Page 60 of Masked

“I own this apartment, what the hell are you going on about, Parker?”

“You’re sleeping with Reva. That’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Really? Is it more fucked up than you cheating on her for five years but still having the audacity to dump her when she said no to your proposal?”

Parker groaned. “So, you know about that? How long have you been fucking her dad.” Parker never called him dad. Not even after Noah legally adopted him and his siblings. But he did it now to rattle him. And it worked, but he would not let him see that. He was being a prick and needed someone to teach him a lesson in civility.

“Who I am and am not sleeping with is not your concern. And stop harassing Reva. She’s done nothing wrong. And did you seriously let her pay rent while she was living with you?”

Parker shrugged. “She insisted. And when I realized she was serious about the whole PhD thing, it didn’t seem right for me to be footing the bill for her anyway.”

“So, if she had been willing to sit at home and wait for you, she could have lived there for free, but because she was working her ass off you charged her rent knowing she couldn’t afford to finish her degree? You really are a selfish bastard and I’m sorry I didn’t teach you better when you were younger.”

Parker rolled his eyes. “Whatever old man. Just stay the hell away from my girlfriend.”

“Ex-girlfriend. And you stay the hell away from her, too.”

“What’s going on?”

Both men turned to find Reva standing there, looking tired and confused.

“Parker was just leaving.”

“Like hell I am.” The younger man puffed out his chest and moved to close the distance between him and Reva, but Noah gripped his wrist at a pressure point and stopped him cold.

“I said he was just leaving. Say goodnight, Parker.”

Reva rolled her eyes and walked to the front desk.

“Can you please escort him out?” She jerked her head toward Parker and folded her arms over her chest while she waited.

“Come on Reva. You don’t want to do this. He’ll throw you away when he’s done with you. Just like he did with my mother.”

Noah nearly laughed out loud, but Reva fixed him with a glare before she turned her wrath on Parker.

“I’m filing a restraining order against you tomorrow. Now get the hell out of my building and I don’t want to ever see you again.”

Two security guards approached Parker and put their hands on his arms. “Please come with us, sir. You’re trespassing.”

When he was gone, Noah turned to her, but she held a hand up. “No. I would like to go upstairs and have an hour of privacy to shower, change, and decompress. An hour is all I’m asking for before we carry on with our evening.”

The assertiveness in her voice had him nodding and backing away. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

When she was in the elevator, he went to the security office and asked them to keep an extra eye out for Parker and anyone else who might show extra interest in Reva or her apartment.

“She’s to be protected at all costs. If we need to upgrade your security, you can send me the bill. I don’t care about the money. I want her safe.”

The security team in this building had learned long ago not to bluster and be offended when he questioned whether they were doing their jobs effectively. They knew he would indeed fund any upgrade they wanted. Even after Elise moved out, he maintained the apartment in case he got too intense for her. Sometimes she would go there when she’d had a bad day and wanted to be alone. But even that stopped after a few months of living together.

At exactly an hour later, he boarded the elevator and punched in the code that would take him to her floor. The doors slid open, and he found a naked, wet Reva sleeping on the couch with only a towel partially draped over her body.

God, she was killing herself with everything she had on her plate.

As quietly as possible, he scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom where he pulled the covers up over her and backed out of the room. He would sort out dinner while she had a nap. Then they would see where the night took them.

After placing a grocery order so he could cook, he walked into the small office off the living area and sat at the desk. Even that had been littered with small signs of Reva’s presence. A steel tumbler that said read books, stay hydrated, and fuck the patriarchy made him smile. A photo of what he only assumed was her family gave him a small pang of sadness since he knew the story of their deaths. But he also liked seeing her as a young girl with a high ponytail and a graphic tee looking happy and carefree.

In all the time he’d known Reva, carefree is not something he’d seen. She was always pushing to achieve something. That’s why it surprised him to find out she’d taken a break from her PhD work while she was dating Parker.

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