by Nana Malone
“I can’t even imagine what it was like for you when you got here.”
He chuckled low. The sound melted over her, making her feel languid and loose. “I’m not afraid to say it was terrifying at first, not knowing a soul. More than once, I’m pretty sure I’ve made terrible mistakes, but there’s no going back. So, I thought, all you have to do is press on, really. So, I did. Eventually, I met a few people who were willing to show me what they knew. And now I run a couple of successful businesses. I got into property. Saved every cent I had; every single penny, I reinvested.”
“You’re a regular success story, aren’t you?”
He bit his lip. His intense blue stare met hers. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t say I’m a success, exactly. I made a lot of mistakes.”
“The road to success isn’t paved with all the wins, right? If that was the point, what’s the point of you even working any harder?”
“You are right about that Emma Welsh. So, what about you? What are you in this fair city to do?”
Now was her turn to grin. The excitement was right under her skin, so it was easy to access. “I am doing a master’s course with none other than photographer Xander Chase.”
His eyes went wide. “You don’t say?”
“You’re familiar with his work?”
Zach laughed. “You’d be hard pressed to find a Londoner who wasn’t familiar with Xander Chase’s work. I actually know him.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “Shut up.”
“Yeah, he’s not a bad bloke. Sometimes a pain in the arse, but I consider him a friend.”
All she could do was stare at him. For years, all she wanted to do was escape from home. Dreamt of living this life of glitz and glamour in a city far away. Well, not even exactly glitz and glamour, just something more than sleepy nights where the whole town shut down at 9:30. And here he was talking about how he knew one of the most gifted photographers in the world. “How do you know Xander Chase?”
“Um, sort of —actually, it’s more I know his brother. I got to know him that way. His brother and his friend Nick had a couple of businesses I invested in early. Got to know Xander. We sort of kicked about in the same circles, I guess.”
“That is insane. You’re so casual about it. Meanwhile, I literally ran into him today —my teacher. There I was walking backward and not looking where I was going. I tripped over my own feet and wham! I’m such an idiot. I’m so daft.”
He frowned. “Don’t call yourself daft.”
“Okay.” Why was he so intense about that? And then she remembered. His father had called him daft and much worse over the course of their life, their childhood. “I just mean that, I really needed to make a good impression, you know? And of course, there I was, not looking where I was going. I met his protégé Abbie too. She’s gorgeous and so talented. To think she started as his student as well. Now she’s having her own exhibits. I would love for that to be me one day.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah, Abbie is engaged to marry Alexi. That’s Xander’s brother.”
“Yeah, he mentioned. The pair of them bickered like a pair of old maids. It was kind of funny, actually.”
“Yeah, from what I gather they work well together. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But apparently, she’s one of the few people who can give him shit. Well, she and his girlfriend Imani.”
“Oh, so he does have a girlfriend.”
Zach frowned at that. “Oh, were you interested?”
She shook her head. “I mean, I can see the appeal. I’m just not particularly interested myself. My friend Laila, she was practically drooling over herself.”
“Yeah, he’s spoken for. So, it looks like you two will have to find your entertainment elsewhere.”
“Oh, I — am not looking.”
His frown deepened. “Did you leave someone back home?”
Her eyes went wide. “No. God no! I just— I’m just sort of, I guess, getting the lay of the land.”
“Well, this is your new city. Anything you need, feel free to give me a call. I can help you with it.”
“Did Steven put you up to this?”
He shifted on his feet. “Well …”
“I knew it. I absolutely knew it. How lucky for him you ran into me.”
“If I hadn’t, then I would have come looking for you. He’s your brother. He’s worried.”
“Well, I don’t need him making plans for me. I can do this all on my own.”
Zach chuckled again and Emma was absolutely sure that if he laughed like that around her anymore, she was going to do something very embarrassing. “He’s your brother. It’s his prerogative to look after you. So you could let him you know, every once in a while. Besides, even if he hadn’t asked, I’d have looked you up once I found out you were in the city. We’ve been friends a long time, Ems.”
And that was just the rub. They hadn’t really been friends. More like extended family. He was Steven’s friend, Ben’s friend, but never really her friend. Most of it because she spent so much time tagging along after them, trying to get them to notice her. “Well, it’s appreciated, but you don’t have to. Honestly.”
He stepped into her space. All of a sudden, her skin felt too tight and the chill of the autumn air was blocked out by his bigger body. He took her hands. “I’m serious. You’re not alone in the city. I’m here if you need anything.” For a long breath, with him standing so close, holding onto her hands, she wanted, hoped, wished, that he might kiss her. His gaze focused on her lips. Kind of like that long-ago night on the back porch of her parents’ house, but again like that night, nothing happened. He only cleared his throat and stepped back. “Now, let me get you home.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll just hop on the tube. Wait, it is a bit late, isn’t it? In that case, I’ll take the night bus.”
His eyes went wide. “Are you mad? There’s no way I’m letting you take the night bus home.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Laila and I know exactly where to go. She showed me where the stop is, which one I should take, and it drops me up at the shop right near my house.”
