Page 15 of Breaking the Rules
Waverly tried not to look interested. “How’s business?”
“Good.” He nodded. “The London office is opening this month.”
“That’s what? Your fourth?”
He nodded again.
“You and Micah have come a long way from when you first started Invictus. Why is it that you’re still doing fieldwork?”
“I don’t anymore. I made a special exception in this case.” That grin winked into existence again.
“Lucky me,” she said dryly. Waverly pushed her empty plate away and picked up her coffee. “I heard you were engaged.”
“Are you asking if I was?”
She shrugged as if she didn’t care, but she was hungry for an answer.
“I was not.”
“But you were in a serious relationship?” she pushed.
“I was. I’m not now.”
“Why?”
“You.”
“Please. We haven’t spoken in years. What did I have to do with your relationship?”
“She wasn’t you.”
He was pushing her off center, feeding her words that felt like truth but couldn’t be.
“What’s Micah up to these days?” she asked, abruptly switching the subject.
“Does Dante make you feel the way I did?” Xavier asked, leaning in.
“You mean full of rage? No, he’s pretty low key. And I’m the one asking the questions.”
The tic in his jaw was the only sign that he wasn’t as relaxed as he seemed to be. “My apologies,” Xavier said, picking up his coffee.
“Why now?” Waverly asked.
“I thought you were better off without me.”
“I am,” she challenged. “What changed your mind?”
“I saw the news.”
“And you wanted to swoop in and save me again?”
“I saw the news and knew it was bullshit. How much of the last few years have been fake, Waverly? Since when do you stumble out of clubs drunk off your ass or fly off to St. Barths to party with a bunch of kids with diplomat parents? What are you into that’s so secretive that you let your parents think you’re in rehab?”
“You think you know me so well,” she shook her head. “You have no idea who I am.”
“I know more than you think. You’re still playing a role.”
“I’m playing a role that I choose. There’s a difference,” she snapped and then cursed herself for letting him get that much out of her.
