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“We don’t have time for this,” I say, brushing her comment off. “Eve is expecting us at home for dinner.”
Sucking her teeth, she snatches her bag off of my office chair. “Let’s go.”
Riley whips around so fast that her hair nearly smacks me in the face. I have to take extra long strides to keep up with her. It’s clear she doesn’t want to be anywhere near me. Yet, I don’t want to be too far from her.
No, I don’t trust Dean Walsh at all.
I shouldn’t trust her, either. After all, she’s been lying to me for weeks. She had the opportunity to tell me the truth that weekend we spent together.
But she didn’t.
That should disqualify her from taking up so much fucking space in my head.
It’s not working out that way, however.
* * *
Riley
“What are you looking for?”
I barely spare Kyle a glance as we pull up in front of the lounge. While I continue to rummage through my purse for my Ruby Red lipstick, I can feel his eyes on me. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of looking his way.
“None of your business,” I mumble, still searching.
“It won’t be in there,” he says before getting out of the backseat our driver holds open for him.
That’s when it dawns on me that he’s taken my red lipstick.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I blurt out as I get out of the car, uncaring that we’re in the middle of the sidewalk. It’s after five-thirty so there are loads of people leaving work around us.
“You actually stole my lipstick?”
He shrugs like it’s nothing. “It fell out of your bag, and I picked it up.” He smirks like he’s proud of himself. “I told you not to wear it.”
“And I told you to go fuck yourself. You can’t control what the hell I do or don’t wear.”
His eyes darken slightly. “Or don’t wear?” he repeats.
Every time I get into one of these fucking back and forths with him, it’s like a head trip. He’ll use anything to twist and manipulate to win. Doesn’t matter how big or small the win is, he just wants to win.
I give him a glowing smile. “It’s not like that’s the only tube of that color I have.” I bat my eyelashes and turn on him.
Before Kyle can reply, I pull out my phone and text Dean.
Me:Change of plans. Work event I can’t get out of. Meet me at McCullin’s Lounge in ten minutes.
“There,” I tell Kyle, waving my phone in his face. “Done. He should be here soon.”
His jaw tightens as he eases his hand to the small of my back. I inhale deeply because I should not be as affected as I am by his nearness. It’s abnormal. Especially since he doesn’t even like me.
“We’ll make this shit quick.”
“Yeah,” I agree. Eve is waiting for us. It’s been a couple of days since she arrived in Williamsport. Charlotte is home with her now, doing me a favor since I had meetings all day and I didn’t want to leave Eve alone.
I fiddle with the thumb drive in my pocket, wishing all of this were over. I need to focus on my niece. After her headmistress called and apologized repeatedly and said she would do whatever she needed to make up for the oversight, I completely lost it on her. I cursed her out from here to kingdom come.
That was the second tongue lashing she received that morning. Kyle had already made a call to the academy and was the one to alert them that Eve was no longer there. After which he had a team of lawyers start a lawsuit and media exposure that would harm their stellar reputation.
