Page 52 of Soul Food

Turning around quickly I expected it to be Amit, but it wasn’t. My lips flattened as I caught sight of Randy James, Liz’s father, lifting weights. With the way he watched me, my guess was he was waiting for a chance to approach. He set the dumbbell down and headed toward us. I wasn’t sure exactly how old Mr. James was, but as a kid I always thought he was a nice-looking man. That was before I discovered him and his daughter’s true nature. He kept himself in shape. Only a dusting of gray marred his dark-blond hair. It was safe to say that while in gym clothes he didn’t look like the snake he was.

“Ruth, what a pleasant surprise,” he said calmly, always the businessman in every situation.

It didn’t matter what false image he projected. The lewd suggestion he made me when I was eighteen lingered in my mind. All I wanted to do was walk the other way when he was around.

Jayne and I exchanged a glance as if we were both thinking the same thing. This wasn’t a coincidence. No way a man that lived an hour away from here would work out in this gym. “This is awfully far from your home,” I pointed out, wanting him to know I didn’t trust him at all.

“I had business at Black Hearts.”

My eyebrows shot up. Why would he go there? I fought the need to roll my eyes as he leered at my body before focusing on my face. “Hmm, well.” I turned away. “Let’s go, Jayne.”

“Hold up.” He touched my arm, and I jerked away with a glare, which only caused him to smile. “It’s been years. Let me buy you dinner and catch up. Liz and I miss you.”

I laughed loudly. “Please! Liz already approached me. I know what this is about.”

He placed his hands in his shorts’s pockets and ogled me. “That makes it easier. Let’s work together.”

“So you can steal my songs again?” I asked, flicking my ponytail like a damn diva. “No, thanks.”

“That’s in the past,” he pointed at me. “You’re now a multimillionaire with billions of fans worshiping you all over the world.”

“And…?” I waited.

“It’s time to let the past go.” He shrugged half-heartedly.

“Goodbye, Mr. James,” I snapped, and Jayne and I walked away.

“This would be great publicity for you both.” I clutched my fingers over the book until my knuckles turned white. “Oh, and Ruth? You look even more beautiful than on TV. Despite everything, let me take you out.”

Was he fucking kidding me?

I took a deep breath as we left the building. It had been a long while since I felt so angry and disgusted. How dare he? Who did he think he was? The fact he could speak to me like that after all this time made my hands shake.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Rupert, standing by the exit, asked. I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was walking when I collided with someone. Anoomphtumbled from my lips.Large hands dug into my biceps. I raised my chin and saw a surly looking Amit. He observed something behind me. It didn’t matter why he was here. My anger went up in smoke and calm filled my chest with him so close. Brief happiness—a strange contentment—coursed through me.

“Amit,” said Mr. James, sounding flabbergasted. “What a surprise.”

Amit’s jaw tensed as he glared at Mr. James. I had to crane my neck back even more just to look up at him better standing this close together. “I thought you were told not to approach Ruth?” he said.

Mr. James laughed and said, “She doesn’t belong to Black Hearts anymore.”

“That doesn’t matter. Anything to do with Ruth Thomas haseverythingto do with me.” Jayne and I gawked at Amit. I didn’t even care about Mr. James or poor Rupert behind me.

“Huh?” Mr. James muttered. “Well, isn’t that interesting? President of Black Hearts and Dark Goddess.”

“She doesn’t want to work with Liz.” Jayne piped in. “Mr. James, you’ve crossed the line approaching Ruth like this.”

“Who says I came to see her for Liz?” he said.

Fucking liar!

But something in Amit’s expression shook me. His dark eyebrows were furrowed so deeply, I’d never seen him so tense with rage. To anyone else Amit likely seemed completely unfazed. The guy normally wasn’t bothered by anything, but here I watched him visibly react to Liz’s dad’s words. I knew this only because I’d seen The Oppressors try on several occasions to goad him and Amit never flinched.

“Why else would you approach her?” Amit’s was incredibly calm but with the eerie stillness to his voice, added with his clenched jaws and the almost painful grip on my arm, I knew he was furious.On my behalf.He was scarier this way. He had me thinking of the phrase,the calm before the storm.

I shivered in response to my reaction toward Amit’s behavior—always him—and pulled away slowly so that I could face Mr. James. “I’m not working with Liz nor do I want to see you. Let’s leave it at that.”

He smirked. “We’ll see about that.”

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