chapter 18
His eyes dart away, and almost like a tangible thing, the fun we were having and whatever wall that was beginning to crumble is fortified once again.
"There are eleven men working on this shit, and we don't work for free."
My lips form a flat line. I would've paid him even if he didn't insist because the last thing Dona or I need is owing this man. Knowing that doesn't keep me from wanting to argue with him about it.
It's the look on his face, the challenging raise of his eyebrow that tells me that doing so would be a mistake. He takes pride in his work and even joking about him doing it for free is an insult I'm not willing to play with.
"So, what happens next?"
He turns back around and begins digging in the fridge again.
"We can order pizza," I offer.
I won't eat it, but he seems like a guy that would enjoy something like that.
"There's a ton of food here," he argues without pulling his face from the fridge.
"Make yourself at home," I grumble.
He chuckles but there's no humor in his snippy laugh. "Women. You fucking told me about the food, don't get pissed when I take you up on the offer. I'm not one of your little richy-rich guy friends who doesn't eat."
He moves things around on the shelves before deciding on a fruit, meat, and cheese tray.
"As for what comes next," he begins, pausing to take the time to lift the plastic lid and open the various dips, "you'll stay here until things calm down or we have a better idea of what's going on."
"I have obligations, Dean. I can't just hole up in a damn hotel room for the foreseeable future."
"It's a suite. You make it sound like it's not larger than the average American home. Besides, you can miss a few parties."
"It's not just a few parties!" I cross my arms over my chest, but when his eyes laser focus on my breasts, I drop my hands to my sides. "I have places my parents require me to be."
"Anna." Dean props his arms on the counter and drops his head between his shoulders. "This is more serious than a few social obligations."
"And how am I supposed to know that? You won't tell me shit."
When he lifts his head, his lip is twitching but not with humor. "Your best friend stole a couple million dollars' worth of uncut blood diamonds off a notoriously violent Russian mobster. He's not dead, and all of his little buddies are looking for Dona and those stones."
"Oh God." My hand covers my mouth.
"Yeah," he snaps. "So forgive me if I'm more concerned about trying to get her spoiled ass home safe than your parties. This is life-and-death shit right now."
I clear my throat to ward off the tears that are threatening. I've cried a lifetime of tears in front of this man, and I refuse to keep doing so.
"Okay," I tell him before turning and walking out of the kitchen.
As quietly as my shaking hands can manage, I close the bedroom door and lean against it. The room is in complete disarray from all the things I had delivered, and I was in the middle of pulling tags from the clothes when Dean showed up. I haven't even made it to the makeup, hair and bath products yet. I don't have the energy for any of it now, so I head back to the closet, shoving aside the things the concierge hung in there and sit down.
I don't even know what to try to focus on right now. There are too many things in my head warring for attention.
Dona has gotten herself into a world of shit, and just like old times, she's managed to drag me right back into the middle of it. As I close my eyes and rest my head against the wall, I try to think of things that make putting up with the drama worth it.
I come up empty.
****Dean
An hour of reprieve, that's all I got when Anna disappeared into the bedroom. Just enough time to finish eating and settle on the couch. I barely closed my exhausted eyes before she came into the room sighing like I'm the reason her world is crumbling down around her.
"What now?" I snap, finally over it when she sighs for what seems like the millionth time.
She shrugs, never pulling her eyes from the baseball game playing on the muted television. She's not paying any damn attention to the game. I'm pretty damn certain her only goal in life right now is to irritate the hell out of me.
I'd leave, but there are a couple of reasons I'm still sitting here. One, she was terrified last night, and she seems calmer when I'm around. God only knows why. Two, I'm fucking beat, and even the twenty-minute drive back to my apartment above BBS headquarters seems like an impossible task right now.
I should've left when she first sat down before my muscles relaxed and I let the past couple of days sink into my bones. Now I know I'm planted here for the rest of the day and possibly all night unless Wren calls with some form of usable information.
She doesn't answer my question, but I cut my eyes in her direction when she sighs once again.
"Do that one more time and I'm going to hogtie and gag you," I threaten.
Without pulling her eyes from the commercial break on the television she pops an eyebrow up. Is that interest? I can't imagine a woman like Anna even considering the idea of being bound, but that doesn't explain the way her face lit up when I said it.
"Just go to bed." I nudge her legs splayed out on the table with the tip of my booted foot.
"It's too early," she grumbles.
"You didn't sleep well last night."
"How would you know?"
Because I watched you toss and turn, and I didn't bother to comfort you because the more you wiggled, the more the sheet drifted away from your body revealing so much tanned skin, I had to bite my knuckle to keep from groaning and waking you.