Page 12 of #Awestruck

She told me to be at the penthouse at two o’clock. In the middle of saying our goodbyes, Evan walked out behind me, brushing past me as he did so.

“Excuse me, ladies. Nia, Tinsley, always a pleasure to see you.”

The two women said their hellos and goodbyes as Evan shot me a look that made it pretty obvious we knew each other. After he walked away, it took less than a half second for Tinsley to ask, “You and Evan?”

“No. Nope. No. There is no me and Evan. I just ran into him. In there.” I waved my hand over my shoulder. I was supposed to be here to impress her, not to give the image that I was looking for a player to nab. I also needed to keep myI HATEEVANDAWSONmetaphorical T-shirt to myself. “He’s not my type.” That was a total lie, as he was the type for every breathing woman on the planet. “I am not interested in dating him. At all.”

I was protesting so much it was like I was a freshman at a liberal arts college.

“You’d be one of the very few women here who could say that,” Tinsley said with an enthusiastic smile. “Evan is the Jacks’ white whale. Nobody ever lands him. And given the size of his, er, contract, many women have tried and failed.”

I doubted that but knew enough not to say so. I just smiled back. I hoped it looked real.

Maybe every other woman had tried and failed to get what they wanted from him.

I planned on being the one who succeeded and exposed him as a lying fraud.

CHAPTER FOUR

Early in the morning I sent off an email to Brenda, letting her know that I’d started my quest to expose Evan and giving her what little information I had gathered.

It wasn’t much, and her terse, curt reply let me know it.

I got Nia’s dress dry-cleaned at a place with a two-hour turnaround and texted to ask if I could bring it by. She said sure, and I made the long drive out to her home. It was weird not having to show up to work. I liked being able to do what I wanted when I wanted.

Don’t get too used to it,I told myself. It wouldn’t be long before I’d be making my way up to the big show, getting to announce for the Jacks.

Before I could even knock on Nia’s door, she threw it open. “Come in! We have so much to talk about. Such as how Evan liked your photo. Because he’s into you.”

What? What photo? Oh, right. Instagram. My whole body scoffed at the idea that Evan Dawson could ever be attracted to me. “That’s a little far-fetched. Just because he likes the picture doesn’t mean he likes me.”

“Maybe not. But it’s still a click in the right direction. Or maybe I jumped to my far-fetched conclusion because of this.” She held out her phone to show me one of my Instagram photos. With a comment from Evan Dawson.

He called me gorgeous?Why did that both thrill and infuriate me at the same time? What kind of game was he playing?

Did he really feel that bad over what had happened in high school? He should. But it wasn’t my job to absolve his guilt. He could live with it, as far as I was concerned.

I’d certainly had to.

“I’m guessing you hadn’t seen that yet. Which means he’s not trying to slide into your DMs.”

I nodded. “He kept insisting he wasn’t trying to slide into anything.”

That made her smile. “Come inside. Would you like some tea?”

“Sure.”

She took my winter coat and her dress and hung them both in the same place as she had last night. I followed her into the kitchen, where she had a darling pink-and-green-porcelain tea set on the table.

I had barely sat down when she pounced on me.

“Gorgeous? Fiery personality? Okay, you need to tell me what really happened,” she said as she poured some herbal tea into my cup. “I know what you said last night, and I don’t believe a word of it. What is going on? Because there were some serious vibes happening between you two.”

“There were no vibes,” I told her.

“Please. I am a professor of vibeology and know it when I see it. I want the whole story.”

I hadn’t told anyone the Evan Dawson story in a really long time. I blew on my drink and took a small sip.

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