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“No!” I say and pull my knees to my chest. “Just Evander. Apparently. And only that one time.”
“Right, well, it sounds like he’s into you.” She sits down next to me, grinning her head off. “Seriously, Camille, he’s been coming into the diner every day since you started and all he does is stare at you. How can you sit there and act like there’s nothing happening between the two of you?”
“Because there’s not,” I say which is almost true. Things with Evander are complicated. He saved my life back at that stupid car rental place, got me an apartment and gave me an advance on my future paychecks, and even made sure I had enough food to keep me comfortable until I started earning my own money. He didn’t need to do any of that—but he did anyway.
He took care of me. And in exchange, I’ve done nothing but ignore him.
Seriously. We’ve barely spoken in the last two weeks.
It’s not that I don’t want to, but more that I’m afraid what’ll happen if I let myself get more involved with him.
Which apparently doesn’t apply to letting him go down on me.
Ophelia’s right though, he shows up every day and he watches me.
I try to pretend like I don’t notice and watch him right back.
I daydream about the night we spent together, and while it was amazing and definitely lives in my head rent free, I accepted that we were never going down that road again.
I’m just his pet project, the pathetic, loser girl he picked up off the street.
I don’t know where I’d be without Evander, and that’s kind of the problem.
There’s too much between us. Too much money, too much obligation. I want to feel his mouth on mine again, but I also don’t want to feel like I owe him anything.
Not after living under the thumb of a controlling, abusive bastard for so long already.
It’s a tricky line to walk and I thought we had it all figured out by just—not.
Not sleeping together. Not even speaking to each other.
And then Evander decides to show up in the break room out of absolutely nowhere, gets down on his knees, and makes me come like I’ve never come before—at least since that first night.
What the hell does he want from me? And what the heck do I need from him?
“All right, look, I’m not going to pretend like I understand whatever crazy weird thing you have going down with EvanderfreakingKazan, okay?” Ophelia’s smile is genuine and warm, and it reminds me why I like her. She embraced me from day one and has been so helpful getting me up to speed at the diner and basically helping me learn how to be independent for the first time in my life. “But the thing is, my father basically worships that family, you know? He has this old-school idea about loyalty and all that crap.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Why would he be loyal to Evander anyway? Everyone acts like he’s some kind of king, but I don’t get it. Nobody’s explained to me what he does for a living.”
Ophelia laughs quietly, but her smile fades. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Not even a little bit. Is he in consulting or something? Was he a local politician?”
“Sort of a combination of the two.” Ophelia chews her lip for a moment. “You’ve seenThe Godfather, right?”
I shrug. “Sure. Marlon Brando. Offer you can’t refuse.”
“Exactly. Evander runs a family like that.”
“Like… what?” My eyebrows slowly raise. “The Corleone family?” Ophelia just stares at me as I slowly put the pieces together.
The money. The cars. The big, dangerous-looking men that always seem to hang around him. The way people bow and scrape and act all deferential whenever he’s in the room.
I have to be the dumbest girl alive.
I should’ve seen it right away, and I am utterly mortified that I missed it—probably because I figured the chances of running into another man in a crime family are way too miniscule.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” I whisper sharply. “He’s in the freakingmafia?”
