Page 29 of Coming Home (The Surrender Trilogy 3)
weeks of working at Clemons.
It had been a week since she’d seen or heard from Lucian. He’d gotten the last word and was now
giving her space. The evening after he came to her apartment, a package arrived with a new phone.
The note attached was simple and to the point. Now you can call.
He just couldn’t let her get her own damn phone. In a way it pleased her that he’d gone against her
wishes because now she had his number again, but it still pissed her off.
She couldn’t make sense of her feelings anymore. Space was good, but the more time that passed
the more she missed him. Missing him was dangerous, so she embraced his absence like a vaccine,
accepting it was part of the healing process. Sooner or later it had to stop grating on her. Did all
women feel so irrational? She didn’t like it, yet couldn’t seem to control her tumultuous emotions.
“Oh, I have a coupon for that, dearie.”
“Okay,” Scout said as she continued to ring up and bag the order.
She slid a few birthday cards over the scanner, and her hand stilled when she reached for the tabloid
crossing the belt. Her brain froze. With numb fingers, she lifted the magazine and stared dumbly at the picture on the front. Lucian wore an expression of disinterest as a woman laughed beside him, her arm
looped affectionately through his, her palm pressing into his shoulder.
“The price is on the back, dear. And here’s that coupon.”
Scout blinked at the woman waiting to be rung out. Nodding, she turned the tabloid and scanned the
price. Her numb hands bagged up the order as quickly as possible and, once her line was empty, she
shut out her light.
Her feet carried her to the display where all the magazines were exhibited. She quickly found the
one with Lucian on the front. Her stomach knotted until she could barely breathe. The woman was
stunning, blond, and nothing like Scout.
Running her finger down the words spread all over the cover, she scanned for the name Lucian or
Patras, two words she could immediately recognize. She found the name Patras and tracked the
sentence following it.
“New whoa-man in . . .” There was a long word that started with a b, which she didn’t have a shot in hell at sounding out. Shaking her head in frustration, she followed the words until she found a number
that was likely the page the article was featured on.
She turned to page four and her knees shook. There were more pictures. Lucian leaning close as
Satan’s whore whispered in his ear. Lucian helping the blond jezebel with her wrap. Lucian staring at
the camera as he held the door for the fucking tramp!
Scout growled and threw the paper on the belt at her register.
“You all right over there, tiger?”
She looked at Nick. He could read. Snatching up the tabloid, she marched over to his register and
waited as he handed his customer the change. Once the customer left he turned to her. “What’s up,
Ev?”
“Can you read this?”
“Uh, yeah, but I’d rather not. I don’t really care who found Elvis and what the latest crop circle
design is.”
“No, just this article.”
“Um, okay. Why?”
She glanced around anxiously and leaned over his bagging station and whispered, “I can’t read very
well.” Interesting that her curiosity outweighed her pride. More irrational behavior she couldn’t make
sense of. What was happening to her?
He tipped his head back as though he prepared to laugh like she were joking, but her desperation
must’ve showed in her expression, telling him she was quite serious. “For real?”
“Yes. Please don’t say anything. I can read small words, but not a whole article.”
“Okay,” he said, calmly taking the magazine. “But why this article? Why not read something with
substance?”
She stabbed her finger at the picture. “I know him.”
“Lucian Patras?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled. “Well, aren’t you full of surprises.”
Scout glanced at their empty lines, knowing they didn’t have much time. “Will you please read it to
me?”
He nodded and folded the paper open. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “New Woman in Billionaire
Patras’ Love Life. Lucian Patras was spotted attending a swanky private event with a new bombshell
on his arm. Admirers are wondering what happened to the mysterious brunette he attended many
affairs with this past winter, but are also pleased to see he’s paired up with Nicole Nottingham, young heiress of Nottingham Cosmetics and budding actress. Although Patras would not offer any comment
as to what happened to the blue-eyed brunette he’d spent the winter beside, sources say the couple
called it quits some time last April, just before Patras was spotted doing business at his hotel in Paris, France.
“When Nottingham was asked if she and Patras were an item, she giggled and said, ‘Depends how
you define the word.’ She then fled into a private benefit with the man in question. Followers are
wondering if this one will be The One . The Annual Rose Bowl Charity event takes place this coming Saturday, and enthusiasts are anxious to see if Nottingham will again be on the arm of Folsom’s most eligible bachelor. The event is open to the public and tickets are five hundred dollars a plate. Tickets can be purchased at . . .
