AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I couldn’t finish that sentence because I really didn’t know how to explain it. Shopping did nothing for me. That wasn’t what I wanted out of life.
The salespeople were staring at us. I could feel it. That icky, creepy-crawly feeling on the back of my neck. They’d been nice enough, but now they were vultures wanting to chew up this moment by just looking at it with their uninvited eyes.
“Try. Tell me what you mean.”
I swallowed. “Why?”
“Because I want to know.”
That was hardly a reason. I didn’t owe him access to my soul, to my inner thoughts, or insecurities. I’d not promised him any of that. Yet, I wanted to tell him because he asked, because he was the first person to ever do so. “We’re not alone.”
He dropped his hand at my words, and I let him go. “Okay, Layla. I’ll take you at your word. You got what you needed. Come on. Let’s go do something fun.”
His phone dinged, and he grabbed it, looking down. “It’s Michael Li getting back to me about your security.
Outside.” I followed him until we both stood next to his motorcycle.
“I’m here with her now,” Zeke told Michael. I was only hearing bits and pieces of their conversation over the noise on the street. “Yep. No. Do I need to be worried?”
I touched the seat on his motorcycle. He wanted to do something fun. I’d be up for riding in circles all day at high speeds, feeling the wind and letting him drive and drive, until we were both so tired, I couldn’t see straight for it. That wasn’t likely. He had to work tonight, entertain clients, and I had to go with him and wear the gold dress I’d picked out.
Zeke swung around. “No immediate threats that they’re worried about. Just the constant problem of your father owing money to people he should never have gotten into bed with to begin with. But that’s not new. He had to move you every two years because of that your whole life. If something changes, Li will send security on my request and your father can screw himself if he tries to stop that. Michael might have done it anyway and damned the consequences. I think he’s likely to go one of these days anyway. Start his own firm.”
That was interesting. I’d never thought of Michael as being part of the company. He was like a separate entity altogether, but I guessed he was. Like I was. Like Zeke was. It was that place that connected us, that brought us all together.
“I promised you fun.”
I smiled at him. “Fun is such an arbitrary word. For example, you seem to find eating to be a lot of fun. I don’t think of it that way.”
“Ah, but you will.” His smile was contagious, so I gave him one back. “We’re in France. You can’t help but fall in love with food here. Give it time. You’ll be actually hungry when it’s time for a meal one of these days.”
I groaned. “You want me to fit in those clothes you just bought me, right?”
“I’ll buy you new ones. I’d rather have you fed than fashionable.”
That went contrary to what we were actually doing together, but I loved it so hard, I pretended he could actually give a shitright then. I was choosing the delusion, and even knowing it was that, I liked it. When Zeke was this way, it was easy to like him.
“So no more shopping. And I’m guessing you’re not going to want a spa day either.”
I didn’t mind them when I needed them, but I’d had my fill getting ready for my wedding. “I think I’m all pampered out, and my poor feet… No pedicure yet.”
“Got it. Then I have just the thing. Come on.” He handed me the helmet. My hair, thanks to the bun I kept putting up and taking down, was actually holding up pretty well despite the abuse from the helmet.
“Where are we going?” I took it from him.
“You’ll have to trust me.” He tilted his head. “Can you do that?”
Could I? I didn’t do so easily. “Why did you stay with my father so long when you knew he was doing things like getting into trouble with very bad men? Why didn’t you get out earlier?”
He leaned forward. “I’ve trusted you with the secret about my mom. You haven’t done that with me yet. Not really. What you’re asking me, it goes to the heart of a lot of things about me that I keep entirely to myself. You want to know? You’re going to have to earn it. I extended my hand, and you haven’t taken it yet.”
I swallowed. He meant what had happened in the store. The clothes and why I didn’t want them, didn’t like them, found the whole thing to be just…like going to the dentist. Trying on clothes was like pulling teeth for me. He wanted to know why.
“At some point, it became what I was known for. When I dropped out of college because, let’s face it, I didn’t belong there, fashion was decided as my thing. And at some point, it became all I was. But it’s not all I am. I don’t even like my clothes. I tell people to enjoy their style, to look their best as they are, and I’ve never, not one day in my life, looked like me. I don’t even know what it is but it’s not…shown up yet.”
Zeke set down his helmet on top of the bike. “So what you’re saying to me is that you think you’re a fraud, and clothes shopping only highlights that for you.”
He’d hit the nail on the head. “Yes.”
