Page 73 of See Me

I pull my head away and take a step back. “Because I haven’t seen or heard from you in four years.”

He rocks back and forth on his heels and winks. “Aww, did you miss me?”

What he doesn’t realize is, I know that’s his tell. He’s nervous. Or intimidated by the two muscled Italians currently shooting laser beams into the back of his head. “Not even a little.”

“Now, now, this was our plan. You finish college, I wait for you.” He spreads his arms wide. “Here I am.”

“We had no such plan, Charles.”

He puts his hands in the pockets of his suit pants and glances over his shoulder, keeping tabs on the boys. He comes a little closer and almost whispers. “Sure we do. Now take off that skirt thing, and let’s get out of here, huh?”

I move to pass him and he steps in front of me. I roll my eyes and put my hands on my hips. “How did you even know I was here?”

“Reginald.” He says it like it was the most obvious answer in the world. And now I’m wondering how long he’s been here. He’s always had a weird psycho vibe I chalked up to possessive insecurity but now I’m wondering if I’m staring into the eyes of The Doorman.

“Reginald? My parents' butler?” My mind starts reeling, trying to piece together how that makes sense.

“Look, I don’t know all the details. I went to retrieve you from your parents’ house after you graduated. Your parents have had someone watching over for you for a while. They told me where to find you.”

“Retrieve me?” My voice comes out growly and anger andrage have my vision tunneling. “Like I’m some puppy you ordered from a breeder?”

Charles glances behind the bar and sees the boys haven’t moved. Apparently, that gives him a bit of confidence. He closes in and circles my upper arm with his hand. “You’re making this more difficult than it has to be, sweetheart.”

I pull my arm out of his grip. “I’m not your sweetheart. I’m not your… wait.” My head swims with the realization. “They’ve had someone watching me?”

Charles’ eyes bounce around but never land on my face.

I cross my arms and put myself right in front of his face so he can’t avoid my eyes. “For how long?”

He swallows and lets out a nervous laugh. “How would I know?”

“How long, Charles?”

He swings his arms out and scoffs. “I don’t know. Long enough to know where to find you.”

“I’m going to ask this once and just know I can tell when you’re lying. Did they know I was sleeping in my car?”

His face morphs into a grimace and he tips his head back and forth obviously deciding what he should tell me.

When he doesn’t say anything, bile churns in my gut as I take another step back. “Did you know?”

He sighs and finally meets my eyes. “Does it matter? I’m here now.”

“Does it matter? You knew I was homeless and sleeping in my car. With a serial killer on the loose, mind you, and you ask medoes it matter?”

“None of this will mean anything a week from now. Let’s just go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. We dated for like a month, when I was in the tenth grade, Charles. Just because our parents had a plan doesn’t mean I was ever agreeable. Andif you thought that was the case, why haven’t I heard from you in years? You thought you would just swoop in here and whisk me away to be your wife? And I wouldgo? The only reason you know me at all is because we were thrown together as children, because our parents were friends. This plan was for publicity and, if you haven’t noticed, that’s not really my thing.”

Luca materializes at my side. His hand circles my waist and tugs me close. “Don’t leave out the most important part, babe.”

When I look up into his eyes, he smiles and tucks a strand of errant hair behind my ear and bops me on the nose.

Bops me… on the nose.

Charles crosses his arms and releases a long breath through his nose. He’s most likely trying to appear intimidating but, with his baby face, he looks more like a petulant child his parents dressed up for career day.

I hate the implication that I need rescuing, but I can’t help but be grateful to Luca by my side. “Right… babe.” I swallow hard and pull my face into a grin. I try to ignore the rush of heat to my skin and the siren call my vagina currently sings. “I got so caught up in themy parents would rather see me murdered than swallow their pride and accept me for who I amfiasco, I forgot to mention—”

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