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Eve narrows her eyes on me as she takes her seat, crossing her legs at the ankle and giving Phoenix a smile that doesn’t quite meet her eyes. It makes me wonder what kind of life she’s had since she left me without so much as a goodbye. She still looks like the innocent girl I fell in love with, but her edges are jagged. This Eve has known suffering, sorrow.
How can someone be so different, yet feel exactly the same?
“Everything is fine.” Again, with the forced smile. She clutches her hands in her lap, twisting her fingers around each other. “I came alone. The sisters were busy.”
His eyes bore into hers, his fingers tapping along the wood of his desk before his lips twist into a ghost of a smile. “The streets are full of predators just waiting to get their hands on an innocent like you. You should be more careful. I could’ve provided protection.”
The church? The sisters? Is this some kind of twisted foreplay, or am I missing something?
I open my mouth, but before I can ask what the fuck’s going on, a man in a rumpled linen suit walks into the office. His jaw drops as he takes us all in and promptly turns around and walks back out.
“Shut the fucking door.” Phoenix mutters another curse and shakes his head.
“It looks like you could use a secretary,” Eve muses, reaching up to smooth the black veil down the side of her face.
“Are you interested in applying? I’m not even sure you’d have to change your dress.”
Her mouth opens and closes a few times but no words come out.
“You’d be doing me a favor.” He runs a tattooed hand over his jaw. “They don’t last long. The last ten I had only wanted to sleep their way through me to the stage.”
“Seems like that could be a good perk for you,” Eve murmurs, glancing at the ground.
“I don’t fuck where I work.” He glances in my direction, brow slightly raised. I know what he’s not saying. I’m not sleeping with her, dumbass.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to assume.”
That makes two of us. This is the oddest exchange I’ve ever witnessed. And to make things even more…confusing? Fucked up? Phoenix opens up a drawer on the left side of his desk and pulls out a thick envelope.
“I hate to cut this meeting short, but I have matters that need my attention. My tithings to the church.” He stands and passes Eve the envelope. She pushes to her feet and silently accepts the envelope, sliding it into a dress pocket. “Give Father Kaz my best. You’ll need someone to walk you back. I’d blame myself if something happened to you, especially with your pockets full. If you’d give me a—”
“I’ll do it.” I stand abruptly and clear my throat, shoving my hands in my back pockets. “I’ll walk her back.”
Phoenix strokes a hand down the rose tattooed at the base of his throat as he assesses me with a shrewd gaze. His face is once again a mask of indifference. I’ve only been working for him the past year so I’m not really sure what to expect. But I need this job—the money he gives me to send back to my family in California—just as much as I need Eve.
She’s always been my other half. The good to my evil. The calm in my storm. The peace and tranquility that breaks through the darkness, the nightmares. The reminder that I can feel.
I need to know why she ran from me.
From us.
I move to follow her out of the office, but before I can make it out the door, Phoenix beckons me to him.
He plants his hands on the desk and leans forward. “Do you have a handle on things, Declan?”
“Of course, I do.” My answer is automatic, but in truth, I haven’t got a clue. Not anymore. Not since Eve wandered back into my path.
He knows I’m full of shit too. I can see it in the clenching of his jaw.
“Good. Because if you didn’t, I’d tell you that you have the rest of the night to figure it out. You don’t want your enemies to know your weakness, and right now she’s yours. You won’t be doing either of you a favor if you don’t stop broadcasting your feelings to everyone with eyes and a brain.”
“We—”
“I don’t care. You can’t afford to have a weakness, not one they can find and exploit anyway. Deal with it. I need you and Axe in my office first thing in the morning. There’s something special that needs your attention.”
“I’ll be here.”
“And Declan?”
