Owen by Ali Parker & Weston Parker

Author:Ali Parker & Weston Parker [Parker, Ali & Parker, Weston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BrixBaxter Publishing
Published: 2019-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Evangeline

I crossed one leg over the other and studied Matthew as he slapped on the same charming smile he’d worn the night we went out for drinks.

“I was listening to your speech,” he said, abandoning the rigid way he’d been sitting when Owen was still at the table. He rolled his shoulders ever so slightly and leaned away from the table, assuming a more comfortable position and pulling his drink off the table with him.

“Yes. It sure looked like you were. Owen too.”

“I tried to tell him we could talk later.”

I almost rolled my eyes at him. Almost. Instead, I maintained a neutral expression and turned toward the two men on the other side of the table. I was fairly certain they were the Wright brothers, wealthy, shallow, easy to look at, but impossible to have an intelligent conversation with.

I gave them the politest smile I could manage. “Would you two excuse us for a minute? I need to speak to Matthew about something private.”

The two brothers looked at each other and then at Matthew.

As if they were asking permission.

As if my asking for a private moment meant nothing to them unless Matthew gave them the go ahead.

How insufferable.

Matthew nodded at them. “Go on, then.”

The two men stood up and wandered off through the crowd as more and more tables started having their meals delivered to them. I took note of the fact that they headed in the same direction as Owen.

Then I set my attention to the task at hand and turned my chair toward Matthew.

“I should have been more honest with you when you called me the other day, Matthew.”

He studied me calmly and didn’t say a word.

So I continued. “When you asked me out for drinks, I told you it wasn’t a good time. But that wasn’t the truth. The truth is, I’ve known Owen for a very long time. And he’s special to me. We have a lot of history, and our run-in with him the other day kind of… rekindled an old spark we used to have.”

“He’s a middle-class nobody,” Matthew said, his voice tainted with disbelief.

I sat up straighter. “That is only how you see him. It’s not who he is.”

“He’s the guy who wants to get in the bed of the most beautiful woman in New York City,” Matthew said. “You have to open your eyes, Evangeline. Men like him are dangerous. He’s a shark. He’ll do whatever it takes to get you on your back and—”

“Excuse me?”

Matthew froze. Then he bowed his head. “I’m sorry. I crossed a line. I didn’t mean to say it like that.”

“But you did mean to say it?”

He licked his lips. “I don’t want you getting in over your head with someone who is going to hurt you. Someone who doesn’t see you for who you are. Someone who only wants something from you.”

“And you?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. “You don’t want something from me?”

“Just your time,” Matthew said.

I laughed softly. “You know, had you not said all that other shit leading up to this, that might have been a good line.

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