“Let her go. You don’t need her,” my mother said, clearly very satisfied she’d chased Bella away.
I growled. “What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?”
She swatted away my words. “You can do better. Don’t you dare bring a woman like that to my home.”
“A woman like that? You didn’t even give her a chance!”
My mother scowled at me. “Go. I will not have your tone here. You come back once you have your priorities straight.”
I had no words that would mean a damn thing to my mother. She’d embarrassed me and pissed me off all at the same time. She didn’t seem the least bit ashamed of herself. I tossed my napkin on my plate and shoved my chair back, shooting her a look of disgust before heading inside to look for Bella.
She wasn’t in the house. I hadn’t really expected her to be. I walked outside, slamming the door behind me.
She was leaning against my car, her arms crossed over her chest and her sunglasses on, hiding her expression. I wasn’t sure what to expect from her. I hoped there weren’t tears. I wasn’t sure how I would deal with tears.
I felt horrible for what she’d endured. She’d put herself out there for me and been raked over the coals. I owed her an apology and so much more. She’d only come to my parents’ home to try and help me. No good deed goes unpunished, I thought to myself.
I stopped in front of her, waiting for her to say something. I thought she was looking at me. I couldn’t see her eyes behind the glasses. Her lips were pressed together. It wasn’t a smile, but it wasn’t a grimace. It was just there—lacking all emotion.
“Bella, are you okay?” I asked gently.
“I’m fine. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I am. That’s my mom for you.”
“I’m sorry to have ruined your family day. I didn’t realize my American status would be such a huge issue.”
“You didn’t ruin anything. This is not your fault. At all. We were ambushed.”
“Ambushed is one word for it,” she muttered.
I grimaced, feeling the anger coming off her. “I didn’t think it would be that bad.”
“Whatever. Can we go now?”
I pushed the button on the key fob and unlocked the doors. I moved to open the passenger door for her. She got in without saying a word. I had never seen her quite so cold and withdrawn. I got in the car and pulled away from my parents’ home. Bella sat quietly, her head turned away from me. She was pretending to be interested in the scenery. I knew she wasn’t. She was fuming. I could feel the anger radiating off her.
“Are you angry with me?” I asked after we’d been driving for fifteen minutes without a word from her.
“No.”
I cringed. I didn’t have a lot of experience with women, but I was pretty sure that “no” meant a “yes.” I’d had girlfriends in the past, and I had inadvertently pissed them off at one time or another. It was the nothing and the no that sent up a red flag.
“Where are you going?” she asked when I pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall.
“I was thinking we could use a little ice cream,” I said, hoping to charm her with sweet stuff.
“Oh,” she whispered.
It wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic yes, but I was hoping once she got a little ice cream in her, she’d loosen up a little. I’d discovered her love of the cold treat while we’d been in Athens. It was one of her weaknesses. She took a seat at one of the outdoor tables, leaving me to get the ice cream. I was going to have to do more than buy the woman ice cream.
“Here you go,” I said, putting the bowl of chocolate chip ice cream in front of her.
“Thank you,” she said, her tone flat and lacking the enthusiasm I was hoping for.
She finally took off the sunglasses and looked at me. I couldn’t get a good read on what she was thinking. I was afraid to ask. It was pretty clear her mood had definitely soured since this morning, and I couldn’t blame her.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.
“It’s fine.”
“It isn’t fine. I’m sorry for the way you were treated.”
She took a bite of the ice cream. “I guess I should have heeded your warnings. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t that bad, that it couldn’t be that bad. You’re a good guy, and I reasoned that you couldn’t be who you were if it was as bad as you were making it out to be. I guess I was wrong.”
“Bella, I’m sorry. I really am. I promise you, they are good people. They just… I don’t know. My mom, she has this idea in her head about who I should be with, and she can’t let it go. She isn’t like that with my older brothers, just me.”
“It was definitely not what I expected. Your warnings made me think your mom might be rough. That was—I don’t have the right words to describe what that was. Your mother is like a tigress, a mama bear protecting her cub. You could have told me she had razor sharp claws.”
I smirked, finding her assessment spot on. When she didn’t smile in return, I quickly wiped the smile from my face. “She is protective.”
She scoffed. “You think?”
I shook my head. “She isn’t normally that brusque. I don’t know if she was showing off or what was wrong with her.”
“Your dad seemed nice, at least to my face. I suppose that little conversation he pulled you away for probably had something to do with you bringing an American to the party.” Her tone was a little snide. “He certainly wasn’t offering up any help.”
“My dad is usually pretty laid back. I don’t think he necessarily has a problem with you. It’s just that my parents are very traditional. Greeks are proud people.” I tried to explain. “They’ve been trying to marry me off since I was born. Then when I started making money, they worried I would be taken advantage of, and that’s when my mom really got a little crazy.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Wow, I hadn’t noticed.”
I could tell she was irritated with me. “Bella, please don’t let what they said affect you.”
