Page 79 of Forced Into Your Arms
“No, Vice. To himself.” He just stared at me. “I’m sorry… That was rude.”
“I’m used to it from you...” That made me laugh for real. Then he leaned forward. “How the fuck you find out two days before?”
“A mutual friend called me. She thought I knew.”
“And you didn’t.”
“Clearly.”
“What he tell you?”
“That it wasn’t what I thought.”
Vice looked at me like the answer offended him personally. “What the fuck else could it be?”
“Exactly…”
Our food arrived before he could ask anything else, giving me a chance to move away from a subject I didn’t particularly want to spend lunch discussing. I had already given Evan enough years of my life. I wasn’t about to give him an entire meal too.
Vice seemed to understand that because he let the subject go.
For the next twenty minutes, we talked about almost everything else.
I learned that he owned more businesses than he’d originally mentioned, although getting an exact number out of him was apparently impossible. Every time I asked a question, he’danswer just enough to satisfy me before changing the subject or giving me another smart remark. Somewhere between talking about work and arguing over whose life was more stressful, our food arrived.
I also learned that Vice had absolutely no respect for personal space when it came to food. He reached across the table for one of my fries, and I slapped his hand away.
“Don’t do that.”
He looked at me like I was the one being unreasonable. “You got all those fries.”
“They’re mine.”
“You ain’t gonna eat all of them.”
“That is not the point.”
“You stingy.”
I rolled my eyes. “I am not stingy. You have food.”
He waited until I looked down at my plate before reaching for another one. I pulled it out of his reach and pointed my fork at him.
“I will stab you with this.”
He laughed. “Over a fry?”
“It’s about respect.” Shaking my head, I slid two fries onto the edge of his plate anyway. “There. Since apparently you can’t afford your own.”
“Appreciate you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I hated to admit it, but I was actually enjoying myself. Somewhere between arguing with him and laughing at his ridiculous comments, I’d forgotten all about police reports, and the fact that someone wanted me dead.
I was still smiling when a woman’s voice came from behind me.
“Well, damn. Kaiden Vice Blackwell.”
