot with the phone number.”
“Is this like one of those fixers I’ve heard about?” I joked.
“Something like that,” he winked. “I don’t want you to worry. Everything will be okay, I promise.”
My shoulders finally relaxed a little at his words. At least he wasn’t ignoring it anymore. I remembered a promise he made a long time ago. He’d never broken it. All this time, he’d never told anyone what we’d done that night, just like he promised. I had no reason not to trust his words now.
“Thank you, Theo,” I said, smiling over at him before quickly texting him the screenshot. “It’s sent. I appreciate it. I’ve been so worried.”
“Try not to. Seriously, whatever happens, we can handle it. If anything, they just want money, right? I don’t want to give this asshole anything, and if I can, I’ll shoot him down before it gets that far. But worst-case scenario, we pay them off. That’s how it works with people like us.”
I scoffed, shaking my head. I might have money now, but it hasn”t always been that way. Theo grew up thinking money could buy your way out of anything, but I didn’t.
“We aren’t exactly alike, Theo,” I reminded him, with a raised brow.
“Maybe we weren’t, once upon a time. But we are now.”
“I’m not sure I agree.”
“Money is money, Everleigh. Stop putting it — and the people who have it — on a pedestal. It’s just a tool. It doesn’t make you a good person, either way.”
“My mother says, ‘hold my beer’?” I joked. My mom was an awful person, and her having money or not having it hadn’t changed that one bit.
“Fair enough,” he laughed.
It felt so good to laugh with him, to sit across the table from him in a public place like I was a normal person, like we were a normal couple, on a normal date.
But we were anything but that. We weren’t a couple, even if his mouth had been on mine twenty-four hours ago.
His eyes softened as he looked over at me. I wanted to ask what he was thinking, but I didn’t. I was afraid it wasn’t the same thing I was thinking and if it wasn’t, then I didn’t want to know.
“Thank you for your help, again,” I said.
“You’re welcome. I’ll keep you posted,” he said, reaching over and squeezing my hand. I looked down at his fingers covering mine, and warmth spread through my body like a warm hug. When he pulled away, all I felt was the coldness of his absence.
I didn’t know exactly how, but I was determined to get close to him again. But once I did, then what? Would there ever be a future for us?
If West was out of the picture, if Theo didn’t have sex with a different woman every night in the temple, if our past wasn’t so riddled with secrets?
It was painful to think about. So many what-ifs…
“Remember to be careful, Ev. You’re still recognizable, even in that get-up.”
“Charlie’s with me.” I nodded in the direction of my bodyguard.
“I know.” He nodded over at Charlie. “Still. There are two dudes behind you right now that have been staring you down for the last five minutes. I’m pretty sure they’re calling TMZ as we speak.”
“Fuck, really?”
“Yeah, babe,” he said. “Time to go.”
“Alright, fine. Thanks for meeting me.”
“Maybe next time we can meet in the privacy of my office? Or your house? Or mine?”
I scoffed, shaking my head, biting my lip at the memory of the last time we were in a room alone. I knew he was thinking about it, too. His eyes darted down to my lips for an instant before a slow smile stretched across his face.
“I thought you said that wasn’t going to happen again,” I reminded him. I wasn’t about to let him pretend it had never happened.
“I just meant so we could talk out of the sight of prying eyes.”
“Talk?” I asked, teasingly.
He raised a brow and took a deep breath, his pupils dilating as he looked over at me. “We can’t, Ev.”
“Why not?” I retorted. I knew full well what his answer would be, but I asked anyway.
“West would kill me.”
“Maybe he’d get used to the idea,” I offered.
“Not before he ripped my head off. You know I’m right.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied, biting my lip. “It doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it.”
He shook his head. “It’s best we pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Good luck with that,” I said, reaching over. I grabbed his hand, sliding my thumb against his palm. I wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
His gaze darted down to my lips again, lingering there for a long moment before trailing back to my eyes. “I meant what I said, Ev. But that doesn’t change anything. West would kill both of us.”
“Fuck West,” I muttered, annoyance fluttering in my chest.
“He’s my best friend. I can’t fuck him over.”
“Right, whatever,” I said, annoyed but determined not to give up so easily. “I’ll just rent out the entire coffee shop next time. No chance of us doing anything forbidden in a coffee shop, right?”
“Honestly?” His eyes sparkled as he pointed around the room. “Booth. Counter. Walk-in.”
Laughter bubbled up out of me at his comment.
He squeezed my hand before letting it go, the feel of his skin on mine sending shivers down my spine. “Ev, I want you to know something. I won’t forget about what happened in the temple as long as I live.”
I licked my lips, letting them fall open slightly as I squeezed his hand. “That makes two of us. So, maybe you’re right. We shouldn’t put ourselves in such a tempting situation. Unless, of course, you like the temptation.”
He shook his head. “Stop flirting with me. I won’t change my mind, Ev.”
I blinked hard at his words. He could be so cold. So rigid.
But his rejection didn’t make me want to stop trying to penetrate his resistance. It made me want to press harder until I broke through and found the Theo that had knelt between my legs the other day in the temple.
“Fine,” I said, throwing the shredded napkins at his face and walking out.