Page 12 of Brat Baby (Sugar Life #1, #3)

Darcy

It is an odd feeling to have both pride and heartbreak colliding in your system at the same time.

For almost two hours, from the vantage point of the driver’s seat of my car, parked down the block from Thai Orchid, I’ve been watching the front door, waiting for Emmy to reappear.

I’m fucking dying on the inside. It’s been a solid fight to keep my ass in the vehicle.

I just want to go to her, explain what’s happening, but we all agreed.

No contact until we speak to Thayne. Protecting her heart is the most important thing to me right now.

And as much as I know she’s hurting right now, the pain she would feel after getting her hopes up, only to be told no in a few weeks’ time? No. I can’t do that to her.

And then there is the professional element to consider. I might not give two shits about my job with NU, but I do care about my students and about Derek’s and Hudson’s careers.

Fucking Xavier. I can’t believe he did this.

But at the same time… I’m not surprised.

Asshole is selfish to the bone. If he wants Emmy, there is absolutely nothing that will stop him, bar her telling him to leave.

Even then, I’m certain he would meld into the shadows and have her from afar, like some sort of creepy Romeo and Juliet shit.

This is not how tonight was supposed to go. We were supposed to sit opposite each other, hold hands on top of the table, and tell each other little things about ourselves. It was supposed to be a first date, the beginning of the next six months—hopefully more—together.

She was so fucking nervous when she got out of her cab, wringing her hands and standing perfectly still as she watched the people sitting on the patio.

I’m fairly certain she considered turning around and going home.

But my girl, my perfect princess, handled herself just like she had all weekend. Squaring her shoulders, she walked straight up to the concierge and waited to be seated like the little queen I know she is.

How must she have felt, sitting there, alone, waiting for me to show up. How long did it take to dawn on her that I wasn’t showing up? Did she suspect from the beginning, or was she blindsided?

Fuck. I grip my shirt over my heart at the thought of her all alone, with a packed restaurant around her, waiting. The humiliation at having been stood up on our first date must have eroded the snarky self-confidence she lets out to play every now and then.

How has she been sitting in there for two hours, alone? Did she slip out and I didn’t notice? What if she—

My phone lights up in the cradle on my dash.

Thai Orchid

Thank you for dining with Thai Orchid. Your receipt is…

I furrow my brow and reach for the phone, swiping open the notification. My mouth falls open with a choked laugh. My perfect princess, indeed.

Thai Orchid

Thank you for dining with Thai Orchid. Your receipt is available at this link. We hope you enjoyed your meal with us.

I tap the link that is available, curious to see what she ordered, and a few seconds later, I’m laughing, deep rolling chuckles as pure delight courses through my veins. Two hundred and fifty dollars. Two hundred for the ten fucking course meal and fifty for the tip.

Looking back out my window, I watch as the door opens and Emmy steps out carrying two brown paper bags with the Thai Orchid logo printed on the outside as she weaves her way through the tables.

She steps up to the curb, not having to wait long before a car pulls up in front of her and she climbs in. I stare after the sedan as she disappears, the rideshare sticker displayed in the back window.

Shock and—I’m man enough to admit—arousal coil tightly in my stomach, like two rope ends having suffered the consequences of knotting at the top.

I feel outplayed and proud at the same time. Kind of like what a father would feel when their child finally bests them at a game or sport. I’ve been sitting out here, stressing on her behalf, worried, fretting, nervous for her.

But she was in there, apparently having the time of her life at my expense—literally.

She didn’t crumble like dried-out paint. No, she splashed across the canvas in a riot of colors I can only be jealous of.

I straighten in my seat and turn the key in the engine, the twin-turbo V-8 turning the heads of everyone in the vicinity.

And if she can hold strong against everything, so can I.

It’s three weeks.

I can stay away from her for three weeks. After that, I’ll shower her with everything it takes to earn her forgiveness. She’ll never have a reason to doubt me again. Even if Thayne can’t help us figure things out.

I’ll protect the others until then, but I’m getting my princess back.

Three weeks. No matter what. Then she is mine.