by Livy North
“Where’s our driver from earlier?” I glanced around. The dark leather interior blended with the darkness of the night.
“I took the car without him. I didn’t want him to snitch about me driving around New York to find my lost partner.”
Pursing my lips, I sunk farther back into the leather and let it warm me up. “Right. So where are we going?”
“The Golden Compass.”
“What’s that?”
“A restaurant, Emory.” He sighed, our eyes meeting in the rearview mirror. I swallowed thickly when he stared at me for what seemed like forever.
My eyes shifted to his hands that clutched the steering wheel. He turned with a flat palm against the wheel, and for some unexplainable reason, that move made my stomach tingle.
But then I noticed the red bruising on the skin over his knuckles. With nothing but the light from the dashboard, the bruises looked almost black.
Even as we walked into some fancy black-tie restaurant, I couldn’t stop staring. Even with the dim light coming from glass chandeliers, his knuckles lit up red. Thin cuts covered his right hand and drops of blood had trickled out but then dried.
“Your hand,” I whispered as the waiter showed us to a linen-covered table.
“God, Emory,” he laughed ironically, “don’t you start to worry about me now. You never have before.”
Sitting on beige suede chairs, River flipped open the menu and read intently. I opened my own, but I couldn’t focus enough to read. I kept glancing over at River and his red knuckles, and our eyes met when he caught me looking. We held eye contact as the waiter recited the specials, but neither of us paid attention.
“It’s not that, it’s just… people can see it and are probably wondering what happened to you.” Yeah, that was a credible lie.
How River managed to get a table here with no notice on a Sunday night only proved how much power his family’s name held, even in New York.
We ordered and the food arrived shortly after, along with a bottle of alcohol-free bubbles on the house. By now, I’d had time to wind down and cool my feelings—and I realized I had to put my pride aside.
Twirling a strand of spaghetti around my fork, I kept my eyes focused on that as I spoke. “You were right about earlier… I couldn’t handle myself alone. So, you know… You were right and all.”
Tentatively, I peeked up from my plate to see his reaction. But there wasn’t a smirk or a grin, or even so much as a twitch. His face was dead serious, and his eyes scrutinized me. “I didn’t want to be right. You do realize that, right?”
I blinked. “Whatever. You know what I mean. And relax, I’m aware you don’t like me, nor do you care about me. You just don’t want anything to happen when people can blame you for my stupidity.”
He snorted out a soft laugh. “God, woman.”
“‘God, woman’ what?” I asked accusingly.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Don’t worry your pretty little, concussed head about it, Nightmare.”
“Whatever. Thanks anyway.”
“You’re welcome. I told you, I want to be the one to ruin you.” A smirk tugged on his lips, but something flashed in his eyes—something that wasn’t usually there when he taunted me. It was something genuine, and something that made my heart clench with warmth. “So, you’re not going back to that AirBnB tonight. I’m not quite ready for you to get killed. I haven’t had my fun yet.” He smiled tauntingly, but that genuine, soft something was plaited into that.
I feigned a smile before narrowing my eyes.
River smirked. “We’ll grab your stuff but then you’re coming back to the hotel. To me.”
Relief washed over me but I would never admit that, so I only rolled my eyes and bit back a smile. “Whatever you say, sir,” I mocked.
River snorted but his lips twitched. He shook his head lightly.
“You’re one of a kind, Emory. I’ll give you that.” He popped a piece of steak into his mouth and chewed.
I pursed my lips before putting a forkful of spaghetti into my mouth. The rich, creamy taste of the carbonara mixed with the salty bacon was like heaven. I’d underestimated how hungry I was.
As I ate, the headache vanished until there was only slight throbbing in the back.
“How did you know about this place?” I asked. “The food’s delicious, and the place is stunning.” I glanced over the small venue with someone playing the piano in the corner.
“New York is like my second home,” he admitted. “I’ve spent Christmases here, entire summers, weekends… Even when I went to school in England, we’d travel here often. Anyway, this is, by far, the best restaurant in town.”
“Huh,” I mumbled, not expecting the straightforward answer. “So, do you go with your family usually?”
“Yes. I’ve come with my father on business trips since I got home two years ago, and for Christmases, we all went.”
I chewed on a piece of bacon. “That’s nice, I guess. I know your relationship with your dad isn’t as it seems. Are you and your brothers really close or is that a façade, too?”
His eyes bored into me, but there was too much emotion in them to decipher. “They’re my brothers. We’re as close as brothers can be.”
“That isn’t really an answer.”
Clenching his jaw, he swallowed visibly, making his Adam’s apple bob. “I would give up my life for them. What about you and Gabriel? I’m sure you were awfully close.”
My gaze hardened. “What’s that supposed to mean?” River cocked a brow at me, and I rolled my eyes. “He was my older brother. I guess we were close, even though we argued. When it came down to it, he protected me.”
My heart clenched at the thought of him, and I felt the ache of missing someone who would never come back.
“Like when he tried to protect you from Peterson?”
Heat spread across my cheeks and my gaze fell to my lap. “Right.” I hated that my first time had been the talk of the town when it happened. Peterson was one of those things I wanted to forget.
