Page 32 of Theirs to Take

“Yes,” Rod agreed, “that was quite a night. And I got a fantastic new sister from it. Nova is really good for my brother, even if she is a bit pushy with her new brother-in-law.”

Tyler laughed, “You have no idea how pushy Nova can be when she wants something. If she wants the two of you together, she’ll find a way to make it happen. Might as well just reside yourselves to being together now.”

Evie groaned again. “Now, you’re just trying to piss me off, Tyler,” she said. “You see, I didn’t get to the point where Rod lied to Nova and told her that I not only work for him now, but we’re also together.”

Tyler gasped, “You didn’t,” he said.

“Oh, he did,” Evie hummed. “Now, I have to lie to Nova and pretend to be in a relationship with him,” she said, pointing to Rod.

“Him has a name and feelings,” Rod insisted. “Besides, pretending to be involved with you is no picnic, honey.”

“Perfect,” she said. “I say we count this as our first official spat, it’s just a shame that Nova isn’t here to witness it. How about we save the rest for when we’re at the office tomorrow and really give her the full effect.”

“Is that your plan?” Tyler asked. “To pretend to break up so that Nova will leave you alone?”

“Pretty much,” Rod said.

“That’s as far as we’ve gotten with plan A,” Evie said.

“Honestly, this is a shit storm and Nova will see right through it, Evie,” Tyler said. “She knows you better than anyone and she’ll see right through this little ruse” Evie knew that he was right. If Nova thought that she was lying about being with Rod, she’d call her on her shit, and then, neither of them would ever hear the end of it.

She looked over at Rod who was staring her down. “Why are you even here, Rod?” she asked. “Are you following me?”

“What? No,” Rod said. “I came here to get a bite to eat. I had no idea that you’d bring Tyler to the same place that we had our first date.”

“For your information, Tyler was the one who suggested this place and that was our only date, Rodrick. Saying that it was our first implies that there will be a second, and there won’t be.”

Tyler smirked over at her, Rod sitting next to him with the same look on his handsome face, and she wanted to slap both of them. “You two are asses,” she said. “I’m not going to sit here and let you both make fun of me.”

“How are we making fun of you?” Tyler asked.

“I can see it in your eyes, you’re laughing at me,” Evie insisted. “And I don’t have to sit here and take it. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said to Rod. “And I’ll see you at our Saturday game night. Remember, don’t tell Nova anything about our plan,” she reminded.

“Jesus, Evie,” Tyler said. “You know I hate keeping secrets. I wish the two of you never told me any of this. And you can’t show up at my house alone, Nova will know that something’s up. If he’s not with you for our couple’s game night, she’ll wonder why.”

“I always show up alone to them,” Evie reminded.

“Right, but now, Nova believes that you have a partner to bring. She’ll wonder why he’s not there,” Tyler insisted.

“He’s right,” Rod agreed.

“We’ll just have to break up before Saturday then,” she said. “Game night is the one time a month that I look forward to going out. I won’t have to worry about lying to my friend on my favorite night of the month.”

“First, that’s kind of sad,” Rod said. “And second, we can’t break up in less than a week of being together. Nova will know that we’re lying.” It sounded to her that no matter what they did, Nova would figure out that they were lying, and with no end in sight, and no plan B, Evie worried that there wouldn’t be any way out of this.

“I can’t do this right now,” she breathed. “I’m sorry to leave before we eat, but I just need to go home Tyler,” she said. “Raincheck?”

“Of course,” he agreed. “I’ll grab some take-out and bring some home to Doug. He loves this place.” Tyler stood and pulled her in for a hug, “Talk soon,” he promised.

“Absolutely,” she agreed, turning back to Rod. “Good night, Rod,” she coldly said. He nodded and she turned to leave. She should have stuck with her original plan and just gone homeearly with a headache but canceling on Tyler wasn’t something she wanted to do. Now, she really did have a headache and all she wanted to do was take some pain reliever and slip into her comfy bed. Tomorrow would come soon enough and then; she’d have to deal with Rod all over again.

Rodrick

Rod totally lied to Evie when she asked him if he had followed her. He hadn’t found her by chance. He followed her from the office and sat outside of her apartment, trying to get up the nerve to go up to her place and demand the truth from her. He didn’t believe for one minute that she had a date tonight and he was about to march up to her apartment and tell her just that when she reappeared from her building and got into her car.

He followed her all the way across town, to the same restaurant that he’d taken her to just days earlier. Rod’s heart sank when he saw her hug and kiss the tall, handsome guy waiting for her at the front door of the restaurant. He looked familiar, but Rod couldn’t quite place him. He felt like an idiot for not remembering the guy from his brother’s wedding. Maybe if he had remembered Tyler, he wouldn’t have run into that restaurant and made a complete fool of himself, but it was too late to take that back. He followed Evie in and when he just couldn’t take it anymore, he pretended to be there to eat dinner and happened to stumble across her and her date. What hedidn’t plan on was the relief he felt when he found out that she was having dinner with an old friend from college.

Tyler seemed like a great guy. He ordered two meals for takeout and Rod ordered dinner for himself and then offered to buy him a drink while they waited for their meals to be ready. Tyler took him up on his offer and then things got awkwardly quiet.

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