Page 57 of Unveiled

“Tell me where you were today.”

Anything but that. Please, ask me anything but that.

But, of course, she doesn’t. She stares at me, and I swear she doesn’t even blink as she waits for my response.

Okay, fine. I can do this. I don’t have to tell her the whole truth, just enough that she’ll believe me.

“I had an errand to run, and then I was at the tattoo shop, getting this done.” I point to the permanent mark of her teeth on my skin, reminding her of the tattoo I was so proud to show her only a few minutes ago.

She studies me, trying to decide if I’m being honest or not. “What errand?”

Fuck.

“Ask me anything else, little one.”

Hurt crosses her features, but I close my eyes so I don’t have to face it. I’ve had this whole thing planned so perfectly in my head, and it’s all about to get ruined. And I know that if it comes down to making her happy later and making sure she doesn’t leave me now, I’m going to pick the latter. I can’t make her happy later if I don’t have her later.

“Your errand was with her, wasn’t it?”

“No.”

“Then tell me what it was.”

I can still save this. Give her a vague answer that tells her the truth without giving away my surprise.

“I had a few presents made for you, and I had to pick them up,” I tell her.

Please, don’t question me anymore, I beg whoever will listen to me.

“Too vague.”

“Fine. One of them was a birthday present for you.”

“My birthday was months ago.”

My eyes snap open, unable to hide the rage boiling beneath my skin. “You think I don’t know that? I know your birthday, Ainsley. December second. I couldn’t wait to celebrate for the first time with you, instead of watching from the sidelines, but you were gone, and I was in a fucking coma.”

Her mouth snaps shut at the reminder of why we never celebrated her birthday. When I rescued her, I still wanted to celebrate however we could, but she left me. I knew if I tried to send her a present, she would either throw it away or have Ethan give it back to me. Which is why I waited until now to get her the perfect present. Two presents, actually.

“One of them was a present,” she repeats my words, ignoring everything else I just said to her. “What else did you get?”

“I’m not answering that,” I state.

She lies back on her bed and crosses her arms over her chest with the look of defiance I always thought was adorable on her face. It’s not so adorable right now.

“You can go,” she tells me without even looking at me.

It takes me only a few long strides before I’m at her front door and yanking it open. The entire building can probably hear me storming down the steps in anger, if anyone is even here right now.

As soon as I reach my car, I get what I need and then storm right back up to her apartment. I find her sitting on her bed, looking at her door in disbelief as I round the corner to her bedroom. When she sees me, she wipes the look off her face and gives me a neutral expression I can’t read.

“I’ll give you two choices,” I get out through my clenched teeth. “One, I can give you your present and the other thing I picked up right now. Or two, you can come home with me and I can give them both to you how I planned to.”

She doesn’t hesitate. Even seeing the fancy gift bag the jewelry store gave me, she still doesn’t believe me. “I want to see them now.”

I stand over her as I dig the larger box out of the bag and hand it to her. When she opens it, her eyes light up at the beautiful sight within.

“That’s your birthday present,” I explain. In the box is a tennis necklace covered in bright red rubies, and at the very center is a single black diamond. It cost me nearly as much as the car she tried to have towed, but it was worth every penny. “It goes with this.”

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