Page 86 of Claimed By my Father's Enemies
I say it plainly. With no emotion. Something that happened to me. Something that I learned to compartmentalize and move on.
I glance at William and the expression on his face is something I wasn't prepared for. I see fury even bigger than when he was telling me his story.
"And nobody did anything?" he asks.
To answer his question I would have to be more specific about the details. And I would have to share secrets that aren’t mine to share. Maybe some other time. And right now I am feeling emotionally exhausted. So I just shake my head no.
William leans in and presses his mouth to my forehead.
When he pulls back he looks me deep in the eyes and asks, "Ready to go outside?" And he smirks. "I don't think Carter and Adrian can be held at bay much longer."
He gets up and helps me to get up also. I look around for my dress and see William pick it up from the floor, shake it up trying to get rid of the wrinkles and he hands it to me with an apologetic smile.
I take his shirt off.
He groans, gets an arm around me and pulls me in by the hip to a deep kiss.
We get dressed and I decide that it’s best to use my hair down, because I will never be able to get it back on the ponytail at this point.
We are almost composed when William's hand finds mine again. "So, this thing with Adrian and Carter." He is not looking at me. He is looking at the door. "Want to tell me more about it?"
32
CARTER
The trick is to look like I'm doing something.
I've been leaning against the bar for forty minutes with a glass I stopped drinking from twenty minutes ago, and if Adrian asks me one more time whether I think something is wrong I'm going to lose my shit.
Karim pulled me away to sort something at the private entrance. When I came back, Sienna wasn't where I'd left her. I started scanning. Five minutes. Ten. Then Adrian appeared from the direction of the terrace. Alone. The worry in my chest started to mutate into dread.
I tried her phone.
I heard it ring.
From the other side of the bar. The bartender handed me the purse. Said Sienna had left it behind when William took her.
William.
I called William. Got through. Heard Sienna's voice, shaky but there.
That calmed me down.
For a while.
A short sound escapes Adrian. Frustration with nowhere to go. He picks up his drink and puts it back down without drinking it. Under any other circumstances I might find it interesting. Adrian restless is not something you see often. Adrian clearly not managing something is rarer still.
Then I see her.
She comes through the crowd first, William is right behind her. And they are holding hands.
"Shit." I hear Adrian beside me.
I keep my eyes on Sienna.
She's scanning the room, moving her eyes left and right. Her hair is down. She's in her dress but something is different about her, and I watch her face for the things I need to know.
She's nervous, I can see that in the way she holds her shoulders slightly higher than usual, the way her eyes don’t settle on anything specific.
