Page 32 of Such A Bad Girl

Pushing aside both the torn pile of napkins and his out of nowhere, and very rare, compliment, I slid my phone across the table towards him.

“I got another text. Last night. After I left the club.”

“If you don’t respond, you’ll regret it,” he read aloud, squinting his eyes.

“Right,” I said. “So, now what?”

He shook his head, his eyes trailing around the coffee shop before returning to meet my gaze. “What are you drinking?” He glanced down at my cup.

“Huh? A chai, why?”

“Sounds good, I’ll be right back,” he said, standing up and walking to the counter.

A sigh of frustration crossed my lips as I waited for him. How could he be so nonchalant about everything? How could he stay so calm? I was about to jump out of my skin and he acted like this was all normal.

When he came back, he had his own steaming cup. He looked at me for a moment before speaking. “Give me your phone.”

I slid it across the table to him again.

He pulled up the text and replied. My heart raced as I watched him hit the send button.

“What are you doing? What did you say?”

“I just asked what they wanted. Simple.” He shrugged. “Now we wait. Did you ever suspect that this might be your mother?”

“What? My mom? No, why?”

“You cut her off, Ev. That had to have pissed her off, right? West told me she didn’t take it well.”

I sighed. It was true. My mother was a money-grubbing opportunist and has viewed me as her own personal ATM since I was a kid. She’d been extremely upset when I cut her off two years ago, but from what I’d gathered, she was doing okay without me now.

“Even so, how would she know?” I hissed, my voice a low whisper.

“How would anyone know, though?”

“Theo, we have to get in front of this,” I insisted.

“Look, we have unlimited resources between the two of us. We’ve got money. We’ve got connections. I have a gaggle of attorneys that I trust with access to the best private investigators in the state. I’ll call my guy and have him look into it.”

He looked so assured and confident. I wanted some of that to rub off on me, in more ways than one.

I shoved away the constant yearning for Theo’s touch and asked for clarification. “Your guy? What kind of guy?”

He shrugged. “Let me handle it. Send me a screenshot with the phone number.”

“Is this like one of those fixers I’ve heard about?” I joked.

“Something like that,” he winked. “I don’t want you to worry. Everything will be okay, I promise.”

My shoulders finally relaxed a little at his words. At least he wasn’t ignoring it anymore. I remembered a promise he made a long time ago. He’d never broken it. All this time, he’d never told anyone what we’d done that night, just like he promised. I had no reason not to trust his words now.

“Thank you, Theo,” I said, smiling over at him before quickly texting him the screenshot. “It’s sent. I appreciate it. I’ve been so worried.”

“Try not to. Seriously, whatever happens, we can handle it. If anything, they just want money, right? I don’t want to give this asshole anything, and if I can, I’ll shoot him down before it gets that far. But worst-case scenario, we pay them off. That’s how it works with people like us.”

I scoffed, shaking my head. I might have money now, but it hasn't always been that way. Theo grew up thinking money could buy your way out of anything, but I didn’t.

“We aren’t exactly alike, Theo,” I reminded him, with a raised brow.

---