Chapter 3
Piper
"If you bury your faceany further in your coffee, you're going to drown, Dear," Trudy, the waitress at Just A Cup, frowned at me from across the bar top counter.
I lifted my face slightly and smiled politely. "Thanks."
Just A Cup had been my safe haven since Darren and I were whisked away from everything we knew to hideout. Darren kept spouting out rules and was getting on my last nerve. That was when I found this little slice of heaven. The coffee was good and hot, and their pastries weren't bad either. I was sure I'd be gaining a few extra pounds if I kept indulging myself, but I just couldn't seem to care. They were worth it.
Trudy leaned on the counter in between us, her ample bosom threatening to pop the buttons of her baby pink shirt. "I know I only met you a few weeks ago, but I've never seen you so distraught. What's on your mind?"
I liked Trudy. She didn't wear too much makeup, and she knew when I wanted to be left alone or when I needed to talk. Trudy had kind blue eyes and bright red hair that couldn't possibly be natural, but the streaks of white coming through at her hairline said otherwise. She was everything I thought a mother should have been. Everything my mother wasn't. Plus, she had coffee. Just that small bit would have made me like her more than my own mother.
"I'm alright." I forced my head entirely up to meet her gaze. "Just thinking."
Trudy reached over and grabbed the coffee pot nearby, filled my cup and pushed the creamer and sugar in my direction. "Trouble at home?"
I dropped my eyes to my cup, busying myself with making the bitter liquid tolerable.
I couldn't look Darren in the face this morning. I had darted out of the bedroom the moment I woke up. I barely stopped to put on a bra and my flip flops, let alone check to see if he was awake before I left. I still wore my tank top and shorts from bed.
Thankfully, Trudy didn't judge.
"I know a woman who's avoiding someone when I see one." Trudy gazed pointedly at my haphazardly put up hair.
Okay, so maybe she does judge.
My face heated. Remnants of last night filling my ears.
Antione calling out commands over the phone. Darren making small groaning sounds, trying, but failing to be quiet so I didn't overhear him.
If I had been an average human, I wouldn't have even woken up, but ever since Antoine marked me, I hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep. Everything woke me up. The creaking of the floorboards. The owl in a tree a few houses down. There was no way I wouldn't have heard Darren with only a wall between us.
It made a girl wonder. Had he wanted me to hear? Darren was a hard man to read. As far as I could tell, the butler hadn't changed any of his feelings toward me, even after the incident with Antoine a few months ago. Darren wasn't casting longing looks at me. He wasn't finding excuses to touch me. In fact, if anything, he was keeping his distance more than ever.
"It's just," I sighed and sat my cup down, rubbing my forehead with my fingers. "We have a dynamic between us, and things have gotten...complicated." I tried my best to explain without giving away too much information.
"Isn't it always?"
Trudy thought Darren and I were here for work. Checking out the area for future work endeavors. I'd insisted we were just work colleagues, but I didn't think she believed me. Maybe it was because we were sharing a hotel room. Perhaps because Darren acted like a possessive boyfriend whenever he came in. Standing just a hint too close, his eyes scanning the cafe as if a vampire hunter was going to jump out and snatch me in broad daylight.
"So, what happened?" Trudy prodded, not giving up on getting it out of me.
"Don't you have other customers to interrogate?" I glanced around the cafe and noticed the utter lack of customers. I pursed my lips and huffed. "I'm already involved with someone else. Our boss, actually."
Trudy arched a brow. "But your boss, the one you're involved with, sent you off alone with that handsome man? Is he broke in the noggin' or something?"
I smirked. "Or something."
"So, what's the problem? You havin' feelings for this Darren fellow now instead of your boss?"
I shifted in my seat. "No. I mean, not like that. I don't know." I pulled on my ponytail and sagged in my chair. "We had a moment -" More than a moment, I felt him inside of me "- a few months ago, and it's kind of changed things."
Trudy smiled knowingly. "You mean, you're noticing things about him that you wouldn't have before this 'moment' happened."
I nodded. "Yeah, and living so close together isn't helping matters. I can't do my job like this, and I don't want to be unfaithful to...my boss."
"Is this boss more attractive? Have a lot of money?" Trudy cocked her head to the side, interest lighting her eyes.