A soft chuckle came from the other end of the table and I looked up again. River’s lips twitched and his face screamed amusement. “What happened between the two of you?”
Covering my face with my hands, I groaned. “Are you trying to torture me?”
“No, I’m asking a genuine question.”
“I hate you,” I grumbled.
“We’ve already established that.”
“Whatever. It’s not a big deal, and for the record, I didn’t get chlamydia.”
“But was he any good?”
Dropping my hands to the table, I glowered wide-eyed at him. “Excuse me? You can’t ask something like that!”
River grinned cheekily. “So, I take it’s a no?”
“River!” I whisper-hissed, glancing around to see if we’d gained the attention from the other patrons.
He chuckled into his napkin as he wiped his mouth. “So, no.”
“God. You’re an asshole.” I scowled and shoved another fork of spaghetti into my mouth to avoid talking about it, but I had to fight back laughter.
“The best.”
The unwarranted smile that had formed on my lips quickly vanished when I realized what I was doing. I was laughing because of River. Even when talking about something I didn’t want to talk about, I was enjoying myself.
Uh-oh. What was happening?
Was there something in the water?
Clearing my throat, I tapped the napkin around my mouth. After placing it down on my plate, I rubbed my palms against my thighs. “Maybe we should go. It’s getting late.”
River licked his lips and swallowed. “Yeah.” Raising a hand in the air, he signaled for the waiter to come with the tab.
“I can pay for my own food,” I said.
He cut me a narrowed glance. “What the hell did I tell you about appearances? I’m paying.”
“I seriously don’t think anyone cares.”
“Whatever. I’m st
ill paying. You know how it is. St. Crow is built on traditions and old-fashioned values. It’s a given that the guy should pay, and I want to. I may be an asshole, but I know how to pretend to be a gentleman.”
“But we aren’t on a date, so what does it matter?”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t know how it is to be me. My father is sitting at home, waiting for another reason to kick me out of the family. He’s already kicked me out of the company. I won’t let my lack of manners come back to slap me in the face once I get back to St. Crow. If this business trip goes to shit, it won’t be due to my lack of manners.”
“Hah.” I laughed. “Your manners? You worry about bad manners? You’re about twenty-one years too late for that.” I snorted at him, but then my eyebrows pulled together when I realized what he said. “Wait. He kicked you out of Sinclair Corp.?” I didn’t manage to hide the surprise in my voice.
River clenched his jaw and swallowed, his eyes darting around as if he was uncomfortable. “Uh. Yeah.”
I couldn’t stop staring at him. My mind tried to process what he’d said. “But you’re his—”
“Heir?” River cocked a brow at me and scoffed. “Yeah. I’ll probably be disowned once I get home because this trip hasn’t exactly been spotless, has it?” He threw me a pointed stare.
Swallowing, I bit the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry. I am. I hope I haven’t ruined anything for you.”
River shrugged me off. “Although you certainly never help my case, you haven’t ruined anything. He’ll find something to blame on me sooner or later. Nico has always been his favorite.”
“What? You’ve been his number one errand-runner for years,” I said. “And besides, I thought you adored him.”
“I do,” he said firmly, but corrected it quickly, “I did.”
“What changed?”
He shrugged, his detached demeanor coming back. “You feel it as much as I do. Our town has changed, and it’s too early to say if it’s for the good or bad.”
I pretended I didn’t know what he meant, even though I did. The town had changed since my parents’ death. My parents were like a middle ground between bickering adults, and now that it was lost, the city was on unsteady ground. “Maybe your father’s hard on you because he sees your potential.”
His eyebrows rose. “My potential?”
Shrugging, I licked my lips. “It’s not like you’re dumb. You’re smart. But maybe you should use your intelligence for good instead of annoying me.”
Snorting out his laughter, he shook his head. “But annoying you is my favorite pastime.”
“I know,” I grumbled. “I’m aware.”
Our conversation died out when the waiter came over to us with the bill. I’d forgotten to settle the payment matter, but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the waiter, so I let him swipe his card. River was a proud man, and even I knew not to push that sometimes.
His eyes caught mine as he shoved his leather wallet into the inside pocket of his coat, and my heart thumped a little harder. Maybe River was a human after all.
“Just so you know, your dad doesn’t define you. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that way.”
Standing, he adjusted his coat over his broad shoulders. “I don’t need the pity party, Emory. I’m doing just fine.”
I nodded. “Sure.” Though I didn’t believe him.
It was way past midnight when Emory and I went to bed after I’d gone to her AirBnB, grabbed her shit, and argued with the renter to get her money back. It ended with me being two-hundred dollars richer and he got himself a broken nose.
We were in bed, but unlike the other night, Emory wasn’t so near the edge she almost fell off. She curled into her sheets on the other side while I lied cross-legged in a pair of gray sweats, reading my book. Emory kept glancing over, and maybe it had something to do with my bare chest. She thought she was discreet, but she wasn’t.
Maybe if I were blind I wouldn’t have caught her staring.
I cleared my throat, causing her eyes to dart to mine. “Why are you staring?”