His jaw set in a firm line. “Absolutely not. I will take you home.”
“Honestly, this is ridiculous.”
“Then indulge me. It doesn’t cost you anything to take care of your safety, does it?”
“No.” She wanted to argue more but honestly, she just had to close her mouth because he had a point. Being extra safe didn’t hurt anything. But it sure did embarrass her. “Okay, if you insist. But let me just let Laila know I’m leaving.”
Once she’d said goodbye to Laila, Zach called for a car service in one of his apps. As they drove the twenty minutes or so, she was secretly glad he had opted to drive her because she was afraid she would have missed her stop if she’d been on the bus. He was perfectly chatty and jovial for the first ten minutes of the ride, but as they got closer to her place, he grew more and more quiet. Had she said something wrong? Had she done something? When they reached her flat, she touched the driver on the shoulder. “Thank you very much. I’m just here on the left.” The car rolled to a stop and she turned to Zach. “Thank you so much for tonight. It was certainly lovely running into an old friend. If Steven asked you to look in on me, he obviously gave you my phone number.”
He nodded. “He did.” His voice was low and tight. He said nothing else but opened his side of the door and stepped out. What the hell? What was he doing? And then he came around to her side and opened her door for her. “Oh, okay, thank you. It’s unnecessary but lovely. Thanks.”
“I’m walking you up.”
She giggled, unsure she heard him correctly. “What?”
“I’m walking you up.”
“That’s really not necessary.”
“Yes, it is if you live in a neighborhood like this. It’s rundown. It’s not safe.”
“Oh, come on. It’s perfectly safe. The flat is really nice.” Okay, that was an exaggeration. But he was not going to see her flat.
It turned out she was wrong about that because he put out his palm and insisted on her keys. Before she knew it, he was unlocking the door to the building and heading up the stairs, to her flat. Once inside, his frown only deepened. “I thought you said it was nice.”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. It just needs a bit of sprucing up. A little elbow grease and this place could be really cute. You know, add some throw pillows; it’s a student flat. What did you expect?”
“Better than this. You told Steven where you were staying was safe.”
“And it is safe. Laila helped me find it. I wanted to do this on my own. I won’t have you, or Steven, or God forbid, my parents being overbearing and telling me what to do. Besides, it’s a hell of a lot safer than the train station where some idiot nicked my wallet and planner.”
Shit, wrong thing to say. His brows snapped down, his eyes going cold with fury. “What did you say?”
She swallowed hard. “The day I arrived, I was on the phone with Mum so I was distracted. The wallet stuff I already replaced. But they got some of my lenses and my planner. That had everything. Including my address. I had to call Laila to get the address to my own flat.” The more she spoke, the more she realized she should probably stop. None of it sounded good.
“So, someone nicked your wallet and planner and has your bloody address?”
“Yes,” she squeaked. “But honestly it’s not as bad as it sounds. Like I said, I just need to replace some lenses and get a new planner. It’s fine. Please don’t tell Steven.”
His full lips set in a firm line. “I see you’re still stubborn.”
“It’s not being stubborn. It’s living my life on my terms. Bad stuff is going to happen, but I can make the best of it.”
He was standing so close she could feel the heat emanating from him. Again, she got the impression that he wanted to touch her, pull her close maybe? Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. But he didn’t. Instead he stepped back and shoved his hands in his jeans. “Lock the door behind me. I want to hear it. Do you understand?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, fine. I understand.”
“I’ll check in on you later. Yeah?”
“Yeah, sure. It’s lovely, and it was great to see you tonight. But honestly, it’s not necessary.”
“Sooner or later Ems, you’re going to realize I don’t do as I’m told.”
Funny, that was something she already knew about him. After he left and she locked her apartment, she wondered what in the world she was going to do with Zach Andrews.
6
Zach
What the hell was he thinking? You were thinking with your dick. No, he was thinking like a friend. Steven’s friend, remember Steven? Okay, nothing had happened. But he wanted it to. There was a moment on the roof there where he had almost just taken the risk and kissed her —kissed her like he had wanted to all those years ago. It happened again in her flat. Like an idiot he’d been staring at her soft lips. That’s all he could think about.
You are playing with fire. No, no, he wasn’t, because he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize his friendship with Steven. His best friend had asked him to look out for his little sister. So that’s what he was going to do, starting with that shitty flat she was staying in. He had a feeling neither Steven nor her parents knew exactly where she was staying, because if they did, they wouldn’t let her stay there.
He jogged down the rickety stairs out to the waiting car. “Anthony, drive me back to the club please.”
His driver nodded. For a while they navigated the streets of the now rain soaked London roads. He made another call. “Eliza, thanks for answering so late.”
His estate agent yawned. “I’ve learned by now that when you call, I should answer because it usually means I’m about to make a lot of money.” Eliza Dunsten was the best at what she did. He’d learned early that staking his claim on any piece of land he could would be good for him. So, he bought as much property as he could. Now that was going to come in handy.
