Delusive (7 page)

Skylar laughed. “I don’t know if I should be scared, or call you awesome.”

“I also have pepper spray and a taser in there,” I joked.

“It’s official; I’m scared.” She punched her employee number into the computer and slid her keycard into the RFID reader, initiating the opening of the cash drawer.
 

“Do you think you can come with me to an event for an hour next Saturday?” I asked her.

“Depends,” she replied, counting the opening balance and ensuring the count compared to last night’s balance.

“Elias is having something for his company at the Design Center. He invited me and I don’t want to go alone.”

Keeping her head trained on what she was doing, her eyes shot up to me. “Elias invited you? Oh no! No! No.” She shook her head dramatically. “See, I knew it. Don’t fall for the pretty face and the ‘I’m so sensitive until I get into your panties’ act. He’s known for his hit and runs, and he doesn’t care if that hit is someone else’s wife or girlfriend. Just ask his employee Jaco.”

“Make up your mind, woman,” I quipped. “First you wanted me to fuck him, now you want me to ignore him? He only invited me to an event. He seemed really genuine about it being a simple outing.”

Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms across her chest, making her breasts struggle against popping out from her low-cut strapless dress. “Next thing you know, you’re at his house and he’s in between your legs jack-rabbiting your head into the headboard.” Tsking, she wagged her finger at me. “Don’t be so easily dickmatized.”

The longer I stared at the flowers, the deeper my frown became. “I guess you’re right. I won’t go.”

“I changed my mind,” she said in a surprising turnaround, slamming her hand down on the desk. “Hell no. We are crashing that thing for one reason only—free champagne. I’ll fix you up with a friend of mine to send a message to Mr. Beautiful Nightmare loud and clear that your legs are not open for his business. Watch how fast he finds a new flavor of the week.”

Glad she was easily persuaded into going with me through my slight manipulation, I grinned at her. “You’re fixing me up?”

“I would never do you wrong, girl. He’s a hottie. Trust me.”

DURING OUR WALK through the parking lot on the way to her car, we were alerted by the roaring engine of a black car. The car pulled in front of us, halting our navigation through the lot. The passenger side door swung open, revealing Elias in the driver’s seat. His dimples appeared deeply implanted in the center of his cheeks when he grinned at me.

Skylar muttered a few choice words under her breath and yanked my arm to make me keep walking.
 

Recoiling from her, I shook my head. I bent down with my hands on my thighs to regard Elias from the passenger side. Despite the sudden onset of shivers, I fought hard to appear coolheaded. “I’m not sure why you are so persistent. I know there are prettier girls who would like your attention.”

He immediately got out of the car and came over to me. “Ley?” He opened the passenger door a little wider. His seductive smile was no longer there. “I would like
your
attention. Stop the games and get in the car.”

“Asshole,” Skylar spat. “He thinks it’s his right to just shorten your name and boss you around.”

“What was that,
Sky
?” Glowering at Skylar, Elias raised his brows and stepped toward her. “I don’t think you’d like for me to embarrass you in front of your new friend with the truth I’m sure you conveniently forgot to tell her while you were very busy spreading lies about me.”

Skylar suddenly had an issue holding Elias’s stare.

Elias’s piercing gaze settled on my face. “Better now?”
 

My attention darted between the two of them. Their cryptic exchange reinforced the notion they had personal dealings in the past. The exact extent of their relationship would surely be unwrapped someday.
 

Skylar quietly bade me goodbye and headed to her car alone.

“Okay,” I said to Elias as I watched Skylar walk away.

“Were you unable to get your car repaired?” Elias asked, driving a little more carefully than he did the first time I’d gotten into his car.

Concerned about how he knew, I eyed him through the corner of my eye. “How did you know about my car?”

“I have an opportunity that might solve your problem,” he intoned, ignoring my question with very little effort. “My brother put one of his cars on the market. If you’re interested, it’s yours.”

“You have a brother?” The skepticism in my voice was for reason. I had no knowledge of him having another brother—especially not one living in the same town. It was either a well-guarded secret, or a lie.

“Whenever you’d like to take a look at the car, we’ll go together.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I'm sure I couldn’t afford it.”

Appearing troubled with my answer, he squinted at me, glancing between me and the traffic ahead. “I haven’t told you the price.”

“Is it reasonable?”

“He’ll cut you deal. In the meantime, I can take you to and from work. If you reject my help again, I might feel inclined to give you whiplash, and my actions might cause an accident. Think on it carefully, Hanley. I’m not someone who threatens without following through.”

I looked around skeptically at the stream of lights, brightening up the interior of car during the dark of night. The street lights waved back and forth across my lap, entrancing me.

“I’m offering.” The statement wasn’t open and definitely impeded my ability to make a decision. It was clear there was only one way my answer could go—his way. “Take the offer. Are you always this difficult? Or is this due to the lies Skylar filled your head with?” He audibly sighed. “On second thought, you don’t need to answer. You only know one other person in this town, and I’m sure she gave me a less than glowing recommendation.”
 

The thought of him having me watched, or watching me, and collecting information sent me into an uneasy state. How else could he have easily, and correctly, assumed Skylar was my only friend in town, and know about my issues with getting my car fixed? The layers to Elias seemed to become more plentiful. I was on the brink of thinking I was in over my head.
 

“Skylar told me you were only after sex. It made sense to me because of the way you carry yourself. I’m not blaming you or anything. I understand. You’re a hot commodity and why shouldn’t you be that way?”

“A hot commodity?” he questioned, his tone lightening up from the more severe one he’d adopted when speaking to me only seconds earlier.

