Page 67 of Provoke You

19

Like in One of My Worst Nightmares

Ela

“Is Kitt okay?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. Chase is going to drive me and then come back for you.” He cupped my cheek.

“Let me come with you.”

“I think you’ll be safe here. I don’t know what kind of a situation we’ll be walking into at the house.” He showed me Kitt’s message, which was barely comprehensible.

“I’ll wait for you. I don’t like this, Matt.” My eyes filled with tears.

“Here.” He checked his watch. “Give us twenty-five minutes. No matter what, I’ll come back for you. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

He pressed his lips against mine. “I’m sorry about the hotel. Are you going to be all right? Please don’t do anything hasty.”

“I’ll wait until you get back to make bad decisions,” I teased and kissed him back.

So much for spending a normal day with Matt. I plopped myself down on the upholstered chair, glaring at the platter of a dozen grilled oysters that was delivered a minute before Matt took off.

“Well, hello there.” My friend Amy poked her head in before she bear-hugged me. “A little birdie told me you were up here dining with some superhot guy. Was that him leaving?”

“Argh, yeah. He had a quick thing to handle. But he said he’d be back.” My chest felt tight, the way it did when I sat in the middle of the dark lake alone, hoping Matt would come find me.

“If you want, I can stay here and wait with you. I’ll have one of the other girls cover for me.”

“No. Don’t worry about it. I’ll go down with you.”

Amy hugged me and walked downstairs with me, giving me an account of everything that had happened since the last time I was here, almost a month ago. “How are you doing?”

“I heard your dad was selling your hotel.”

“Yeah, he did.” I chose not to elaborate. I didn’t want her to get involved.

The good thing that’d come out of today was that from now on I wouldn’t have to worry about another attempt on my life. The investors had what they wanted. I was no longer a threat to their deal.

“Ela.” My friend Jack waved from behind the bar. “Girl, you come in for dinner and don’t stop by to say hi?” He walked around the counter and hugged me.

“I did stop by, but you weren’t here.”

“She came with a date,” Amy said, then mouthed oh my God.

“That hot, huh?” Jack raised both eyebrows, grinning. “Sit and tell me everything. Last I heard, you were headed for Paris. How was that?”

“Who told you that?” I never posted about leaving the city.

“Your dad was here the other night with some friends.” He pulled on his white cotton blazer to show how fancy Dad’s friends were. “They had drinks at the bar before dinner. When I asked about you, he said you were in Paris.”

“When was that?”

“A couple of days ago. Maybe three.”

“Hey, I gotta go.” Amy wrapped her arms around my neck. “The new manager is giving me the look. I left the podium unattended. It was good to see you. Let’s get together, grab some drinks or something. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

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