Page 84 of Game of Love
Chapter 21
Jia
“You look nicer than usual,”Anya noted with a curt little nod of her head.
Her hair had grown back substantially from the blunt-edged bob she’d cut it in only a month ago so the ends brushed over her shoulders.
“Thank you. I think.” I gave her a pointed stare.
She came here to meet for coffee.
It was late afternoon and we were sitting on the upper deck restaurant. My idea. I’d noticed the other day that Xander came here for lunch.
We hadn’t spoken properly since last week and apart from the glimpses I’d caught of him, that was it. No real contact.
“Looking for someone in particular?” she asked when I looked over her shoulder. “You know it’s really rude when your best friend visits you at work because she’s super worried, but you’re too busy looking out for a certain guy.”
I frowned, but then I felt bad. She was right, and right to worry. And I was being rude. It was true.
“I’m sorry.”
She giggled. “On this occasion I’m going to say it’s fine, although it’s not. It’s not and I’m upset because you haven’t told me squat about this guy, other than that there’s a guy. A man who you’ve had on your brain and not shared with me.”
I think if Anya knew all that had happened over the last two weeks she would have stopped talking to me for so many reasons. I might not have shared squat about Xander, but I didn’t share squat about anything. Not even the shooting. That, like most things that happened in those back rooms, had been kept under wraps.
Pa had people who took care of stuff. A cleanup crew to get rid of…evidence.
Bodies.
I hadn’t exactly seen anything. I just knew and I’d heard enough. Granted I’d seen enough too at the recruitment session. Four men had died and they were just carried off to God knows where afterward...
Anya couldn’t know any of that.
“Oh my God Jia, can’t you tell me anything?” Her bright brown eyes sparkled with interest. “Not even an itsy bit?”
No. I couldn’t tell her anything. I really shouldn’t start talking about Xander either.
I was so stupid, wearing this little skater dress. It hugged my frame and gave me a casual appearance. A little tamer than the business wear I normally wore.
I wasn’t wearing heels either. Today I’d chosen a pair of silver pumps.
All for him and yet not for him. Just like yesterday’s dress, and the romper and silver heels I’d worn the day before. Never mind all the assortment of stylish clothes I’d flung on all the days in between.
God, I was like a sixteen-year-old girl trying to catch the attention of the most popular boy at school. I wasn’t acting like the woman in charge I’d become over the years.
I’d allowed this man to work his charm into my head and weaken me with a night of wild passion. A night I would give anything to have again.
Sucker much? I was a goner for the man, but there was nothing of real substance to hang on to other than him telling me he couldn’t get me out of his head and that he liked me being there.
“There’s nothing really to tell.” I decided to say.
“Why don’t I believe you?” she huffed.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s because you’re lying through your damn teeth and blushing too.” She giggled.
I couldn’t hide my inner feelings from my best friend. I shook my head at her and decided I’d share something. Small.
