Chapter 28 - Day 10 The Ice Cream Lady
Adrian was driving.
I was staring at him.
Not casually.
Not occasionally.
Staring.
Today he was wearing a deep blue shirt.
Silver tie.
Silver watch with a deep blue dial.
And I was now completely convinced about his strategy.
This was deliberate.
It had to be.
He knew he couldn't stop me from leaving, so apparently he'd moved on to Plan B.
Murder.
If you can't work at Vale Architecture, you can't work anywhere else.
Because Adrian Vale will kill you with his appearance before you get the chance.
There was no other explanation.
How did he even think of this blue-and-silver combination?
And why would he do it if not specifically to kill me?
Deep blue shirt.
Silver tie.
Deep blue eyes.
Even the fucking watch matched.
It looked like the color blue had been created specifically for this man.
Actually-
No.
That wasn't right.
Wasn't it every color?
Burgundy.
Black.
Sky blue.
White.
Sage green.
Every single color he wore somehow looked like it had been invented specifically for him.
This was ridiculous.
"What?"
I blinked.
"What what?"
Adrian glanced at me before returning his eyes to the road.
"You've been staring at me for over ten minutes."
I immediately looked out the window.
"I wasn't staring."
"Yes, you were."
"Well, I was thinking about something."
"What?"
I looked back at him.
"About the milkshake you ordered for yourself yesterday."
His expression didn't change.
"And?"
"You didn't even touch it."
"I did."
"No, you didn't."
"I ordered it."
"That isn't the same thing as drinking it."
Silence.
"So I had to drink the whole thing."
Adrian glanced at me.
"Don't say you didn't enjoy it."
"I did, but that's not the point."
"Then what's the point?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because we both knew the point.
He hadn't ordered that milkshake for himself.
Just like he hadn't ordered half the restaurant for himself.
Just like he hadn't suddenly become hungry ten minutes after I said I was hungry.
I didn't say anything.
Neither did he.
We both knew the point.
Neither of us wanted to admit it.
So we didn't.
A few minutes later, Adrian turned into the parking garage at Vale Architecture.
He drove toward his usual space.
I looked automatically toward where I'd left my molten-magenta Mustang yesterday.
Then stopped.
Empty.
I turned in my seat.
"Where did my car go?"
"I had it towed."
I stared at him.
"When?"
"Yesterday. On my way home."
Of course he had.
Apparently somewhere between feeding me enough food for a family of six and dropping me home, Adrian had also arranged the rescue of my car.
"Wow."
He parked the Tesla.
"Do you know what happened?"
"Not yet."
I waited.
"They said it's most likely an engine problem."
My stomach dropped.
"Engine?"
"They need to look at it properly."
"How long?"
"Three or four days, probably."
My mouth fell open.
"Oh my God."
Adrian unbuckled his seat belt.
"How am I going to live for three or four days without a car?"
He looked at me.
"Don't overreact."
"I am not overreacting."
"You won't die without your car for three or four days."
"Of course I will."
His eyebrows lifted.
"What exactly do you need it for?"
I stared at him.
"Are you serious right now?"
"Yes."
"I need to come to the office. I need to go home. I need to get groceries on the weekend. You know-normal-person activities that generally require transportation."
"I'll pick you up and drop you off."
I stopped.
"And if you need groceries, I can take you this weekend."
Oh.
There he was.
Another reason to see me this weekend.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Last weekend he'd needed me at Solara.
This weekend my car had conveniently broken down.
I looked at him.
Maybe he was secretly happy the Mustang had betrayed me.
Because now he could see me over the weekend without having to manufacture another work-related excuse.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Are you enjoying this?"
His eyebrows pulled together.
"Why would I enjoy this?"
"You look like you are."
"I don't."
"You do."
"If you don't want me to take you for groceries, then leave it."
There he was.
Immediately offended.
I smiled.
"Well..."
I reached for my bag.
"How can I say no to Your Majesty when His Highness himself wants to take me somewhere?"
Adrian stared at me.
I smiled sweetly.
Then opened the door.
We took the elevator up.
When the doors opened at the lobby, Adrian stepped out.
I followed him automatically.
Then stopped.
"Where are you going?"
"To get your coffee."
Oh.
Of course.
I could have stopped him.
I didn't.
Technically, I could receive Adrian's morning coffee only three more times.
Today.
Monday.
Tuesday.
Three.
I wasn't going to miss one voluntarily.
So I followed him.
Adrian walked into the café like this was simply part of his morning routine now.
Maybe it was.
He reached the counter.
And ordered my coffee.
Again.
Exact order.
Exact size.
Everything.
I'd heard him order my coffee three times now.
