Playing With Fire. Kayla Perrin

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      6

      “What’s this about?” Nicholas asked.

      “Nothing,” Zienna lied.

      “The cat’s pretty much out of the bag now,” Wendell said.

      “One of you tell me.” Nicholas looked from his friend to her with curiosity. In an effort to imply that she had no idea what Wendell was going to say, Zienna shrugged. Then she tried, ever so subtly with a look, to give Wendell the hint that he should keep his big mouth shut.

      “It’s been bugging me ever since I came back and learned that you and Zienna were an item,” Wendell said, not getting the point—but more likely, not caring. Why was he doing this to her?

      “Now I’m really curious,” Nicholas said.

      “I figured Zienna would have said something to you by now, but I’m guessing she didn’t. Otherwise, I’m sure you would have brought it up with me.”

      Zienna wanted to jump across the table and claw Wendell’s eyes out. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand his motivation.

      “Don’t keep me in suspense,” Nicholas said, his tone lighthearted.

      “Wendell,” Zienna said sharply. “What are you doing?”

      “We need to tell him.”

      Sickened, she realized there was nothing she could do to stop him. Which would be futile at this point anyway, since Nicholas could likely figure out what the deal was.

      Wendell cleared his throat before continuing. “Years ago, when Zienna began working as my therapist, we...we were involved.”

      A wave of sensations, hot and cold and dizzying at the same time, swept over Zienna. Good Lord, what had he just done?

      For a nanosecond, Nicholas didn’t react. Then the slight, curious grin on his face went flat. “What?”

      “It was a long time ago,” Wendell said. “And obviously it doesn’t have any bearing on the present. But there’s clearly been a bit of tension during dinner—no doubt because of this secret. And now that I’m going to be managing your new restaurant...I realized that we needed to lay this out on the table, then bury it.”

      Zienna’s skin was growing hot, her face flushed.

      “Something like this has a tendency to come out at some point, which would only seem more suspicious the longer we wait,” Wendell explained.

      “Right,” Nicholas said, his tone not revealing how he was feeling about what he’d just heard.

      But it hadn’t escaped Zienna that he had released her hand.

      “It wasn’t a serious relationship. Zienna and I had an off-and-on thing for about six months.”

      It wasn’t a serious relationship... Hearing Wendell say the words made her want to slap him. After how crazy she had been about him, to hear him say that their relationship hadn’t been serious hurt like hell.

      More than it should.

      “But Pam?” Nicholas said, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “When you hurt your shoulder, you were dating Pam.”

      “I know, I wasn’t perfect.” Wendell faced Zienna. “I’d been with Pam since college,” he said, as though that was supposed to make his betrayal forgivable. “What can I say? Temptation got the better of me.”

      Zienna guffawed and jerked her eyes from his.

      “Wow,” Nicholas said, and when she looked at him, she saw that he was shaking his head in disbelief.

      “I was just the fuck buddy,” she said, her voice overly sweet. “No need to worry.”

      Ghita arrived with the bill at that moment. She seemed to sense the tension, and quietly slipped the check onto the table before turning away.

      “Like I said,” Wendell went on, speaking to Nicholas. “You’re my friend. I didn’t want to keep this secret from you, especially when it’s not like there’s anything going on between us now.”

      A few seconds passed. The glum mood at their table was accentuated by the happy laughter that came from people nearby.

      Nicholas suddenly turned to Zienna. “How serious was this relationship for you?”

      “What?”

      “Wendell said that you were just a fling. Of course, his heart was with Pam. I don’t agree with what he did—and he knew I wouldn’t, which is why he never told me about you years ago.” Nicholas paused. “But what about you?”

      Zienna frowned as she regarded him, her heart thundering in her ears. “You heard Wendell. It wasn’t a serious relationship.”

      “Why didn’t you tell me?” Nicholas asked her. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday at my place?”

      Her lips parted, but much like an accused person sitting on the witness stand, she felt stunned and disoriented, and didn’t know what to say.

      Finally, she said, “I do not want to do this. Not here. You want to talk about this, I’m more than happy to leave now, and we can do that.” And then she faced Wendell. “What were you trying to do, dropping a bomb like that without any warning? We’d just had a nice dinner. This was not the time nor the place.”

      “You wanted him to keep me in the dark?” Nicholas accused.

      Zienna stood, flustered. She didn’t like Nicholas’s tone, even if she could understand his shock. Because suddenly, she was the bad guy, when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

      “Sit down,” Nicholas said to her.

      “No. No, I don’t think I will.” She spun around, pausing only to say, “And don’t follow me. I swear.”

      She made it several steps before she heard her name. Wendell. As if he had the right to even speak to her right now.

      “Zienna,” СКАЧАТЬ