She dropped her spoon and folded her arms, resting them on the table as she leaned toward me. “It isn’t what they said that got to me. I can handle that kind of nonsense. I don’t like it, but I can handle it.”
“Okay, what is it?” I asked curiously. “What has you upset?”
“I guess I was a little surprised to see how terrified you are of your mother.”
The way she said it was not meant to be a compliment. I immediately took umbrage to the comment.
“Terrified? I’m not terrified of my mother.”
Both of her brows arched upward. “You sure about that?”
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows at the way she was talking. “I’m sure about that.” I mimicked her tone.
“Why did you sit there and let your mother talk to me like that and you? You don’t strike me as the kind of man who would take that kind of shit from anyone.”
Now I knew she was pissed. She was speaking very bluntly, something I had never heard before. “I’m not going to start a fight with my mother over something that isn’t real.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t real? I assure you, I’m very real, Adrian. What your mother said wasn’t just an insult to me as your girlfriend. It was an insult in general. I didn’t like it.”
“She was pissed because she thought you were my girlfriend. If she knew there was nothing between us, I doubt she would have talked to you or about you the way she did.”
I saw her take a deep breath before she reached for her sunglasses and slid them back on. It was the equivalent of her hanging up on me or slamming the door in my face.
“Nothing between us,” she repeated the words in a dangerously low voice.
“You know what I mean,” I said with exasperation.
“No, I don’t think I do. I’m not sure what you mean. You said you didn’t bother defending me because we are a fake thing anyway, or something like that.”
“You agreed to come with me and act like my fake girlfrien
d, right?”
“Yes, I did, but that was before,” she whispered. “Was any of this real?”
“Bella, we’ve been having a great time together. I love spending time with you. This last week has been amazing.” I meant every word.
She smirked. “You mean you love having sex with me, but now that we’re back, and your parents didn’t approve of your fake girlfriend, you don’t need me around.”
“It isn’t like that. Besides, you’re going to be leaving soon. Why do you care what my parents think? You’ll be back home soon, and you’ll never think about me or any of this again. You’ll go on with your life, and I’ll go on with mine.” I hoped she would argue with me.
She sighed and reached for her purse. I watched as she quietly opened it, pulled out her phone, and did something on it before putting it back in her purse.
“Thank you for the ice cream,” she said, her eyes not meeting mine as she got up from the table.
She turned and walked inside. I assumed she was going to the bathroom. I took another bite of my own ice cream, letting the cold sit in my mouth before swallowing. I should have kept my cool. It was insulting to have her think of me as a man scared of his own mother. It might have been a little true, but I didn’t want her to think of me like that.
“Shit,” I groaned after I’d been sitting on the small patio alone for over five minutes.
She hadn’t gone to the bathroom. She’d left. I knew it when she got up. She wasn’t coming back. I didn’t try to stop her or go after her because a part of me wanted her to go. I needed some time to figure out what was going on in my head. I had a lot of thoughts and feelings, and they were all jumbled up, leaving me a confused mess.
I got up from the table and headed for my car. There was a small sliver of hope she would be there waiting for me. She wasn’t. I got in the car and sat behind the wheel with the AC running, the car still in park. I’d fucked up.
I had really, really fucked up, and I wasn’t sure I could fix it. I wasn’t sure I wanted to fix it. Maybe it was better this way. It would be easier and less messy if we left things as they were. We didn’t need to hash out the feelings or talk about what had happened. It was time to walk away and put some distance between us before one of us ended up with a broken heart.
I put the car in drive and started the drive back home. The cab ride she must have taken was going to cost her a small fortune. I was going to reimburse her for it. She shouldn’t have to use her own money to flee the disaster I had dragged her into.
Chapter 32
Bella
I was mentally kicking myself for being so dumb and foolish. I got caught up in the idea of a romance with a gorgeous man. I got caught up in the ambiance of the foreign land and the whole living like a queen thing. It was easy to forget I was nobody from nowhere and had no chance of ever living the lifestyle Adrian had given me a glimpse of. That wasn’t me. That wasn’t my life. My life was back in the tiny mining town I’d lived all my life. I had been a complete fool to think I was good enough to get a job offer.
I shoved the last of my clean laundry into my suitcase. I was leaving Crete and the job. It wasn’t worth my dignity and self-respect. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing Adrian and have him tell me again the few days in Athens had been nothing, meant nothing.
I walked into the bathroom, tossing the extra toiletries into the Ziploc bag. I had my change of clothes in my carry-on, along with the basics like a toothbrush and toothpaste. I tossed them into the open suitcase and started my look around the room to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind. The drawers and closet were empty. I zipped up the suitcase and carried it out to leave by the door. As I was walking away, I heard a knock on the door.
It could only be Adrian. I didn’t want to see him. He had made no attempt to call or text me since I’d walked out of the ice cream shop yesterday. His lack of an attempt to reach out made it pretty clear I was nothing more than a notch in his belt. I was not going to tell anyone back home about my dalliance with Adrian. I was mortified enough. I didn’t need people looking at me with pity or disgust.
