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“What is that?”
“Be straight with her. Don’t lead her on. I can see that she is a strong woman, but everyone has a breaking point,” he said. “I’ve heard women go through some emotional things with empty nest syndrome.”
“MaKayla has not lived with her mother for several years,” I told him.
“But now they are not even living in the same country. That’s a major change. Just don’t want her searching for something or...someone to fill the emptiness, if you know what I mean.”
Don’t lead her on because she’s vulnerable right now and I just walked back into her life at the worst possible time.
At this point, coming to Tabiq was a serious fucking mistake. I said it was all about Venus, but obviously, this was all about me. If I had given it more thought, I would’ve sent Jones here. He could’ve verified her safety, and she never would’ve known I was involved. But no, I had to do it myself.
“I will tread carefully.” I said. It might be a late start, but Draven was right, I needed to rethink this a bit. “Underneath that strong armor, there’s a fragile woman. She is just excellent at hiding it.”
“I never would have guessed by what I’ve seen and heard,” he replied. “But you know her in a way that I don’t.”
I had planned on getting to know her a lot more intimately, but that wasn’t going to happen now.
“I’ve just known her longer than you,” I replied. “My plan is to be here for a week. If I find that she needs a friend longer, I can extend my stay. That is if Alex doesn’t try throwing me off the property again.”
“Like I said, the Hendersons are very protective of Tabiq. Who knows, maybe while you’re here you can figure out why and let me in on that secret,” he said.
“Don’t care about the Hendersons. Not interested in Tabiq either.”
“Just here for Venus,” Draven grinned. Shaking his head, he opened the door and added before leaving, “Just friends. Yeah, right.”
The guy was an ass, but hell, so was I. Outside of this place, I thought he and I could kick back a couple of beers and shoot the shit. Unfortunately, there I needed to make sure I kept him at a distance so as not to let him know how Venus and I knew each other. He was too damn good at reading people, and I had too many secrets. If they were just mine, I wouldn’t care, but these secrets belonged to Venus, and I’d do anything to keep them hidden.
I grabbed my suitcase that was beside the door and carried it to my bedroom. I’d committed to a week so I probably should unpack. Unzipping the suitcase, I pulled out the dress shirt and suit I had packed, both were already wrinkled. I was not planning on wearing either while I was here, but I hung them in the closet just in case. The rest of my clothing was more appropriate for a vacation. Shorts and T-shirts.
My cell phone rang. There weren’t many people who I wanted to talk to right now. Checking the caller ID I saw it was Venus. My stomach twisted in a knot and I answered immediately. “Is everything okay?”
“I hope you’re not going to ask me that every time I call you because I won’t call again if you are,” she warned.
“Sorry. It won’t happen again. I just wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight.”But glad you called.
“I wasn’t planning on calling either. But I just got off the phone with my daughter.”
“Isn’t she on her honeymoon?” I asked.
Venus chuckled. “Yes. And I reminded her of that too. But I wanted to tell you that...that I told her about you. Well, not really about you. Just that I had a friend that I was spending time with. I don’t know if she’s going to mention that to Draven or not. But I wanted you to be prepared, just in case.”
“Funny. Draven just left my room and he never mentioned MaKayla knowing anything. But for the record, he is aware that you and I have known each other for a long time.”
“You told him?” she questioned.
“Yes and no. He pretty much knew that already. Just didn’t say anything to us at dinner,” I told her.
“So much for us trying to pretend like we just met.”
I laughed. “Good thing neither of us went to Hollywood for a career because we’d be unemployed.”
“So true. Well, maybe you’d get a job,” she said.
“Me? Why me?” I asked.
“You have a movie star look about you,” she stated.
“Maybe for horror films,” I chuckled, trying not to think if she was calling me handsome. I wouldn’t call myself that, but I wouldn’t mind if she did. Changing the subject I asked, “Have you decided what you’d like to do tomorrow?”
