Fool for Love (Believe #2) (29 page)

Garrett was engaged?

He was meant to be a dad?

There was an accident?

“I should never have given in to your charms, waif. Look at us now; you’re trembling from fear, and I’m falling further and further…until I hit the bottom and can’t fall anymore.”

He makes a pained sound, one that starts a cacophony of pinpricks in my entire being.

“I’m not afraid of you, Garrett,” I try to reassure him. The tremble in my lips makes me doubt the truth of my words.

He chuckles darkly. “Oh, but you are, my sweet waif.”

Biting my lip, I tighten my hold on his hand.

“I can’t be afraid of you when you haven’t told me the whole story.”

He doesn’t give me an answer for the longest time. Rufus starts traipsing beside us, whining and fidgeting, and I begin to let the real world in again.

We can’t keep standing here.

“I’ll never be able to give you what you want, Suzy,” Garrett’s strangled voice breathes into my ear.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want the ugliness of my past to taint your innocence.”

I open my mouth to protest, but before I know it, he’s wrenched his hand free from mine. I turn around to watch him leave.

Only this time, I don’t follow him as he enters the elevator with his faithful dog. Rufus looks back at me a couple of times, and the sadness in his eyes makes mine well up again.

I need time to sort out the mess in my head before I see Garrett again.

Before I make up my mind about him, once and for all.

I vow to myself that wherever I go from here, I will stand by my decision. I will listen, both to my head and my heart. Whatever the two decide, I will follow.

Tap, tap, tap.

I’m running at a steady pace but my heart is in turmoil. The rhythm of my feet hitting the gravel around Central Park should ease the darkness like it always does, but it’s not doing the trick this time. I glance down at Rufus who seems to have picked up on my mood; instead of holding his head high, tongue lolling, and sniffing the air like he usually does, his head hangs low and there’s no spring in his step.

Breath heaving, I slow down until we come to a stop. I lift my head and close my eyes, letting the soft rain wash away my sweat for a minute as I relay the scene with Suzy.

“What the fuck is she doing to me?” I ask Rufus, bending in my knees to scratch his ears. Doleful, he lets me pet him, but he doesn’t answer me.

Well, obviously not.

“Great, now I’m talking to my dog as if I’d get an answer back,” I grumble, annoyed with myself.

I sigh as I straighten back up and go to the nearest tree to stretch my sore limbs before we head home again. I’m interrupted by my cell ringing, and I wipe the rain from my eyes before checking the caller-ID.

“Now’s not a good time, Colin,” I grumble, voice rough when I answer.

He chuckles in my ear. “It’s never a good time for you these days.”

Annoyed, I jump a bit on the spot, keeping my limbs warm and loose.

“Anyway, I don’t care, Garrett. It’s time to return to the living for good.”

I stop and stare down at Rufus, who seems to be grinning at me now.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask him, suspicious of what he could have in mind.

“Only that you need to show your investors that you’re still running the restaurant – that you haven’t lost your touch.”

I groan, but I know he’s right. Three months in rehab won’t have left a very good impression of me, and I need to cement that I’ve changed.

“So…what do you propose?”

“A party. At your apartment, tonight.”

I try to protest. “I have to work –”

“This
is
work. Besides, your sous chef can handle the restaurant for one night, can’t he?” His amused voice grates on my nerves.

“Fine,” I sigh.

“Excellent. Start calling everyone of your contacts, and I’ll do the same from my end.”

“Have I ever told you what a meddling, annoying idiot you are sometimes?” I ask him.

He laughs heartily, and I can’t help but join in.

“At least twice a year since we met twenty years ago, Garrett.”

I frown. “Fuck, we’re getting old.”

“Tell me about it,” he sighs. “Listen, I have to go, but do as I say, man. This is important.”

As Rufus starts to whine beside me, clearly becoming impatient, I mutter, “Rufus.”

“What?” Colin asks, clearly puzzled.

“I can’t have Rufus in the apartment with all those people there, Colin. You know what the noise does to him.”

“I’d forgotten about that.”

We remain silent for some time, and I wonder if my faithful dog will think me a complete asshole for abandoning him to some strangers so soon after the last time.

That won’t do.

“I’ll call my parents, ask them to look after him,” I tell Colin. “No doubt they’ll spoil him rotten.”

“Fine. And if they can’t, let me know, yeah? I’ll ask mine.”

Warmth settles within at his thoughtfulness.

“You might be pretty annoying, but you’re a good friend, too,” I mutter.

“Don’t I know it?” he mutters. “Later.”

“Yeah, later.”

I end the call and then lean my back against the tree while I look down at Rufus.

“You know mom is going to spoil you silly, don’t you?” I ask him. His grin widens further, and he grumbles as he butts his nose against my knee.

“Sometimes, I swear you can understand every single thing I say.” I shake my head and my thoughts return to Suzy.

She’s always on my mind, but even more so after the events of this morning.

As I go through my routine, I realise that I have to make a decision.

I have to either hold onto Suzy and give her everything, or let her go entirely.

I only wish my heart and my head weren’t pulling me in opposite directions.

W
ORK AT
T
HE
V
AULT
is usually fascinating to me, but not tonight.

“I killed them.”

Garrett’s revelation, and the torment in his voice when he said those three words, is haunting me. While I know that I still don’t have all the facts, I’m absolutely certain that he can’t have meant them in the literal sense.

For one thing, I’m pretty sure that if he was a killer, he’d be rotting away in a prison cell right now.

For another, every fibre of my being is screaming at me that this beautiful, broken man is meant to be with me.

He belongs with me.

And so it is up to me to make him realise that I belong to him as well.

“Suzy, pay attention to your customers, please.”

Rowan’s impatient voice next to me makes me jump, and I drop the glass in my hand so it falls to the floor and crashes into tiny pieces.

“Seriously?!” I mutter, annoyed with myself.

With flaming cheeks, I bend down in my knees, a cloth in my hand.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumble as I hurry to pick up the shards.

Rowan mimics my movements and takes the cloth roughly from my hands.

“Careful, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“I’m really sorry, Rowan,” I repeat my words, all the while hoping that the ground will swallow me up.

“What’s with you tonight?” He looks sharply at me, a frown clouding his face, and I don’t know what to tell him. There’s no way in hell I’ll say anything about Garrett. They may be cousins, but I get the sense that they don’t like each other very much.

I shrug and wipe my hands on my stockings.

“Something troubling you?” he asks me.

I shake my head.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” With a stubborn hilt of my chin, I reach my hand out to him to take the broken pieces, hoping that our little spectacle hasn’t attracted the attention of too many spectators.

He looks down and picks up the last of it.

“Hmm…I don’t believe you, Suzy.”

He hands me the offending cloth, and we stand up. I wobble slightly on my heels, and he reaches out a hand, placing it on my elbow to steady me. While I appreciate the gesture, I don’t like his touch. I glance into his eyes, relieved to find them clear for now. It’s still early, though; even though I haven’t been working at the club for long, I’ve already picked up on Rowan’s nightly routine. And his habits.