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“That would be nice. You’ll be my only guest for the holidays, and your birthday is next week.”
Like Thanksgiving, Stella and I chose not to celebrate our birthdays. I don’t want to think of another year passed that I lost because of Ash, another year coming I won’t have because of Ash. Birthdays belong to people who are looking forward to the future, and I am not. Not in the way I should be.
“I’m not celebrating,” I say, my voice flat.
Willow nods. Locked in her tower, she didn’t celebrate hers, either.
We say goodbye, and she kisses my cheek.
Wade stood outside Willow’s door the entire time, and he escorts me down in the elevator and across the lobby. The security guard who scanned my ID notes how long my visit lasted, and he holds the door open as I step out onto the sidewalk. I text Douglas and ask him to meet me at Jerricka’s building, my secret tucked close to my heart.
I don’t notice the man filming me until Douglas helps me into the town car, and with fear lodged firmly in my throat, I wonder if he saw me walk out of Willow’s building.
I don’t have to wait long to find out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Gage
An hour and a half before Zarah’s supposed to arrive, she texts and asks if I like lasagna. I tell her I do, and she responds with aSee you soon!and some kissing emojis.
I clean up the best I can, but trying to make my place look any better than it is, is like washing a rusted car hoping it will turn into something brand new after it’s dry. Not gonna work. I’ve been satisfied with this place since I moved in and I’m not going to get self-conscious now, but I do change the sheets for her this time and light a couple of candles though it’s against my lease agreement. Baby glares at me, like she knows what I’m trying to do, then rests her snout on her paws and pretends to go to sleep under the table.
Most of the day I spent helping Pop track down that jewelry B & E. To my surprise, we found the bastard fencing his take at a pawn shop not far from here. Gave chase and burnt off some pent-up sexual energy. Tackled the son of a bitch in a dirty alley, and he knocked me around pretty good. I hope my scruff covers the bruise along my jaw where his solid right hook landed.Zarah doesn’t need to see that, but if she does, it will be a good conversation starter in any case. I don’t want to lead in with a, “Hey, did my brother ask you to marry him, and by chance did you say yes?”
That’s been bugging me all day, and it’s going to, until I ask. It will be my own form of purgatory if she can’t remember if he did, or what she said.
Fuck.
I hear her footsteps up the metal stairwell, and I have the door open and I’m leaning against the doorjamb when she tops the stairs.
Something happened today. I can see it on her face, in her demeanor. Her shoulders are hunched, and she won’t meet my eyes.
Usually, that’s not a good sign with any female, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Her medication could be the culprit and have nothing to do with me.
Yeah, right.
She sets a thermal bag onto the floor, the silver aluminum lining peeking out the top, but she didn’t bring an overnight bag like she said she would, and that’s the first clue she won’t be spending the night.
“Hey, is everything okay?” I ask, helping her take her jacket off.
“I brought Lucille’s lasagna and some garlic bread, I hope you don’t mind I took care of dinner.”
She looks nice in tight black leather leggings, an oversized white shirt, and black leather vest. She unzips and tugs off black knee-high leather boots, and her feet are bare. That appeals to me in kind of an earthy way, and if she was in a better mood, I would have commented on it. Now I feel like I don’t want to say anything in case I make her bad mood worse. Never in my life have I minded if I’ve offended anyone until I met Zarah.
“No, that’s great.”
“It needs to go in the oven for a few minutes,” she says, wandering through the living room to the kitchen. “The bag kept everything pretty warm on the way over.”
“Got it.”
She runs her fingers over the table, the silver specks in the black glittering in the overhead light. “Do you like it? You said you did, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Yeah, I really do, thanks. I worked in the kitchen last night. It was a nice change of scenery. Baby gives it her seal of approval, and that’s the most important thing.” I try to be light, chase some of the dark out of her eyes.
I’m not successful.
Zarah crawls on the floor next to Baby, and seeing a billion-dollar heiress under my kitchen table, her shoulders shaking, her hands trembling, is the saddest thing I’ve seen in a long time.