Saturday.
Sunday.
Today.
And somehow my heart still did something stupid when the words came out of his mouth.
Ridiculous.
It was coffee.
Just coffee.
Except it wasn't.
Not anymore.
We moved aside to wait.
Adrian stood beside me, one hand in his pocket.
Deep blue shirt.
Silver tie.
Silver watch catching the light every time he moved his wrist.
I looked away.
I'd already spent ten minutes staring at him in the car.
There were limits to how much humiliation one woman should experience before eight in the morning.
"Send me the invoice."
Adrian looked at me.
"For coffee?"
I frowned.
"No. For my car."
His expression changed slightly.
"You don't have to worry about it."
"Yes, I do."
"No."
"Adrian, that's a large amount of money."
He looked at me.
"Are you trying to pay your CEO?"
Here he goes again.
Apparently being CEO made him financially immune to me.
"That's my car. I'm supposed to pay for it."
"That's okay, Angelica."
"No, it's not-"
"Maybe I'll never have the opportunity to pay for anything for you ever again."
I stopped.
Completely.
The words weren't dramatic.
He hadn't even said them dramatically.
Just Adrian.
Quiet.
Matter-of-fact.
But something inside my chest pulled painfully anyway.
Because there it was again.
The countdown.
Except this time he hadn't said four days.
He hadn't said before you leave.
He'd said ever again.
I didn't argue back.
For once, I had absolutely nothing to say.
Adrian seemed to realize what he'd said too.
Because he went quiet.
Completely silent.
Neither of us looked at the other.
The café continued around us.
People talking.
Coffee machines running.
Cups being placed on the counter.
A completely normal Friday morning.
And the two of us standing there pretending one sentence hadn't changed the air between us.
We both knew how true that statement was.
We entered the office together.
That was apparently a mistake.
Nicole was doing something on her computer.
Ben was scrolling through his phone.
Ethan was standing beside Maya's desk, talking to her.
Everyone was doing their own thing.
Until Adrian and I walked in.
The office went quiet.
Not gradually.
Immediately.
Nicole looked up from her screen.
Ben stopped scrolling.
Ethan stopped talking.
Maya looked from Adrian to me.
Then to the coffee in my hand.
Oh God.
They knew.
They didn't know what they knew.
But they knew something.
I wanted to become invisible.
Immediately.
Adrian, naturally, appeared completely unaffected by the sudden silence of his entire office.
He walked toward his office.
I went to my desk.
Behind me, his door closed.
I put my bag down.
Then my coffee.
Maya's eyes followed the cup.
Then lifted to me.
"Why are you two coming in together?"
I let out a long sigh.
"My car broke down."
Her eyebrows lifted.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Then?"
I looked at her.
"Then what?"
"What happened?"
"Adrian dropped me home and picked me up today."
Silence.
Ethan looked at me.
"You could've called us."
"It was all right. Adrian was there anyway."
Maya was still looking at me.
"So where's your car now?"
"Adrian had it towed yesterday."
Her eyebrows went even higher.
"Adrian?"
"Yeah."
Maya and Ethan looked at each other.
Then at me.
Both of them looked far too surprised by this information.
"Well," Ethan said, "I can drop you off today."
"Thank you, but Adrian already said he'll drop me off."
"Why bother him? I'm free after work anyway."
I stared at Ethan.
"If you really want that, go talk to Adrian. I can't tell him I'm going with you after I already said I'd go with him."
Ethan looked toward Adrian's closed office door.
Then back at me.
"Well, I need the job."
I pointed at him.
"Yeah. See? That's the point."
"That's not the point."
My hand dropped.
"Then what is?"
Ethan looked at me.
"The point is, you also want that."
I went silent.
Oh.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody teased me.
Nobody said anything at all.
Because apparently there wasn't much to say.
And neither did I.
By ten-thirty, the office had recovered from Adrian and me arriving together.
Mostly.
Nobody had asked another question.
Which was worse.
Ben had gone back to his phone.
Nicole had gone back to her drawings.
Ethan had gone back to his own team.
Maya had gone back to pretending she wasn't occasionally looking at me.
I had gone back to pretending Ethan hadn't said-
I did not appreciate being accurately analyzed before lunch.
I opened the revised Solara elevations.
Work.
Architecture.
Safe.
For approximately eleven minutes.
My desk phone rang.
I looked at it.
Then toward Adrian's office.
His door was open.
He was looking at his monitor.
I picked up.
"Hello?"
"Come here."
Of course.
"You know we're in the same office."
"Yes."
"You could walk over here."
"No."
I stared through the glass at him.
He continued looking at his monitor.
"Are your legs broken?"
"No."