“No. Again.”
Frustration furrowed his brow. “As I told Mr. Ray Delaney, I’ll be going ahead with my piece with, or without, your cooperation. But I’d very much prefer it was with.”
I crumpled up the jerk’s business card and about-faced, heading for the counter.
“The police report states you hit Mr. Christopher Delaney. Would you like to comment on that?”
“Nope.” Behind the counter was a bin, and in went the journalist’s card. I huffed out a breath, avoiding his eyes. “Please leave. I’m not going to answer your questions.”
“Multiple sources have confirmed that Chris Delaney is currently in Hawaii with his best man, Paul Mueller.” Chen faced me across the counter, going nowhere, apparently. Dammit. “There’s been much speculation that Mr. Mueller and Mr. Delaney are in fact secret lovers. Is that the reason you refused to go through with the wedding?”
“No comment.”
“Why are you no longer employed by the Delaney Real—”
“No.” I held onto the edge of the counter, fingernails pressing into the old wood. On the other side of the room, Vaughan served a customer. I couldn’t hear anyone in the kitchen behind me. But I also didn’t want to start crying for help, causing problems for Nell. This guy had to give up and go away eventually without me getting vocal and disturbing our customers. He had to.
“Lydia, is it true there was a video of—”
“No.”
“What the fuck is this?” Eric stood beside the reporter, his bruised face lined with annoyance. “Who are you? No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. Just get out.”
Mr. Chen’s mouth worked, his eyes suddenly anxious. “But if I could just have a minute with Miss Green.”
“Miss Green clearly wants nothing to do with whatever you’re selling. Get out.”
“But—”
“Management reserves the right to refuse anyone entrance to the business premises. From this moment on, that’s you,” said Eric, going toe to toe with the man. And winning. “You’re harassing a member of my staff. Leave now or I’ll be forced to remove you.”
“Call me, Lydia,” he said, slapping down another business card. “Opportunities like this only come along once in a lifetime.”
“Get out,” growled Eric.
Flashing a final covetous look my way, the reporter did as told.
Damn. Chin tucked in, I tried to calm both my breathing and my temper. What a bastard. A story bringing attention to the whole damn disaster was the last damn thing I needed.
“You okay?” asked Eric, rounding the counter.
“Yeah. Thanks. I could have gotten rid of him myself, I just didn’t want to cause a scene.”
A nod.
“What was that?” Vaughan stormed up to us. “Babe, who was that guy?”
“Some reporter.” I swiped the second card he’d left, letting it join the first in the bin. “Doesn’t matter. Eric got rid of him. Thank you again for that.”
“Thanks, man,” said Vaughan.
Eric nodded, heading back into the kitchen.
“Hey.” His finger curled beneath my chin, raising it gently. “Okay?”
“Just angry.” I crossed my arms, pressing my lips tightly together. “Opportunities like this only come along once in a lifetime. Like I should be grateful that the guy I was about to marry was a closet homosexual and using me. It was so much damn fun finding out the first time, let’s go through it again! Asshole.”
He gave me a small smile.
I groaned. “Sometimes it feels like I’m never going to put it behind me.”
“It only happened on Saturday.” He trailed his fingers over my cheek, smiling more broadly. “Today is Tuesday. This shit is going to be behind you, it’s just going to take a little more time. Three—four days … is not so long.”
I destroyed him with my very best death glare. “Stop being reasonable, Vaughan. Who even asked you?”
He sighed, then came around the counter and planted a kiss on top of my head. I leaned into him, taking much more comfort in his presence than I should have. Soon he wouldn’t be there. I needed to learn how to stand on my own. Deal with my own crap. But, gah. Soon was soon enough to stand alone.
“Forget about that asshole,” he said, rubbing my back, kissing my cheek. “Think about what makes you happy, like our date tonight or something.”
“Okay.”
“I better get back over there.”
“Thanks.” My hand somehow managed to curve over his ass as he turned away. There may have been a subtle squeeze involved. Like a girl could always be held responsible for what her fingers did. Please.
“I felt that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Later,” was all he said.
Later.
I couldn’t wait.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Later turned out to be closer to midnight than nine p.m.