“Pleased to meet you, Lisbeth. I wish we could stay and chat, but we were actually on our way out.” I studiously refused to make eye contact with Niall. The woman seemed to shrug it off, smiling and nodding, saying it was a pity but we could catch up later. I grabbed onto Missy's arm and practically pulled her with me towards the exit.
“What a coincidence meeting him here. The way you were talking about him, I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to meet the famous Niall Bridges.”
“Please drop it, Missy.”
“You're really upset about this, aren't you,” she said. I didn't answer, and she didn't push the subject thankfully. We walked out of the house and down the stairs to the pavement to wait for the car. What a night. I didn’t want to think about Niall anymore. I looked over at Missy.
“Sorry about Dirk by the way.”
“Ah, well,” she said.
“Did you know about Dirk getting engaged?”
“What? No of course not. This is the first time I’ve seen him in over a decade. I haven't kept up with him. I wasn’t expecting it but how could I have anticipated it?”
“I'm sorry though. It must hurt.”
She nodded, then shrugged. “Oh well. I should have looked him up on Facebook first or something so it wouldn’t have been such a shock.”
“Don't beat yourself up.” I heard footsteps, somebody coming down the stairs behind us. I looked over my shoulder. Oh, for the love of God. At this point, the man was stalking me.
“Eddy? Eddy. We need to talk.” He rounded on us, visibly upset.
“We're leaving, Niall.”
“Where are you going? I’m coming with you.”
“I'm going back to Belshire and you’re not invited.” A car approached us on the pavement, but it wasn't ours. Niall waved it over, then pulled the door open when it stopped. And then, he grabbed me, pulling me towards the open door by my arm.
“What on Earth are you doing?” I yelled.
“I'm calling the police,” Missy said. Niall stopped and looked at me. He wasn't a crazy man off the street trying to kidnap me. I knew him, and yes, as much as I told him I didn't want to talk to him, there was a part of me that did. He wasn't going to hurt me, that went without saying. After everything we had been through, I trusted him. I still wasn't sure that I wanted to hear what he had to say, but that pull between us was getting stronger and stronger the more I stood there with him. I didn't want our last confrontation to be the one where a woman announced she was his fiancée. I turned to Missy.
“You can go. I'll meet you back at your house.” Missy looked at me warily.
“Are you sure?”
No, to be honest, I was not. I had no idea what was about to happen, and I was at least eighty percent sure that whatever Niall had to say to me would just ruin my night further, but I had to find out. I knew it would bother me if I left things as they lay.
“Yes. Everything's fine. I'll meet you back at the house. Go.”
She shot Niall a glare. “If you hurt her, I know five separate people who can ruin your life with one phone call,” she said to him.
“That's good to know. Thank you.”
I let Niall bundle me into the car, then moved down the back seat so he could get in after me.
“The hotel,” he barked at the driver before raising the privacy screen. I sat awkwardly on the leather seats of the car. This was not supposed to be how this night played out.
“Why did you leave without saying anything in the middle of the night?” he asked once the screen was up.
“I'm sorry?”
“Why did you leave in the middle of the night? Why didn't you stay?”
Just how much had he had to drink tonight? “Sorry,” I said. “I'm not exactly in the habit of sleeping in strangers’ hotel rooms.”
“When did I become a stranger?”
“I'm sorry that you're so offended, but I fail to see what I did wrong.”
He frowned. “Are you sure you don't know?” I shrugged. “Why didn't you tell me that the Baron is dead?”
That was a good one. I didn't have a snappy comeback for that. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the interrogation. I was a little offended that he was subjecting me to one. I had questions too.
“Why didn't you tell me you had a fiancée?” I shot back instead of answering.
“Because I don't.”
“Does Lisbeth Lane know that you deny her in public?”
“It's complicated.”
“Oh please.” I rolled my eyes. It was never that complicated. Either you were together or you were not together, that was it. I felt sorry for Lisbeth Lane. I never would have done anything with him if I knew that he was attached.
“She thinks that she's my fiancée, but she isn't. Not really.”
This was not a productive conversation. I didn't want to continue. I'd never thought Niall was the type to play games like that. It made me want to take Lisbeth’s side because I felt like we might have had more in common dealing with Niall and his half-truths. The car lurched to a stop at a red light. I reached for the handle and pulled the door open. Niall reached across me and slammed it shut again.
“I want to go.” He heard me, I know he did because then, he used his body and his lips to physically stop me from leaving. He gathered me in his arms and kissed me roughly. I was so angry that he would use that sort of tactic on me, but it only lasted so long. My lips softened and I kissed him back. My body betrayed me whenever it came to him. I didn't try to stop it. I let go. I thought that last night would be our last time, but I would take this. I was angry at him, and I was crazy about him at the same