“I’m sure you know. You’re a very, very attractive man, Elias.” Catching sight of his mischievous grin, making my stomach flutter, I continued, “What I’m annoyed with is the feeling that I’m a conquest. I can’t work out in my mind how it could be anything else. I don’t believe in instant love, or instant attraction.”

“Because you don’t believe in it, I shouldn’t?” He continued without expecting or allowing space for an answer, “I’m infatuated with you, Ley. What I want beyond that, I guess we’ll find out once you stop pretending you’re not curious about where this could go. I’m very straightforward. If I want you in my bed, I’ll say so. When I’m done with you, I will say so. I’m not going to string you along or make you think this is more than it is. I will be brutally honest with you. Right now, I’m not sure what I want beyond getting to know you.”
 

Feeling it burn with a familiar pain, I touched my neck. I wished my body would stop reacting this way. It had become a dead giveaway.

“Oh,
minha amada
,” he snickered, showing his heart-melting dimples again. A slight hint of an accent he hadn’t shown before seeped in. “I’ve barely started. You’re making me think I might break you if I stop holding back.”

“I’m not fragile,” I said, showing my blindingly apparent uneasiness. “My body just doesn’t do what my mind wants it to do.”

His smile transformed into something sinister enough to give me chills. “You’re separating the two because of your denial. In full disclosure, have I thought about you sexually? Yes. Did I think about the millions of ways I wanted to take you inside the dressing room and make you realize why you shouldn’t be underdressed in public—because of what it does to me? Yes. That is what you always get from me, Ley. The truth.”

I looked between my thighs, because he’d awakened a desire there.
 

“With that said, if the rumors about me were true, I would’ve given up my pursuit the moment you turned me down.”

“I’m embarrassed to say this.”
 

“Don’t be. We’re at the very least friends, correct?”

“I haven’t had the best experiences with dating. I’m taking a break right now, because I’m not sure if I want to thrust myself into a serious relationship so soon. My previous one was toxic. Very, very toxic.” It was the truth, I simply didn’t disclose who was toxic to whom. I knew starting a relationship with Elias was important to a goal, but it was very obvious I wasn’t mentally ready. “
Minha amada
? Can you tell me what it means?”

“It’s Portuguese, and someday I will. That is, if you have the patience to wait.”

“Are you a second-generation American?”

“Third on my father's side,” he answered, his tone clipped, “second on my mother's side.”

Easily persuaded into changing the subject, I switched gears. “There is this thing in the back of my mind. It tells me you’re a very dangerous man.”

“Depends on what you’d consider as dangerous.” He glimpsed at me, so rapt with me he could barely pay attention to his driving, as a crooked grin spread across his face. “Because I have to tell you, there is something about you that makes me think you are more dangerous than I am.”

“You could be right.”

“Are you going to stop me from finding out?” He leaned to the right, ensuring the scent of his cologne permeated my senses.

“Even if I tried,” I croaked, “I know you’d never stop until you wore me down.”

“When two dangerous people collide, very interesting things happen.”

“That…concerns me.”

“Good. I’m glad to know it does.”

Confusion made my eyes whirl around in their sockets and forced an unrestrained smile from my lips. “How is that…
good
?”

“Because now I know you’re human.” At stoplight, his eyes locked on mine. “Saturday?”

“I’ll be there with a friend.”

FOUR

ELIAS AND I SAT on a blanket, protecting the hood of his car, while we loitered in the mall parking lot after my hectic work day. I gazed at the dimming lights emanating from inside the mall. I had less than an hour before I turned into a pumpkin. It was my first day working with two other employees and a new assistant. The work day ended early because Penelope, the second assistant manager, rushed to close and was ready to go by the time I pulled the gate down. She was in a hurry to get to her date at the end of the night. She spent most of the workday talking about the date instead of actually working.
 

“Knowing what you’ve told me and knowing where you live now,” Elias regarded me, “you confuse me, Hanley. You’ve said your father moved up in the world financially, which makes our backgrounds similar. What I don’t understand, is why you behave as though you didn’t. Why do you dress as though you didn’t?”
 

I looked down at my clothes, thinking the black shade would allow me to get away with recycling my clothes throughout the week if I changed up a few things. They were freshly laundered regularly. But the skirt and blouse were the same exact ones I had worn the first time we’d met. The amount of clothes in my closet dwindled down a long time ago. I was doing the best I could with what I had. Having spent a limited amount of time with Elias every night, during the last couple of weeks, it was easy for him to realize how little I had.

He touched the hem of my skirt, thumbing the material. “This looked brand new when you first wore it. Quality material doesn’t pill this quickly.”

I grinned. “That’s not odd at all, Elias,” I chided him with a laugh.

“I’m a straight man who loves fashion, obviously.” He gestured over what he was wearing and matched my expression. The dark straight-legged slacks and standup collar sweater would definitely thrust him into the fashion-conscious category. “Is that an issue? It could work to your benefit.”

“How?”

With a grin holding the untold answer to my question, he leaned forward with his legs splayed, his arms resting across his lap, and his hands clasping one another. “What happened to you?”

Fully aware it was time I gave him a tiny piece of me to keep him interested, I braced myself for the conversation. “My father was an orphan living in a small village in Ethiopia. He doesn’t remember the name of where he was born or anything about his childhood there. He was adopted by a very nice family in the States when he was young. They died tragically before I was born. My mother was second-generation Sicilian-American. She claimed she had to share a room with three other siblings—she had six in total. When she got pregnant with my older sister, her family disowned her. I’ve never met my mother’s family.

“She went through a lot to get to the point she eventually reached in her life. She became the breadwinner in the family. Even after she married her first husband, she never stopped providing for us. It’s how my father was able to afford to live in more affluent places.