Page 16 of Mastered By Bliss

It would be a problem, except the direction he’s pushing me is toward Leah.

I leave before dinner—I lie and say I have work.As soon as I’m in my car, I text Leah.Please.I need to see you tonight, I miss you so much.

Her response is quick.Dinner tonight, after tutoring?

YES.

* * *

Leah

After my tutoring shift is over, I call Gage.“I’m going out to dinner with Dmitri.”

“Have fun.”There’s a smile in his voice.

I wonder if I should invite him, too.But it’s been a while since I spent time alone with Dmitri.

He shows up in his Mustang, which complicates things a little.Today’s bodyguard, a red-haired guy called Squid, drove me here in Gage’s car.

“I’ll follow behind,” Squid says.

The drive from the Bellefleur district to Dorado Heights takes about ten minutes.We park in a garage off of Caro and start walking.Dmitri holds my hand.“Anything you want for dinner, in particular?”

I never expected I’d get to walk down Caro, hand-in-hand with Dmitri Montrose.We’re together.We aren’t hiding.His hand is warm, our fingers intertwined.

It takes me a moment to realize he asked me a question.Right.Food.Eating.“I’m starving, so everything sounds good.”

“There’s that fancy ramen place you like, up ahead.”

I grin.He remembers my favorite restaurants.“Perfect.”

The sidewalk is busy with people.Offices are closing, restaurants are bustling with the early crowd.A new blockbuster came out this week, so the sidewalk in front of the movie theater is packed.

Squid’s a few feet behind us when I see a face across the street—a face I never expected to see.

A gray goatee and round nose.His eyes are hidden behind sunglasses, even though the sun has gone down.

I looked him up a couple of days ago.I’d promised myself I wouldn’t search for Gage’s information, but I wanted to know more about Billings.Searching his name only gave me what films and shows he’s produced and directed.Boring—nothing helpful in those articles and lists.But the search termsHarvey Billings + scandaldidn’t give me much to go on, either.Fans were angry the first time AoG was canceled, but the news didn’t give much more detail than that.Whatever Billings did, it was probably buried.

I told myself that it was buried for good reason.Prying any further would be disrespectful to Gage.If I want to know that bad, I can ask him.

But the face I saw in my search results is right there, across the street.

I pause, and nearly get mowed down by the group behind us.

“What is it?”Dmitri tugs me out of danger.

“I thought I saw…” I peer through the traffic.The opposite side of the street is just as crowded as this one.The face I saw, though—gone.“I must have imagined him.”

“Who?Gage?”

“No.It’s stupid.”

“Baby.”He narrows those Arctic eyes at me.“Who?”

“Harvey Billings.I’m sure my imagination ran off with me.”

Dmitri waves at Squid.“Do you see Harvey Billings over there?”

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