Chapter 17
It was his fault he was sitting in his car outside this questionable block of flats instead of in bed with Evelyn.
He shouldn’t have left her like that, not only because he hadn’t had nearly enough of her, but because it hadn’t been his intention to leave her stranded again. Philip was meant to pick him up in the morning, and this car he had driven there was for Evelyn to use.
He had driven to his apartment before he had told himself he was being ridiculous. Evelyn was not Esther. In fact, she was the opposite. She never asked for anything. Everything he had ever given her he’d had to force on her. He was pretty sure he would have to force the car on her as well. The cash she had put with the bank cards when she had left was everything he had ever left for her after his visits.
She wasn’t greedy and was never demanding so that made her the perfect mistress. If she left, it would take another decade to find anyone to replace her. She took care of all his needs, so she was worth every penny he had spent on the car.
She was not like Esther. She would never be like Esther.
Or that was what he had thought, because there she was, in another man’s home.
She had been in there for hours.
He had been on his way back when her security team had told him she had been picked up, and it hadn’t been a registered taxi. He had seen the car squeeze past his on the narrow road and had seen her laughing in the passenger seat.
It had been a stupid move to follow them. So stupid. But here he was.
Was she really so enamoured with this boy that she would throw everything they had away? What could they possibly be doing in there for so long? Was she breaking another rule? The one that said that as long as she was still his, she couldn’t have another man? Was she in there right now being fucked by that pimply kid who looked like he didn’t even know what a vagina looked like?
That was a dangerous game she was playing.
His fists clenched as he watched the time on his dashboard inch forward another minute.
He had to tell himself over and over again not to get out of his car and find them. This was all the evidence he needed, even if he didn’t see them fucking with his own eyes. Wasn’t it? Could he use this to accuse her of letting another man put their filthy dick in her?
He hated the fact that he was second guessing everything. She had done this to him. She had turned out to be as untrustworthy as the rest of them.
Was she in there telling the little boy she loved him, too? Was she telling him it was only a matter of time until they could be together properly? Because it had been glaringly obvious what was on the boy’s mind as he had opened the door for Evelyn, pretending to be a fucking gentleman while his eyes had wandered over her body.
And Evelyn had been laughing, genuinely laughing, as she had carried a couple of boxes of pizza out of the car. Even with Evelyn’s bags and a bag full of what looked like alcohol, the boy had still held the door open for her to let her into the building first.
Were they getting drunk out of their minds first? Then they would fall into bed and wake up with no recollection of how they’d end up naked in the same bed. He had seen enough of that scenario in his university days to know it was a high probability.
He should go in there and stop it.
No, he needed to go home before he did something stupid.
He had left her. This was his fault.
Still, he took his phone out and sent a message to her security team.
‘Send me the details of the registered owner of that car. Everything you can find.’
They were thorough so he knew he would know everything about this boy by the morning. But what would he do with this information?
He would destroy him.
No, he couldn’t destroy him because Evelyn’s social life was none of his business just like his was none of hers. He had absolutely no reason to do anything to him because the boy was innocent and being led dick first into something he had no idea about.
It was Evelyn he needed to get rid of because she had him sitting outside random buildings like a stalker when he could have used the free time to get some work done. He had a lot of that.
He’d been unable to concentrate all week because his conscience had been prickling him knowing that she was stewing while waiting for him. And Philip had been asking him every hour if he wanted him to take Evelyn’s car back and calling him a prick without saying the words. Keeping her there just because of that niggling thought at the back of his mind that she would disappear the moment he gave her back her car seemed a little childish now. It was still justifiable though. He’d seen the look on her face when she’d said she wasn’t a whore and she was leaving. She’d meant that. Her change of mind only minutes later was suspicious.
Evelyn was leaving. And from the moment she had let him into the house for that 'date' she had shown him how she intended to do that.
He had already told her it didn’t matter what she said or did because he was keeping her so he had no business being out here.
His phone beeped so he looked at the message quickly.
But it wasn’t the security team with information that the innocent looking boy was actually a serial killer and he would be justified in barging into his apartment and rescuing Evelyn. It was Philip, reminding him that he had a fitting after his breakfast with his father, and confirming the time he would pick him up from Evelyn’s house.
He sighed as he replied quickly.
‘No need to pick me up, I’ll see you after breakfast.’
Then he started the car and took one last look at the block of flats before he started driving out of the neighbourhood.
What the hell was this woman doing to him? The threat of her parents losing their home should have been enough to make her realise she needed him to be able to take care of them. To buy them the house she’d been looking at. Another few months and she would even be able to add to her deposit for a better house since she had no financial outgoings. She could go to university without worrying about finances. Could she not see how good she had it with him? It wasn’t going to be forever and she knew it. Couldn’t she have waited a little longer to spring this on him?
Or maybe this had been her plan all along. She gave him all of that good shit until he was hooked and then was now scheming to make this into a real relationship.
But that would never happen. He would see her next Friday and not a moment before. He was the one in control.