“Listen, you know that flat I’ve got on just the outskirts of Chiswick, where there is a Sixty-five bus that turns to head towards Ealing?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Do we have tenants in it right now?”
“No, we had some students who left. I was just about to relist it. Honestly, students couldn’t afford that place anyway. It’s too expensive. I was thinking of going for the upmarket types. You know, those who don’t want to live exactly in the hustle and bustle of Central London, but young professionals, you know?”
“Yes, I know, but change of plan. I’ll be taking over the lease myself.”
“I don’t understand. You can’t lease what you already own.”
“I know, but I need to move someone in there.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. He could practically hear her curiosity buzzing, but he wasn’t going to tell her anything more than he had to.
“All right then, what term to what term?”
“Term is as soon as humanly possible to an undetermined time.”
“Okay then, will there be a lease?”
“No. No lease. Just charge it to the corporation. Make sure you take out your cleaning fee as normal, and your property management fee.”
“But you don’t really need to manage the property especially if you’re renting it to someone yourself.”
“Well, I don’t exactly want them to know I’m renting the property. So just do what I need. Get it ready for someone to move in as soon as possible.”
She stopped arguing with him then. “Okay then. Probably the soonest that they can move in is three days from now.”
“I suppose it’ll have to do. Thank you, Eliza.” He hung up the phone and leaned back against the seat. You are playing with fire.
Yeah, he was. Problem was, he didn’t really care.
Emma
Holy shit! She had survived.
Her first critique with Xander Chase had not gone as badly as she’d thought it might. It also hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped. But she could improve on that. Today, he had said that she was playing it too safe, and that her photos weren’t as imaginative as they could be. How the hell was she supposed to fix that?
“Well, you’re going to have to find a way,” she muttered to herself.
Before she even had a moment to rest her head against the pillows of her couch, there was a knock at the door. When she ran to answer it, she stopped short when she noticed a couple of builders outside the keyhole. “Can I help you?” she asked through the closed door.
“Yes, we’ve got an order to move you.”
She frowned. “Say what?”
“Yes ma’am, we’ve got a work order here. It’s from Zach Andrews.”
What in the world had he done? It took her three full seconds to make a decision, but she opened the door and glared at them. “Let me see that.” Sure enough, there was a work order from Zach to move her belongings from here to where the hell was that? She wasn’t entirely familiar with the address, but it seemed familiar somehow. Like maybe it was nearby? “I’m so sorry you gentlemen came all the way here, but I am not moving today.”
They both slid each other a glance, and then the taller of the two mustered up his courage to say, “I’m so sorry, madam. We were told to expect that from you. Mr. Andrews said to suggest that we tell you to give him a call if you had any questions about the new arrangements.”
“New arrangements?” That man had lost his mind. Yes, maybe it’s a student flat and that it isn’t as nice as it could be, but I’m a student. I’m supposed to live at a place like this.
The shorter and sturdier of the two shifted on his feet, “Miss, if you would just allow us to do our work …”
“You are not to touch a thing.” She snatched the work order out of his hand. “I am so sorry I am being rude. But you’ve come all this way for nothing. If you just pack up your things and go, I will sort this out with Zach right now
.” Except she didn’t exactly know where to find him. “Do you know where his office is?”
The shorter man pulled a business card out of his pocket. “He said you have to call this number and you can find him at that address if you have any problems.”
“If I have any problems. I swear to God, he’s worse than my brother.”
She left the two of them standing on the doorstep and she closed the door behind her. “I’ve already told you that you’re not moving me today. I’m so sorry you came all this way.”
The taller of the two held up a key. “Sorry, but we are going to move you today.”
“Are you mad? You can’t have a key to my place.”
He shrugged. “But we do.” He put the key in the lock and it turned easily.” She didn’t know what she was going to do. All she knew was that she was going to kill Zach. He had no right. Where the hell was he moving her to? If he thought she was going to let this stand, if he thought she was going to let him push her around, well, he had another thing coming.
Zach
Zach had anticipated her anger, but when she came barging into his office, he hadn’t anticipated quite how angry she would be. “Emma, it’s good to see you.”
“Don’t you Emma-it’s-good-to-see-you me! You sent men to my apartment to move me out. What the hell?”
He put up his hands as he stood. “Listen, I’m just doing this for your safety. Where you’re staying is not good for you. It’s dangerous. I worry about you staying there at night. I have somewhere safe where you can stay.”
“But did I ask you to do that?”
“No, but I’ve known you and your family for a very long time. I’m not just going to stand by and let you stay in an unsafe situation.”
“That is not for you to determine.”
“Look, I get that you’re mad, but honestly, you’ll love the new place. It’s close by. It’s right near your school, and it’ll take you less than five minutes on the bus. It’s safer. It’s nicer.”
“I didn’t ask you to do this. Why are you acting like you’re my dad?”
“Trust me. I am not your father.”
“You promised me. You promised you weren’t going to tell Steven. You promised me you weren’t going to tell my parents.”
