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But Annabel threw her hand up as if she was swatting a fly. “That guy is boring. I’ll stay here with you two handsome boys. That’ll be way more fun.”
I caught Mila’s confused gaze. It was literally written all over her tense face how much she disliked Annabel, but she was trying to be polite— and, worst of all, she was doing so for me.
“Come sit,” Andrei said once more. “I’d love to hear how you know Noah.”
Annabel grinned, taking a seat. “I don’t think you really want to.” She grabbed my glass of wine and drank from it. Mila nervously grabbed her glass, taking her own large drink.
“Try me,” Andrei said, smiling. For a brief moment, our glances met. He loved this. Every bit of it.
This was bad. Really bad. Her next words could be something like, “Noah is a detective,” or, “He works with my dad—the second biggest cop in town.”
Think, Noah. What does Annabel love more than ruining your life? There must be something, anything!Then it hit me. Of course. There was one thing: herself!
“Well,” I said, trying hard to hide the raging storm inside of me, “I’m going to go use the bathroom.”
Andrei looked at me in surprise. This was the opposite of what he had expected I’d do. “Annabel,” I said in a friendly tone. “Why don’t you show Andrei the pictures of when you were crowned queen at your university ball?”
The whole station had only seen those stupid pictures a thousand times. In Annabel’s drunken state, she seemed to need a moment to process my words, but then her eyes shot open, sparkling like a disco ball.
“Oh my God! You have to see this.”
I quickly leaned over and whispered into Mila’s ear: “I’ll make her go away. Hang in there.”
Then I rushed through the busy restaurant, passing packed tables and laughing faces, and into the hallway with the restrooms. I almost cursed when I pulled out my flip phone and hammered the keys to dial the chief. He picked up instantly—phone calls were only reserved for absolute emergencies. Which this was! For all I knew, Annabel could have already told them who I was, stamping a target sign on my back.
“Are you in danger?” he skipped right to the matter.
“I’ll be dead by dawn if you don’t get Annabel out of Monaco’snow.”
I hung up and looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody had witnessed the call. Still as tense as a concrete block, I strode quickly back to the table.
“Beautiful...” Andrei was faking interest at Annabel’s pictures as he leaned over her phone. “Now tell me, how did you get to know our Noah again?”
“Wait,” Annabel said, searching her phone for another picture. “Just one more. It’s the best one. I look like a movie star.”
“One more, but then you have to put an end to this suspense,” Andrei said, briefly glancing over at me.
I silently pulled my chair back and sat down next to Mila, who was playing with her napkin. The plates with food had been removed while I was gone—which might have bought me another few seconds of distraction.
Unfortunately, Annabel must have found what she was looking for. She held her phone in front of Andrei’s face with a wide grin. Andrei moved back a few inches. “Yes, that’s definitely the most beautiful one.”
Annabel nodded a few times then put her phone on the table.
I didn’t even realize that I had grabbed Mila’s hand under the table until she squeezed it and smiled as if she were to reassure me that everything was fine. Which, of course, it wasn’t. Andrei was staring at my face, analyzing me. Trying to distract him again would make me seem too desperate. And trying to get rid of Annabel again might make him just seek her out on his own to get the answers he wanted. No, this had to come to a natural stop. I needed this to keep looking like it was just an embarrassing moment running into a drunk ex.
“So—” Andrei began.
“I got to know hot officer here,” Annabel cut Andrei off. She rolled her eyes and smirked. “Sorry, missy,” she slurred, glancing at Mila, “but he,” she nodded at Andrei, “keeps asking.”
“Animal cop, you mean,” Andrei corrected her with narrowed eyes.
I was panicking on the inside. Fire alarm? Faking a heart-attack? Choking?
Annabel laughed into her glass of wine—which technically was mine. “I guess you can say that. Animals,” she laughed and filled up her glass, pounding half of it in one long drink. “I met Noah at my father’s birthday party many years ago.”
“Well, there we have it,” I said, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. “Now, why don’t we focus back on this beautiful birthday dinner.”
Andrei ignored me. “That’s a really quick end to a story we haven’t heard yet, don’t you think, Annabel?”
