I ordered an Uber and went through my missed messages on the ride back to the hotel Evie and I had been staying for the last week.
Oliver: Christopher is driving me crazy. I would give my right arm to come and hang with you and Evie.
Oliver: Did you give Evie a credit card? Because I think she is buying half of Paris. She keeps sending me photos of new things. Better watch out or she will try to buy the Mona Lisa.
Oliver: Heading to bed. Have a good night. Text me in the morning.
Liam: Grace is so excited that she is already packed. Our flight is at 8:30 am our time. We get into Paris at 10:00 pm your time. Anything you need me to bring?
Christopher: I am not driving Oliver crazy. He is driving me crazy. I would also give my right arm to be in Paris with you instead of being stuck in the middle of the desert. The shop you got Evie looks nice. Send more pics.
Christopher: What are you up to?
The texts made me smile. I had friends and now I had a home. Maybe I could become a normal person after all. I texted back Oliver that I had found a place to rent but it wasn't a normal apartment. I told him that I had given Evie a credit card and that I had to drag her away from the Mona Lisa when we visited the Louvre. Saudi Arabia was only an hour ahead of the time in Paris, but Oliver didn't respond right away. He was probably sleeping in. There wasn't much he and Christopher could do while Christopher healed from his head injury, so Oliver's days had been pretty lazy lately.
Liam kept his word about coming to visit and he, Grace, and Mia were flying in today on one of Whistler's private jets. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was a little after seven a.m. meaning that it just after one a.m. in New York City. If I gave Liam a list of things I wanted for my new home that would be difficult to procure here, he would have time to get it and bring it with him. They wouldn't even have to worry about security. I thought for a moment and put together a list of items that I would like him to bring. Most of them were weapons that I could stash in my new home.
I didn't know how to respond to Christopher. He had been sending me texts like this all week. Like if we had the same kind of friendship that I shared with his brother. Christopher had told me to emotionally disconnect from the team in Dubai and then days later he had said that the key to solving all problems is to talk about them. He had accused me of sleeping with the rest of the team and now was acting like we were best friends. The man made no sense. Why would he give his right arm to be with me in Paris? Was it because Evie was here? Did he have a relationship with Evie or had it been a one-night stand? Evie hadn't mentioned Christopher in the last week, but I also hadn't asked.
I ended up responding like I usually did, by answering the direct questions but nothing else.
Payton: I am heading back to the hotel. Today I am going to work on getting my new place set up.
Once I was back at the hotel, I took a shower while being careful to keep my incision site dry and then worked through forty-five minutes of physical therapy exercises the surgeons had provided me with. While doing that I had received a text from Evie asking me to bring her suitcase from the hotel over to her new apartment. After I was finished, I filled a bag with ice and used an ace bandage to strap it to my arm before grabbing Evie's bag and heading out.
When I got to Evie's new storefront I knocked on the door and was surprised when Marc was the one to open the door in a pair of blue jeans and a clean white wife-beater tank top. He held the door open for me and I dragged Evie's oversized suitcase into the store. I was distracted away from asking Marc why he was here when I caught sight of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in person.
She could have just stepped out of a Cosmopolitan cover she was that attractive. She was at least five-eight with long, thick, wavy chestnut-colored hair. She had pale skin that was dusted with the perfect amount of light brown freckles, and two dimples sat high on her slightly rounded cheeks. Her clavicle was clearly visible and highlighted the curve of her neck and the muscle tone within her shoulders. She was wearing a purple sports bra with a complicated criss-cross pattern and her impossibly long legs were wrapped in tight black yoga pants. Her exposed midriff displayed an impressive six-pack and a small diamond belly button ring.
I had never been attracted to other women, but damn this woman was hot.
"You must be the ninja warrior bodyguard that survived a fiery explosion, saved our Evie from brutish men, and is going to make all of her dreams come true," the woman purred in an accented voice that hinted at sex and other dangerous things. Our Evie? What claim did this gorgeous creature think she had on Evie?
"I see that you have discovered Evie's love for hyperbole," I murmured, unable to tear my eyes off the woman.
"What part of that isn't true?" Marc asked in a gruff voice, reminding me that he was in the room too.
I looked over at him and said, "I'm not a ninja." I wasn't going to let Marc ruin my good mood. I had found a home. As soon as I made sure Evie was okay, I could get back to it.
"Well aren't you a fiery one," the woman purred while reaching out a hand towards me like if she wanted to pet my cheek. I may be intrigued by this woman, but I still don't know her. I didn't want her touching me. I backed away from her hand and blanked my face. From the way these two were coming at me, I could tell they were trying to elicit a response. Well, I didn't have time for their games, I had a bank to clean out and a bedroom to set up. I wanted to sleep at my new home again tonight.
I decided not to engage them any further and walked up the stairs leading up to Evie's apartment. If my goal was to avoid drama, then I should have stayed downstairs. The first thing I saw when I walked into the loft apartment was Evie and Lorraine embracing in the middle of the room. There was soft music playing and the two were slowly swaying in a circle as they shared a very intimate-looking kiss. The sight was so unexpected that my brain short-circuited for a second and I just stood there and watched their private moment. A part of my brain heard Marc and Ms. Sex On A Stick walk up the stairs behind me, and I cursed them for allowing me to walk into this unaware.
Finally, Evie broke the kiss and glanced up. When she saw me she let out her signature squeal and ran straight towards me. I had tried to explain to Evie that I liked my personal space, but in classic Evie fashion, she didn't let my discomfort with touch keep her from doing her thing. My injury didn't seem to factor into her greeting either. At the last moment, I woke up enough to turn my left shoulder away and catch her with my right arm as she leaped onto me.
"Ohmygod Payton, I have had the best time. I LOVE my apartment. And Lorraine took me to all the best shops and Marc and Rene are helping me set everything up. Everyone is so nice and my store is going to be awesome! I can't wait to show you all the things I got. Oh - I guess I should tell you how much I spent. I didn't mean to spend that much but I just got so excited and it is all really good stuff. Please don't be mad. I bet I can return some of the stuff. I didn't mean to spend so much," All of this was said so quickly I had a hard time keeping up. At first, she was so excited she was basically bouncing in my arms, but as she talked about the money she spent her features clouded over with worry and guilt.
She was slipping out of my one-handed grip and she circled her arms around my neck to steady herself, causing pain to shoot down my injured arm. Marc must have seen me wince because he stepped forward and pulled Evie out of my grasp and said in a harsh tone, "¡Merde Evie! She is hurt."
