Page 35 of Treachery

Damn, her cheeks turned so red, they nearly matched the tablecloth.

“Locust,” she hissed, “you can’t say stuff like that here.” She looked over her shoulder, checking to see if anyone was paying attention to them. They weren’t, though her nervousness was adorable, especially after the scene she’d caused at Cool Hands.

She turned her bright red face away when the older woman returned and placed their drinks on the table.

“Your dinners will be right out,” the woman said. “Enjoy.” She walked away, leaving Locust and Nadia in a painfully awkward silence.

It didn’t want to, but he needed to.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he began, carefully observing her facial expressions. She still looked uncertain, but now there was a hint of anger there. Good. Anger was better than hate. Anger, he could work with. “I know you overheard what I said to Cluster…and I want to be honest with you.” He swallowed, his throat getting tight. “Will you give me the chance to explain?”

Silence met his question, but she didn’t drop her eyes from his face. He could see she was considering things, weighing her options—which included just getting up and walking away. Finally, she gave a jerky nod.

“I want—no need, to hear your explanation, Locust,” she replied, her voice packed with sadness. “I need to know why you did what you did, and if…if any of it was real.”

He nodded like a fucking bobble head, thrilled she was willing to hear him out.

“And I will tell you—everything,” he admitted emphatically. He’d tell her every damn thing, including all the dark, dirty, ugly things that would probably drive her away, but he had to take that chance, because the possibility of her hearing him and choosing to stay was worth the risk of her leaving. “But not here.”

She furrowed her brows.

“This is a date. I invited you out to spend time with you, show you that I can do proper date shit, that I’m not hiding you or keeping you a secret.”

Her eyes widened, stunned.

“Tonight is just about you and me, and whatI should havegiven you. If you’re still willing to listen to me tomorrow, we can meet up at my apartment—no pressure—and I’ll tell you everything.”

She pinched her lips together, her expression pensive, and yet, she still hadn’t dropped her gaze from his. His beautiful, strong, kind-hearted woman….

Finally, she nodded, and his relief exploded from his chest in a loud exhale.

Hearing that, she smirked at him, knowing full well he was worried as fuck.

Hopefully, when she came to him tomorrow night, he’d get to put some of his worries to rest.

FIFTEEN

She didn’t knowwhat made her look, but there was something on her periphery that made her turn to look at the trees along the sidewalk outside the bank. She’d needed to order more checks, but the website had been down, and so she’d had to trek over to the bank twenty minutes from her office to order them before her lunch hour was up.

Nadia was glad she’d looked because she would have missed seeinghimotherwise.

Stunned, she blinked, shocked that the image of him didn’t dissipate.

“Elijah?” she called, both wary and relieved, her voice heavy and yet wispy at the same time. “Is that you?” He wasn’t the best step-brother or person in general, but he was still her only remaining family, so seeing him was like a kick in the chest.

Her step-brother, a man she hadn’t seen in person in three years, slunk out from behind a tree, his tall, skinny frame accentuated by his clean, but worn, baggy clothing, and the way he’d shoved his hands into his pockets. His shoulders were up by his ears as though he were making himself look small, his overlong, dark brown hair curled near his jaw, and a face that was once so much like his father’s was now gaunt, a sickly white,and there was a yellowish bruise on his cheek and around his eye.

“Nadia,” he mumbled, his blood shot brown eyes filled with so many emotions, she was dizzy with it.

“Elijah,” she said again, grasping her purse strap and holding it tightly, her gaze flicking around, checking to see if one of the Unchained was around. “Are you…are you okay?” Lord, she sounded like an idiot. “I mean…why are you here? Last I heard the Unchained fixed yourmobsterproblem.” She couldn’t help but sneer. She wanted to ask him what the hell he’d been doing getting involved with drugs, then stealing money, then working for gangsters, but she knew that people who needed a fix were willing to do anything to get it.

Elijah stepped out of the shadow of the tree, she could see him better. He looked…tired. Older. Worn out. He was only thirty-five, but he looked twenty years older than that.

“Red has a tracker on me…if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not here to hurt you, Bug, I’m here to talk to you about something.”

Bug. That’s what he’d started calling her when they first met. At first, she’d thought it was cute because she’d been in a ladybug and butterfly stage, but once he’d told her he called her that because she bugged him, it wasn't so cute anymore.

“Don’t call me that, Elijah. If you’re going to be an asshole, just leave; I’m already pissed at you enough as it is,” she grumbled, remembering that it took her two days to clean up the mess he left of her closet. “You owe me for wrecking my stuff.”

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