Chapter 21

I woke with a yawn, squinting my eyes as the sun’s rays peeked through the thin curtains. I glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was only eight in the morning. It felt like I’d slept longer.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and pressed my feet onto the floor. My ankle was still tender, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been yesterday. I was able to walk to my suitcase and gather some clothes for the day.

There was some ruffling on the other side of the room and I turned, stunned to see Timothy adjusting himself on the small couch. I blinked wildly, recalling last night’s turn of events.

It all seemed so distant, this dark memory lingering in the back of my mind. Timothy watching over me as I fell asleep made me feel a little less vulnerable.

“You’re up.”

I turned again, this time meeting Timothy’s warm gaze as he sat up and stretched his long body over the stiff couch. I felt bad that he’d had to curl himself up just to fit on it, but he didn’t seem too bothered as he smiled tiredly at me.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

I shrugged, still feeling the sleep tugging at my eyelids. “Fine. You?”

“Well enough.” He pulled away his blanket and stood up, getting another stretch in. “Did you want to head down for breakfast?”

Before I could respond, my stomach rumbled, and the obnoxious sound echoed throughout the room. It had effectively stunned me into silence once more, but Timothy snorted.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.”

All I could do was nod, already feeling like I’d made things more difficult in the past 30 hours. We took the elevator down and I headed toward the breakfast buffet to look at the selection. The food looked pretty appetizing, hopefully well worth the money spent on it.

As I started stacking my plate with fresh fruit, I felt Timothy hovering awkwardly by my side. When I went over to the next booth to get eggs, he followed right Need Top Metal Stamping? Get 10% Discount (Start Now)

03 525 behind me and waited for me to fill my plate before speaking.

“About last night,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck, “Are you really okay? I mean, your ankle seems fine, but you had that attack.”

I bit my bottom lip, trying my hardest not to meet his eyes. “It’s fine. I was just stressed. That’s all.”

“That’s a huge response to stress,” he said with a shrug. “And your boss wasn’t helping at all. Is he always like that?”

“He just wants this to be a successful trip,” I stated. “And I’ve been having those attacks for a while.

He just caught me at a bad time.”

Timothy paused. “For a while?”

“It’s fine.” I scooped some hashbrowns onto my plate and faked a smile before walking away from the buffet line. I found a table by one of the windows, which overlooked the densest part of the forest. To my surprise, Timothy came and sat opposite of me.

“You don’t have to sit with me. I promise I’m okay,” I said quickly. He was so tall, his knees knocked into mine underneath the table as he adjusted himself.

He started to smile. “I want to. You’re good company.”

My eyes widened in surprise as he started munching on his toast. I couldn’t comprehend where he was coming from with all of this. I nibbled awkwardly at my eggs, occasionally looking up at him and finding a content expression on his face.

After breakfast, we went back to our rooms and packed our things for the trip back. I made sure to keep my pills close to me this time around. I hadn’t received. any new texts from Bruce, but just one was enough to push me over the edge.

What was I supposed to expect when I got home? Was he waiting for me there? He couldn’t possibly be waiting there with Aria around, or had he done something to her?

I took a deep breath and shook my head, banishing those thoughts. Maybe I was thinking too deeply about this. I wasn’t exactly low profile at this point, having to deal with Timothy’s case, so any move he made would be noticed.

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For security, I swallowed two pills and flushed them down with some water before gathering my suitcase and heading out the door. I met Timothy and the boss. downstairs in the lobby waiting for the bus. I kept my distance from them both, not favoring either interaction that could come from doing so.

The bus arrived ten minutes later and drove us all the way to the airport. It was about an hour wait before then, so Mr. Erickson and I grilled him with questions.

“How was the trip overall, Timothy?” I asked desperately, leaning toward him. “I’m really sorry that you didn’t get to finish the trail because of me, but I hope you at least got something out of all of this.”

Timothy looked down at me, his lips curling into a grin. “Not at all. You were a wonderful guide.”

This news surprised Mr. Erickson and the fear started to leave his face. He looked between us, then started to smile meaningfully. It started to occur to me that maybe he knew Timothy hadn’t left my room the other night, no matter how innocent the circumstances.

Eventually, it was time to board the plane. We were back in first class, but there was no stewardess dripping over Timothy this time around. It seemed like it was going to be a peaceful trip.

I still wondered about what Timothy said. Evidently, I’d been “wonderful“, but I couldn’t understand what part of our trip had matched that description. I was constantly on edge throughout the whole trip. I doubted I was all that nice to be around.

“Hey.”

I followed the sound of Timothy’s voice drifting across the aisle. He was staring at me, his eyes focused as usual.

“I meant it, by the way. You being good company,” he said firmly.

I smirked. “You can drop the act. I’m pretty sure my boss has fallen fast asleep by now.”

Timothy rolled his eyes, the back of his head thumping against the seat as he slumped backward.

“It’s not an act. I’m just expressing my gratitude toward the firm, since you guys took it upon yourselves to bring me out here. Am I not Need Top Metal Stamping? Get a 10% Discount (Start Now)

allowed to be grateful now?”

“You can,” I said with a shrug. “Just…with everything that happened, I would’ve thought you’d take your chances with some other lawyer. Someone who didn’t freak out so easily.”

He leered my way, like I’d just insulted him personally. Something darkened behind his eyes as his hands curled into fists. “I only trust you with this case, Evie. From the time I’ve known you, you’ve worked hard, and you’re reliable.”

I opened my mouth to interject, but he quickly cut me off.

“And I only threatened to get that coworker of yours fired so that he’d stay off your back. He seems like the type to screw around, and I didn’t want that for you,” he said stiffly.

His eyes kept on searching my face before the resolve left him and he looked away. Suddenly, he took his phone out and began tapping it before tossing it in my. direction. The screen had a bunch of Stella’s texts on them and I started scrolling through it.

It was a desperate display. Every text was more determined, begging Timothy to take her. When it eventually got to her text on closing his opportunities with the team, I felt ill about presuming he’d been interested in her.

“We could use these,” I said. I kept my eyes trained to the screen, my face burning. There was an anger bubbling within me, and the words became blurred.

Now more than ever, I was determined to win this case.