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“Wren, it was eleven months.”
“Just because I handled the whole thing badly doesn’t mean you have to.”
I took a sip of beer. “I’ve been down this road before. Have you forgotten that as well?”
She was quiet for a bit. Long enough I thought she’d given up the argument. “He was different.”
“Not different at all. In fact, quite the same.”
Wren shook her head. “Ares seems interested in a different way.”
“You know this after spending hours and hours surveilling the man?”
“It’s a feeling, Nem, and you know it.”
I’d had feelings for the other wanker too, and I’d thought he reciprocated them. While I hadn’t expected a marriage proposal, I had expected more than one night.
“I know the man whose name shall never be mentioned again hurt you, but that doesn’t mean every man will. Why not give it a chance?”
I nearly cheered when our food arrived. Not only because I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and not because our mouths would be too full to talk, but also because once we were finished, we could return to the house and this conversation would be over.
“I’ll say this, and then I’m finished talking about it. There was a reason you ran from Wilder, Wren, whether you want to own up to it or not. I, on the other hand, would not be able to hide out in another country if I allowed something to happen between Ares and me and it went badly. I’m stuck unless I resign from the UN position, which I’llnotdo. There is no way I’ll jeopardize my career for a man. I don’t care if he looks like a cover model for a romance book.”
She cocked her head to one side and then the other.
“What wasthat?”
Wren shrugged. “We’ll see. Now, eat.”
“I’ve lost my appetite,” I lied, picking up my fork and digging in.
When we returnedto the farmhouse, an hour later, I no longer cared about the time. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for several hours.
Instead, I walked inside and found Ares on the phone, seated at the same dining table where I’d left my files and laptop, which he’d pushed to the side.
“How goes it, my friend?” he asked whoever he was speaking to at the same time he raised a brow in my direction. A brow. No wave. No hello. Just a raised brow.
22
ARES
Ididn’t know what possessed Kodiak to tell Blackjack we’d return to the farmhouse tomorrow. I had no intention of staying in London another night. Besides, the sun had barely set.
That hadn’t been the first thing to annoy me today, although as the hours went on, the list of things that did grew at a rapid pace.
When they asked if we could stop to eat, I insisted we return to the house. “I’ll get something there. I’m sick of eating out.” By the time we arrived, I regretted my words. I was starving.
Then, when we walked in, I was greeted by one thing I’d have preferred not to be, and not by the other I’d hoped for.
“Nem is out with Wren,” said Wilder, walking into the kitchen to greet us.
“When will they return?” I asked.
“No idea. You just missed them.”
I turned to the main dining table, where, in her stead, Nem had left piles of notepads, napkins also containing notes, and the contents of a handbag that had been inconveniently placed on a chair.
In anger, brought on by how disappointed I felt that she wasn’t here, I swept my arm across the table, clearing half of it. Witnessing it, both Cayman and Kodiak fled the room. “Fuck off,” I mumbled, not that either could hear me. I knelt down and picked up the things that had landed on the floor, piling them on top of everything else.
