Page 38 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

“Umm, well, the first one broke up with me two days afterIgave him my virginity, but other than being a jerk,I’mnot sure that makes him a red flag.”

“The red flag the one responsible for the bruises you were wearing when you first got here?” she asked with a bit of sympathy on her face.

Ugh.Icouldn’t believeI’dthought my makeup would cover that.Clearly,I’ddone a terrible job.Inodded at her.

“He the one that called here the other day?” she asked.

Not really wanting to talk about it in detail,Ijust nodded to her.Sheaccepted my desire to not talk about it and moved on, butIcould see her jaw get tight like she was fighting getting angry on my behalf.

“Right,I’mno fortune teller, soIcan’t tell you whether or not you andWadeare gonna make it in the long run, but whatIcan say is thatI’veknown that boy a while, andIknow his family raised him well.Isay this because if you were ever going to get back into the dating game after dating those two previous assholes,Wadeseems like he would be a good choice.Heknows you work here, and he knows you live upstairs.Moreimportantly, he knows your brother will probably kill him if he hurts you, regardless of the friendship they have between them.Sameprobably goes forVinceandArcher.That’sall to say thatIdon’t think he would jump into this without thinking of those things.”

I exhaled, not realizingI’dbeen holding my breath while she was talking.

“With that said…”Sheput her hand on my shoulder. “Youdo what you feel comfortable with, hon.”

I gave a little nervous laugh becauseIknew she was being nice, but also, she was probably right.

* * *

The rest of the shift was relatively easy-going, but by the end of it,Iwas dead on my feet.

Finally done,Iheaded back to the break room to grab my phone and purse.IsawWadein the office asIwalked back and popped in to let him knowIwas just going to grab my bag and we could head upstairs.I’dbeen thinking about it all night, but now that we were about to head up,Iwas even more nervous.Wehadn’t had the conversation of sleeping arrangements for tonight, andIdidn’t know how to bring it up.Withmy purse in hand,Iwalked back toward the office and sawWadestanding in the doorway, locking it up for the night.

“Ready?” he asked.

I was still so full of nerves,Icouldn’t get any words out.Instead,Isimply nodded and started walking to the main room of the pub so we could go out the front door.

He moved his hand to the small of my back and walked closely behind me.Iknew he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but his proximity was making me even more nervous.Ifelt his hand burning a hole through my clothes at my lower back.Wewalked past the bar, andWadestopped us to talk withTammy.

“Office is locked up for the night, but if you need to change anything to the schedule, just let yourself in,”Wadetold her, his hand still stuck to my back, andIknewTammysaw it.

“You got it, boss-man,” she said with a big grin on her face. “Alright, kids, you have a good night.Don’tdo anythingIwouldn’t do, or maybe you should.”Shegave us an exaggerated smirk then cackled a little.

I sawWadeshake his head at her with a small grin, and turn toward me.Icould feel my face blushing atTammy’scomment and didn’t want him to see, soIturned toward the door and started walking to it.Ifelt the loss of his hand immediately, but he quickly caught up and instead put his arm around my shoulder.

“Slow down, speed demon,” he said to me, and we were about to go through the front door. “We’llget upstairs eventually.Noneed to rush.”

OhGod.HethoughtIwanted to get upstairs to jump his bones again.Thiswas so embarrassing.IknewIneeded to clear the air so he didn’t thinkIwas some kind of slut ready to pounce.Istopped and turned toward him, looking up into his eyes.

“I, uh, wasn’t rushing becauseIwant to…um…get in your…um…pants or anything,”Istarted to explain. “Iwas just hungry and tired, soIjust wanted to get upstairs quickly, that’s all.”Isaid it in a rush, knowing most of it was an exaggeration to try to downplay the situation.

I knew my face was pink and was likely getting worse whenIsaw the growing grin on his face.

“I wasn’t implying you were,Ellie,” he said softly with the grin still on his face. “Ijust need you to stay by my side as we walk outside, but good to know where your mind is at.”Hewinked at me then pushed the door open in front of me and nudged me out and toward the other end of the building, where the entrance to the security office and apartment elevators were.

It was a good thingIwas now turned away from him and walking in front, because my face could not possibly be any redder than it likely was right now.Ugh.Icouldn’t believeIjust word vomited all of that to him.

We walked in silence to the elevators, andWadepushed the button for the third level.

“I want you staying with me tonight,”Wadestarted to say. “Let’spack you a bag then head over to my apartment.Ineed to shower, but we can order some food and watch a movie, okay?”

That was a lot to take in at once, soIjust nodded as we got off the elevator and headed to my apartment.

“Pack clothes for tonight and tomorrow so you don’t have to walk back over to your apartment tomorrow in your nightgown.”Theway he said that made it seem like he was angryI’dwalked across the hall.Iwasn’t sure why, though, because it wasn’t like anyone was there to see me.

He followed me inside whileIpacked a few things, including my crochet supplies, sinceIwasn’t sure what his plans were for us.

We walked back over to his apartment, and he took a bunch of delivery menus out of his kitchen drawer.Hisphone buzzed in his pocket, and he took it out whileIglanced at the menus.

---