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Ethan’s jaw worked. “I loaned him some money a while back. He told me he’d taken a bad investment and needed something to get by until he could get back on his feet. I trusted him.”
A sinking feeling swelled in her gut. “What happened?”
“It was a lie. He took my money and then took Amber on a first-class trip to Paris.”
Oh god.
“She broke up with me from the airport. That was a particularly bad week.”
She had no doubt.
“That was six months ago. I haven’t spoken to him since. And I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him except I want that money back.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever apologize for him.” The crease between his brows deepened. “It just makes me so,” he lowered his voice and leaned in close, “fucking angry.”
Indy bit back a smile.Teacher’s habit.
“It’s hard enough to get supplies for the school. Our budgets don’t cover what the kids actually need. You’d think having textbooks that aren’t falling apart would be high on the list of priorities, but no. I didn’t think giving Nick my savings would be an issue because he’d pay it back before the school year started.” Ethan dropped his hand to the counter. “And the worst part is, I keep giving him another chance. He hasn’t had to work for anything his whole life, where I’ve busted my ass every goddamn day to get to where I am. It’s a kick in the nuts to see guys like Nick walk over people to get ahead. I’ve never seen him do a single selfless thing, and yet, here you are, talking about him being your destiny.”
If the situation was reversed, Indy would be incensed. Arms flying, jumping on couches, raging. Yet everything about Ethan— head hung, voice low— screamed defeated. Either he was the calmest person in existence, or he’d resigned himself to his fate.
“I should have known. He’s never had respect for other people’s shit. When we were kids, I’d find him going through my stuff, looting what he could fit in his pockets. Once a thief, always a thief.”
Truth be told, that image of Nick didn’t sit right with her.
“Enough about my poor decisions. Tell me about your writing,” he said, turning to her.
“Why?”
“Are you always this cagey? I’m curious. Indulge me.”
Indy picked up her water and took a sip to buy herself time.Indulge me.Dangerous words, if he knew what she was thinking.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
In Indy’s experience, people never actually wanted to heareverything. It was like asking “How are you?” or saying “I’ll call you” at the end of a date.
But apparently Ethan wasn’t most people. Every time Indy cut herself off, he asked another question, refilling her water while she waxed poetic about Uruk and the belief that it was the birthplace of writing before cuneiform, how protected the area is from excavations, and why she’d set the second book in the series there.
Talking about herself always made her self-conscious, too aware of how long she’d been speaking, of how selfish it must sound.
It was another reason her dating life was a disaster. She’d never gotten the hang of keeping someone’s undivided attention.
No one, except Sasha or her readers, people she knew, understood the obsession, ever wanted to hear her drone on about her writing. But Ethan hadn’t looked away once. Hadn’t even seemed bored or disinterested.
Instead, he was… watching her. He had an elbow propped on the bar, his chin cupped in his hand, and a smile on his face.
Indy flushed bright hot. “Quit staring,” she whispered, even as she hoped he wouldn’t.
Ethan only smiled wider. “I’m admiring you. Does it make you uncomfortable?”
If only.
“No.”
