Contract of Deception

Chapter 8

“I see you got yourself a new one.”

The woman’s voice dripped contempt and she stared right at Scarlett even though her question was directed at Wade.

Wade’s grip on her arm tightened as he tried to maneuver around the woman and walk out to the car. But the woman wasn’t having it, this time her words were directed at Scarlett.

“If you think putting on a dress like that would make him stick with you, then you’re dead wrong.” She smiled, obviously satisfied with herself.

“Considering the fact that you probably wore much less than this and still got tossed aside, I’d suggest you keep your words to yourself, they should serve you better. He probably doesn’t even remember your name.” Scarlett bit back.

She had no idea who this woman was, obviously she was one of Wade’s past conquests, but she definitely wasn’t going to let her walk all over her.

She turned her attention on Wade who was staring at her with quite an impressed look on his face. “Come on baby, let’s go home.”

They walked away from the woman, leaving her sputtering and failing to make a single coherent sentence.

Back in the car, Wade was still looking at her appraisingly.

“You handled that really well, I’m impressed.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to let one of your bitter exes talk down on me.”

Wade frowned.

“Who was she anyways?”

“I don’t remember.”

“You really don’t remember?”

He grunted. “But one thing’s for sure, by morning, she would have spread the news to the whole country, no doubt leaving out the part where you absolutely put her in her place.”

“Hmm”

“And if she doesn’t, someone else from the restaurant will.”

“Great.”

She groaned internally, already dreading the next twenty four hours. Her head ached at the thought of how different her life was just days before and she gently massaged it with her fingers, trying to ward off the pain.

Granted, she wasn’t in a good place, she was struggling and her family was in debt, and now that she had all of that sorted out, wasn’t she supposed to be happy? She should at least be happy that her family no longer had debtors knocking down their door at the break of dawn, but she couldn’t shake that feeling of complete fear in her.

Wade’s presence always made something in her shudder, but she couldn’t quite place it yet.

The car soon pulled up outside her apartment, and once again, Wade’s driver - who she had come to learn was called Matthew- showed up just in time to open her door. She smiled gratefully and thanked him, trying to hide her embarrassment. She had never had someone open doors for her, not in a long time anyways.

She walked over to the other side to meet Wade.

“Thanks for dinner, it was truly enjoyable.”

He only grunted in response, his dark eyes hooded as he once again furiously responded to messages on his phone. She let her eyes wander over his body again, he was easily more than six feet tall, had muscle mass in all the appropriate places. His face looked like it was sculpted by a god, it terrified her. But still, she wanted to reach out and cup his cheeks, it was like a pull calling out to her, something familiar, she wanted to know what the dark spattering of hair on his face would feel like against her fingers. Her eyes fell to his chest, she watched the gentle rise and fall dance it did.

The sudden sound of him clearing his throat brought her back to the present. She looked up, he was staring at her.

How long had he been looking at her? Did he catch her basically undressing him with her eyes?

She silently cursed at herself.

“Shall we?” He asked.

“Oh… wha?”

He motioned towards the apartment.

“Oh no no no, you don’t have to walk me up. I’m perfectly capable of seeing myself up. Thank you again for dinner.”

“Lead the way Red.”

“But-“

She groaned and started the walk towards the entrance of her apartment building, trying to remember if she put away everything in its place before she left the apartment earlier. She said hello to Todd, the doorman at the shabby looking lobby as they passed by, and Wade headed straight for the elevator.

She tried to stifle her laughter.

“That doesn’t work. We have to take the stairs.”

He sported a deep frown on his face, his index finger frozen at the elevator button for a second before he grunted and followed behind her. She took her time to lead him up the stairs, walking extra slow in an attempt to buy time.

“We haven’t got all night Red.” Wade’s deep voice sounded behind her. She puffed up her cheeks and blew out air and continued up the stairs.

Three minutes later, they were standing outside her door, she slowly dug for her keys in her bag and opened the door, ushering Wade inside. She closed the door behind her, wincing at the loud creaking sound it made, she stood behind Wade, trying to gauge his reaction.

She watched as he took in the whole room, there was really not much to see, it was a really tiny space, but it did what it was supposed to do, served it’s purpose and gave her a place to lay her head and that was all she really needed. She watched as he looked this way and that, turning around to inspect every last detail. She chewed on the inside of her cheek till he finally spoke.

“This is your house?”

“No, this is an apartment that I rent. I do not own the building.” She rolled her eyes. “And are you even going to try to be respectful? Or do you only save that for when we’re in public?”

“This is how you live?” He asked again, ignoring her questions.

She tried not to show her displeasure at the condescending tone in which he asked the question. Yeah, it definitely wasn’t as fancy as the big ass mansion he probably lived in, but it was her home and he didn’t have any right to disrespect that.

“Yeah it’s not the Ritz-Carlton hotel, but it’s mine and you do not have to be so rude.”

He clenched his fists and his jaw clenched again. Then he turned around and faced her.

The next words that came out of his mouth made her go white as a ghost.