Page 51 of Love Unavoidable
“Nope,” Marcus says.
I look around the small patio hoping to see something that will spark conversation. There are only maybe eight tables out here, all designed for either four or two people. When Ethan and Bree joined us, they left a two-top free, the rest of the tables are occupied. Mid-size potted trees decorate the outer edges of the patio to keep it mostly private from passersby on the sidewalk. But one side is open, which faces a parking lot.
The lighting is dim as dusk settles, between low overhead lights, tabletop candles, and twinkle lights in the trees. Between his all black clothes and the dim lighting, Ethan looks positively predatory.
Predatory, devilish, and hot.
I squirm in my chair. He watches me, his expression undecipherable.
“Marcus,” I lean forward in my chair. “You should tell Ethan and Bree about your work. It’s really interesting.”
Marcus sits up straighter in his chair, ready to engage. “I am the executive director for a non-profit that funds after-school programs for at-risk youth. We believe our children are our future.”
“Teach them well and let them lead the way?” Bree laughs.
“Yes, exactly,” Marcus says, excited. “Oh, wait, that’s the song isn’t it? I fall for that every time. I get so jazzed when people understand what it is that we are trying to do and seem to agree. But I always forget about the damn song.”
Bree and I both laugh. Ethan remains silent.
“So, where does the funding come from? And do you target children from certain areas or socioeconomic brackets and if so, how is that not discriminatory?” Bree asks. Marcus explains many of the things I’ve already asked about or he’s told me about, so I tune him out and study my burger.
“You going to finish that?” Ethan asks, pointing to my plate.
I shake my head. “No, I’ve lost my appetite,” I say pointedly.
“Well, don’t mind if I do then.” He pulls my plate in front of him, picks up my burger and takes a bite that annihilates over half of what is left. “Damn, that’s good,” he says once he swallows. “Even cold.”
“I know, right?” I say forgetting for just a moment I am mad at him. “What the hell are you doing here, by the way?”
“Last time I checked, it’s a free country, Grace.”
“Quit calling me that,” I hiss.
He points to the bruise on my arm from when I tripped over absolutely nothing at his house and hit my arm against the table. Never in my life have I fallen as many times as I have since meeting this man.
I roll my eyes and shrug one shoulder.
“Did you know I was going to be here?”
“Now, how on earth would I have information like that?”
He has a point.
Unless he followed me.
Which is crazy, he would never do that.
“Who’s the girl?” I whisper.
“Just someone I know.”
“Someone whose panties you keep in a box?” My voice a little louder than I intended. I glance up quickly to make sure that neither Bree or Marcus heard me, they don’t seem to have.
“Jealous?”
“Pfft. No. We’re friends, I’m just making conversation,” I say. He nods in that way that guys do where you aren’t sure if it’s a greeting or a goodbye, a happy to see you or a fuck-off. We sit in silence for a while as Marcus and Bree continue to chatter away. Ethan finishes his beer, then signals the server for another round.
“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Marcus says as the server nears our table.