“I’m just wondering what book you’re reading,” she lied. She was like me, she lied too easily.
“Uh-huh.” I smirked but didn’t look up from the book. “It’s called The Lucifer Effect.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Emory bite her lip and sink further into the mattress. “Is it any good?”
A little chuckle escaped my lips and her brows drew together.
“Sure,” I said, my lips fighting the smile, “if you’re into psychology.”
Emory looked away from me. “Uhm, so what do we do when we get home? We still have to plan Founders’ Day, and today’s meetings were only the beginning.”
“We’ve been together for almost three days and we haven’t killed each other yet. We’ll manage.”
If I believed my own words, I wasn’t sure. There was still a seventy-thirty chance we’d end up on the floor in a pile of blood.
I’d spilled a few things too many tonight during dinner, but I knew Emory wouldn’t speak. Not because she cared a lot about me or my secrets, but because of who she was.
She was a good person, even if she pretended not to care.
Emory went silent and I finished the chapter before putting my book down and turning the bedside lamp off. Darkness coated the room, and the only light came from the cracks of the door leading to the bathroom.
I turned my head to the side to find Emory seemingly asleep on her pillow. She hugged the pillow under her head, and her eyelids were closed. But then they fluttered open and she looked right at me.
Shivers ran down my spine, because it was as if she saw right through my mask, my walls.
She saw me… maybe in a way no one ever had.
And it scared the hell out of me.
Yeah, whatever might have gone down the other night, and no matter how much she turned me on, I needed to forget about it. There was no doubt in my mind that Emory and I would crash and burn together, but we weren’t the only ones who would get burned.
We’d take the whole city down with us.
But for some reason, we seemed inevitable.
And maybe we were.
The next two days were jam-packed with the meetings we’d come to New York for, so Emory and I didn’t get much time to talk. I was grateful of course, because that conversation would only end in us yelling at each other and my dick hard, but at the same time, I was annoyed I didn’t get to tell her what I was thinking without sounding like a fool.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to say to her, but I still didn’t like how the mood between us was. During the night, I’d tried to convince myself to let the thought of her go, but I couldn’t.
She appealed to me and I wanted her.
She turned me on, and that was a difficult achievement considering I found few people interesting at all.
I think I had even started to care. I’d been worried when she’d disappeared. I really had. I pictured her in a ditch, attacked, dead, raped, or beaten. My heart had been beating like a thunderstorm. New York could be brutal, and because of that, I hadn’t been able to rid myself of this painful knot in my stomach. Worst of all, it was guilt, because I was supposed to protect her, and I had failed.
But I still didn’t like her.
I needed to remind myself of that.
Those thoughts were keeping me up on Tuesday night as we sat on the jet taking us back to St. Crow.
“Are you not going to sleep?” Her voice pierced the fog clogging my brain.
Shifting so I could face her, I gave her a blank stare. “No. I don’t feel like sleeping.”
“Me neither,” she mumbled.
The tension in our little cocoon suite was stifling.
After intense staring neither of us wanted to forfeit from, I drew my gaze away and turned to lay on my back. Staring up into the ceiling, I tried to push every memory of her away.
I needed some distance between us and not just ph
ysically. Goddamn it, why did I need to have such a good memory? I wanted all the memories with her gone—the memory of her smell, her warmth, her face, her voice… her lips.
Before, every time I looked at her, I saw red and that was it. But the fog of red was starting to fade. I saw more of her now, and I found I didn’t resent her as much as the picture I’d painted of her.
She wasn’t this little annoying girl who was always around because of her big brother.
She’d grown up. And she’d grown up good.
A phone ringing jerked me out of my thoughts. It came from my side table and the name Thomas Sinclair lit up the display.
“I have to take this.” Picking up the phone, I slipped through the sliding doors of our private room and away from her.
“Father,” I said stalely when I eventually hit answer.
“How’s it going?” My father went straight on to the interrogation.
Anger surged up inside me. “Aren’t you supposed to sleep? It’s two in the morning.”
“A businessman can’t just go to bed whenever he wants to. Business comes first. You know that,” he said in a reprimanding tone.
“Mhm,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes even though he couldn’t see me.
“How’s Emory?”
I clenched the phone tighter in my hand. “She’s not dead if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Watch your tone with me. You know I don’t appreciate sarcasm.” “I wasn’t having a tone,” I muttered under my breath, breathing heavily as if I was seconds away from breathing fire.
“What was that, River?”
I hated the way my name sounded coming from him.
“Nothing.” I cleared my throat. “I’ve got to go.”
Relief flooded through me as I hung up on him. I couldn’t remember the last time I hung up on him. Surely, I’d get to hear it when I came home.
When I went back to Emory, she was asleep. Her hair looked bluish in the light from behind the flatscreen on the wall and sprawled out behind her. Forcing myself to look away, I sat in my chair and replied to some e-mails from my phone.
The flight passed quickly, and it felt odd to have someone sleep next to me, especially her. She slept soundless, and her face looked angelic when her carved eyebrows weren’t pulled into a frown or those full lips pressed into a line.
