I insisted that Liam and I use my car because I always needed to have the means for a clean getaway if needed. I never wanted to rely on a man for a way home especially not with what had been going on in the town lately. I receded a bit of control by allowing him to drive and he took us towards a dainty little restaurant a few miles away from the bar.
The servers watched us with wide and attentive eyes as we made our way in and I knew without a doubt that Darius had already gotten the word out that people were supposed to watch out for us. We took a table at the far end of the room, close to the window and away from prying eyes. It was a beautiful spot because it had a clear view of the fountain at the back and it was very romantic.
"Have you been here before?" I asked Liam and he shook his head.
"I've seen it during my walks and I figured it would be great if we tried it together, don't you?"
A waitress came to take our order. She had fiery red hair tied into a messy ponytail at the back of her head and sharp green eyes. When she looked at me, they were kind but whenever she turned to Liam, her eyes held suspicion and irritation. If I was new in town, I would have guessed they knew each other and had some bad blood because of the way she glared at him out of the corner of her eyes.
She took our orders but mainly spoke to me. She barely turned to Liam or acknowledged his presence and I started to get annoyed on his behalf. She was acting like he wasn't a paying customer and I didn't give a rat's ass what Darius had told them, she should have treated him with the utmost respect.
"There's no need to get upset," Liam said. "I've gotten a few looks like that around time. I don't think they take too kindly to new people. From my investigations, you don't get too much of those around here."
"We don't, but that doesn't give them the right to be rude."
"Don't worry about it. Let's enjoy the meal and pretend like everything is fine."
It was difficult to do but I was determined to try. Liam was a very funny guy and he told me all about his life in the city as a lawyer and the crazy clients he encountered. He never spoke about his wife and although I was curious, I didn't want to pry. It didn't matter how long or short ago she died, it would still hurt to talk about and I knew that from experience.
He asked about my childhood but I steered clear of the subject because I wasn't sure. Most of my childhood was still a blur and until I had the full picture, I didn't want to talk about it. Instead, I told him about my brief stint in the city and he talked about how ironic it was that we were in the same city and never crossed each other's paths but came back to Lunarius and met at a bar.
While we were talking, the waitress returned with our food. We had gone with the safest options- me with burgers and fries and Liam with steak. I thought the burger was amazing but as I glanced at Liam, I could see that he was struggling to get his food down his throat.
"Is everything okay?" I asked and he gave me a small grimace. "It's fine, it's not a big deal."
I knew he was lying so I reached out and cut a piece of his steak. He tried to stop me before I put it in my mouth but he was too late and I almost threw up over my food. It was the most disgusting thing I had tasted in my life and somehow, I knew it was done on purpose. I was furious at the restaurant and Darius for trying to ruin things for me. âWe should leave,â I told him and he opened his mouth to complain but I cut him off. "Don't make excuses for them, this is terrible customer service and-"
I was cut off by my phone ringing and it took all my self-control not to swear out loud.
I took it out of my pocket and was confused when I saw Chris' name flashing on my screen. He never called me, not even when it was an emergency. I swiped right immediately and placed the phone by my ears.
"You need to get home fast, it's Grandma," he said before I could even say a word and he hung up almost immediately.
I rushed to my feet and began to gather my stuff with Liam watching me in utter confusion.
"I have to go, there's an emergency at home."
"Let me drive you," he offered. "You seem too stressed to drive."
I didn't have the energy in me to refuse so I nodded. He took the keys and drove me
to my house and for the entire ride, I was wondering what could have happened to her.
I was so worried that I didn't even notice the bike parked close to my house that looked suspiciously like Darius'. I barely waited for Liam to turn off the engine before I rushed up the porch steps and pulled the door open.
I had conjured up every plausible scenario but I saw something I was not expecting. Chris was seated on the couch with Grandma next to him and they were laughing and playing cards. Chris looked up and when he saw me, he had the decency to look away in embarrassment.
"What the hell is going on?" I all but yelled. "I thought you said something happened to her."
"I didn't want to do it, I swear but he came and he offered a lot of money if I did it. There's this new game that I want to buy and-"
"Who offered you money?" I asked and he pointed to the kitchen door where Darius was standing.
Of course, it was him, how could I have expected anything else? I turned on my heels fully prepared to go back on my date but he moved impossibly fast and grabbed my arm. I opened my mouth to insult him but was cut off by someone clearing their throat- Liam.
I had completely forgotten that Liam was with me. He was looking between Darius and me in confusion and my keys were in his outstretched hand. Darius reached out and swiped the keys from him before any of us could figure out what was going on. "You can run along now," he said in a dismissive tone and I saw a vein pop in Liam's forehead. "Your services are no longer needed here."
"That is not for you to decide." I turned on Darius. "I invited him and I tell him when I no longer want him here."
Darius rolled his eyes and all but pulled me into the house then slammed the door in Liam's face. I wanted to scream and punch him but I knew I couldn't so I resorted to storming into my room and slamming the door behind me. Screw Darius Lunar and his stupid need to always be in charge of every area of my life.
I was still trying to calm myself down when the door to my room opened. I knew it was Darius without turning around and I hoped he would get the hint and get out but instead, he locked the door behind him and made his way over to me.
"I need you to get the hell out of my room." I crossed my arms over my chest and refused to turn to him. "You have already done enough tonight and the last thing I need is you making it worse. Go back to whatever hell you crawled out from."
"I made your night worse," he scoffed. "I let you go on that date and if it was a bad experience then that seems like a fault with your date, not me."
I finally whirled on him. "Why do you have to butt your head into everything that I do? First, you told the servers to be extremely rude to us then you decided to make my brother lie to get me home."
"What are you talking about? I never spoke to any servers, that is childish and completely beneath me. I would have told them not to serve you instead of being rude. Where did you go?"
"Stop pretending like you don't know."
I made to walk past him but he grabbed my upper arm. "I sincerely do not know where you went and I never spoke to anyone. The reason I asked Chris to call you was because I realized you went to a human restaurant. I couldn't order them to send you out so I needed a way to get you out of there."
He seemed genuine but I wasn't sure if I believed him. The people there acted like they knew us. If Darius didn't tell them, who did?
"It doesn't matter anyway," I said finally. "Let me go and get out of my room."
"No." I raised my brow. "You've been talking, so now it is time to listen."