The person knocked again. “Fuck it. He’s going to get a piece of my mind.” I stomped to the door and yanked it open. “Cassia?”
“Were you in the shower?”
“No. What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d see what you were up to today. Want to do a little shopping, check out the sites?”
She walked into the room and stared at my overstuffed suitcase and then back at me. I knew I had a guilty look on my face. I had thought I was going to escape without having to see anyone. I knew that was a coward’s way out, but it was all I had the energy to do.
“I was going to call you,” I blurted out.
She turned to look at me. “Were you?”
“Yes, from the airport,” I mumbled.
“What the hell is going on? You’re scheduled on Monday!”
I groaned. “It’s a long story.”
“Then you sit your skinny ass down and tell me. I want to hear this.”
We moved to the sitting area, her sitting on the sofa and me taking one of the chairs. “Things are complicated. I can’t work there anymore.”
“Did your friend tell her boss how she felt about him?” she asked.
I chuckled. “No, but the boss told my friend she meant nothing. The time together was nothing.”
“Ouch.”
I nodded. “Exactly. It’s worse than that. I’m going to tell you, but you have to swear you won’t say anything. Please?”
“I’m a vault. You can tell me.”
“Before my friend’s boss and her hooked up, he had shown her a great deal of kindness. There was time spent together away from the office. He told her about a personal problem he was having, and she offered to help.” It was easier to speak in the third person hypothetical. It allowed me to maintain a tiny bit of my dignity.
“What kind of personal problem—hypothetically?” she asked.
“His mother had set him up with a woman, or rather, she wanted to set him up. He didn’t want to go out with another one of his mother’s choices and told her he had a girlfriend. The mother asked to meet the girlfriend. My friend agreed to go with him and pretend to be his girlfriend.”
“Ah, I see.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s so much worse than that. His mother apparently hates Americans.”
“Oh no,” she gasped.
“Oh yes. Not hate. She humiliated my friend. She was horrible and nasty, and my friend’s boss did nothing. He didn’t defend her, not like he could have or should have. He let his mother say horrible things to my friend in front of everyone.” The fresh pain and embarrassment flooded my emotions.
“Oh no. I’m so sorry. For your friend,” she quickly added.
“When my friend talked to her boss, he said there was no point in defending her because she wasn’t really his girlfriend,” I said, the words stinging and giving me a real pain in my heart.
Cassia’s mouth dropped open. “Wow. That doesn’t sound like him at all. I’m shocked and a little appalled.”
“Me too.”
“And that’s why you’re leaving?” she asked.
“Yes. I can’t face him. No one wants to look at a mistake day in and day out.”
She looked sad. “I’m really sorry.”
“So, am I. I thought things were different. My friend feels like a complete fool.”
“Can I tell you something?”
“Of course, anything,” I said, thrilled to hear one of her secrets.
“In our culture, mothers are kind of the boss,” she explained. “No one messes with a Greek mother. They are the ones who run the house. The fathers, they’re important and do have a say, but it’s the moms kids grow up afraid of.”
I shrugged. “I understand that, but seriously, the things that were said were pretty rude. She told me to leave. Well, not directly to me because she refused to speak to me. She kicked out
Adrian as well and he took it! He didn’t try to defend himself or anything. I don’t understand!”
Cassia let out a long sigh. “I’m really sorry. But a good Greek son would never stand up to his mother. They are taught from a very early age their mothers are to be respected and feared. Obviously, there are some that aren’t good and treat their mothers like garbage, but the good ones know better.”
I scoffed. “Well, some of those good boys need to grow a pair of balls.”
She burst into laughter. “I agree, but it is going to be a hard habit to break. He loves his mom. He isn’t going to want to do anything that might hurt his mother.”
“I get that, and honestly, I don’t want him to do that,” I said. “I don’t want to cause him any problems. I can see that he loves and respects his mother and his father. I would hate to be the person that gets in the middle of things. I don’t belong here. It’s time to go home.”
“Are you sure? This internship is a good experience. You’re doing so well. You have more to learn, and we could all benefit from what you have to offer.”
I smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that, but I don’t think this is going to work out. It isn’t good for me, and it won’t be good for him. He’s already got a lot of work to do to get back in his family’s good graces.”
She nodded. “I understand. I mean, I don’t, but I do. When do you leave?”
I looked at the clock. “Two hours.”
“Wow. You’re not playing around.”
I giggled. “No, I’m not. I take humiliation pretty seriously. I don’t like it, and if I can avoid it, I will.”
“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” she pouted. “I feel like I just got to know you. I was really looking forward to hanging out with you more.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You’ve made my time here fun, and I am so glad I met you. I wish things would have worked out differently. This just isn’t the place for me. Like my dad would say, it is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I don’t fit. A stronger person would push on. I’m not that strong.”
“Stop. You’re very strong. It’s the circumstances that really suck. Not all of us hate Americans,” she said with a small smile.
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