His ear prickled at the sound of Spin’s name. His heart didn’t skip a beat, it thudded at the front of his chest. “You think there’s something between me and her?”
Parker cocked her head as she regarded him. “It’s pretty obvious.”
Was it? Why were his feelings for Spin obvious and not his pursuit of Parker?
“You two always had your heads together on the ship,” Parker continued. “Then you invited her to stay with you. If you’re not an item, then I don’t know what?”
But he and Spin couldn’t be an item. He had responsibilities, a duty. A duty that would make him as unhappy and miserable as his father.
Looking down at Parker, Zhi saw the truth. He’d make this woman unhappy and miserable. He’d never hit her or say an unkind word, but being with someone when he had feelings for another was a kind of abuse.
Spin’s voice sounded in his head. That’s the worst kind of abuse. You’re abusing yourself.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“What for?” asked Parker
“For what I almost did to you.”
“To me?”
“You haven’t seemed to notice, but I’ve been trying to seduce you.”
Parker burst out laughing. Then sobered. “Oh. You’re serious. Zhi, you know I don’t play for your team?”
He had no idea what that meant? Another reason this relationship would never work. He needed an urban dictionary just to understand this woman.
Parker put her hands on his shoulders and turned him around. “Go find Spin. She’s the one that needs the seducing.”
But Zhi hesitated. He could go and find her. And then what? He had nothing to offer her. And he’d have the baggage of his family and staff coming along with him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Spin walked slowly down the dark streets. The day had just turned over to dawn. She’d walked all night, her pace slowing more and more. But no matter how slow she walked, Zhi hadn’t caught up to her. She had to face facts; he wasn’t coming after her.
Her lips still burned from the almost kiss. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been kissed before. But she’d known it would’ve been perfect, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the perfection of what would’ve been. She knew his lips would’ve fit over hers perfectly like they were the key to her lock. She’d hungered for his breath to mix with hers. She’d known just the taste would’ve given her life.
It was the other reason she was walking so slowly. She had every urge to run back to him. To run back to a man that had said out loud that he planned to use a woman for her money.
Zhi had admitted that he was after Parker, not for her heart, not because he had real feelings for her, he was after her wealth. Spin had been so wrong about him. It didn’t matter what his reasons were. He was contemplating it.
Though it had seemed to pain him. Though he’d looked tortured as he’d gripped onto Spin all throughout his confession. Though he’d only been able to bring himself to let her go when he’d reminded himself of who he was doing this for; his mother and his staff.
It didn’t matter that his reasons were honorable. If he went through with it, he’d be no better than his own father. And it looked like he was going to go through with it. He had likely turned back to his pursuit of Parker since he hadn’t come after Spin. Nor had he slid into her DM.
Her phone hadn’t buzzed in all the time since she’d walked away from him. Even Lark hadn’t checked after her. Though Lark was used to Spin disappearing at all hours and for long stretches.
This would be the longest stretch in their acquaintance. Lark might miss Spin when she was gone, but it would take her a while to realize Spin was gone for good. Then it would likely not take very long for her friend to get over her absence.
That was the way Spin had always moved since her mother’s passing five years ago. She didn’t get attached to anyone. People could only disappoint someone if they opened their heart.
It was the one good lesson her father had taught her. People could only hurt you if you let them. Spin had never let anyone close enough to hurt her.
Her time here was up. She’d stayed too long, both here in Cordoba with the duke and in Nice with Lark. Spin would slip into Mondego House and grab her perpetually packed bags. Then she’d slip out into the rising dawn and be gone like a ghost.
As she approached the towering estate, a town car pulled up. Spin recognized the vehicle. It was the same one they’d pulled up to the estate in. It as the marquis’.
The luxury car rolled past Spin. Stopped. And then reversed. The door opened, and Lark bounded out.
“You’ll never believe what happened to me last night,” said Lark.
She was breathless, her eyes sparkling. She brought Spin into her arms and squeezed her tightly. So much for Spin’s quiet and goodbye-less departure.
Spin tried to remain motionless and not receive the affection, but after walking alone for hours, she needed it. She brought her arms around her friend and relaxed into the embrace.
Lark made to pull back, but Spin was still holding on. When Spin tried to collect herself and let go, Lark squeezed her tighter.
“What is it?” said Lark. “What’s happened?”
“It’s nothing.” But Spin’s voice trembled.
“It’s definitely something.” Lark pulled back but didn’t let her go. She peered into Spin’s eyes. “What did he do?”
“He?”
“Zhi? Did you two have a falling out?”
Spin looked at Lark in confusion. She opened her mouth to deny that there was anything between her and Zhi, but she knew it was pointless. How had Lark known?
“It was obvious that you two had a thing for each other,” Lark answered the unspoken question. “I figured he went off with you after he left Parker at the club.”
“He left Parker?”
“Yeah,” said Lark. “You do realize that Parker isn’t into men?”
Spin was still reeling from the fact that Zhi had left Parker at the club. Maybe he’d come to find her? Maybe he was in the house waiting for her?
She turned to the massive front and hurried up the steps. Entering the house, both Spin and Lark were met with chaos. There were buckets everywhere catching water as it fell from the ceiling.
The staff looked up at the door with expectant gazes that fell when they saw Spin and Lark standing there.
“Is he with you?” said Oswald.
“Who?” said Spin.
“The duke?” Oswald was visibly upset.
“We’ve reached a critical mass,” said Mathis. “I don’t think his skills can repair this.”
“We can’t call a plumber,” said Lin. “We can’t foot the bill.”
“If we don’t do something, we’ll all be underwater,” said Lin.
Spin looked up at the water falling from the sky as things began to fall into place. She thought back to Zhi’s calloused hands. She thought back to his words from last night. It looked like things were more dire than he’d let on.
“I have money,” said Spin.
All eyes turned to her. The only sound in the hall was the plip-plop of water into quickly filling buckets.
“From my pay from my last job working for Parker.”
Spin heard a groan behind her. But it wasn’t Lark this time. It was the pipes. They sounded as though there were ready to burst.
Oswald’s gaze was wide with worry, but his voice was firm. “We can’t let you do that. The duke would never agree to it.”
The duke had considered seducing a rich woman to fix his problems. Spin wondered if the staff knew of his plan. She doubted it. Just as they seemed certain he wouldn’t take her money, she got the impression that they thought too much of their employer to repeat the mistakes of his father.
“I’m not using the money,” she said. “You need it more than I do. Call the plumber.”
Oswald hesitated. Luckily, his wife didn’t. Lin was on the phone, dialing the number before Oswald
even opened his mouth. She handed the phone to Oswald as it began ringing. Oswald grabbed the receiver and began to speak with the person who answered.
As the staff gathered around the phone and corralled the buckets, the doorbell rang. With everyone else up to their elbows, Spin turned to get the door.
As she walked to the great door, she wondered where Zhi was. Where had he been if he hadn’t come home last night? Was he out searching for her? But all thoughts fled her mind as she pulled the door open and came face to face with the crepe-thin man from the hostel.
He opened his mouth. Then paused as he squinted at her. Before she could think to run or shut the door, recognition dawned in his beady gaze.
“This is fortuitous; two birds in one net,” he said.
Spin swallowed, but the lump in her throat was too big. Her heartbeat raced, and her stomach felt like rocks were dropping into her gut boulder by boulder.
“Lady Eleanor Trent? I’ve been looking for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Zhi stared down into the waters off the pier. The small waves of blue lapped at the wooden structure as he stood watching the first ship of the new day sail out to sea. He’d been there when the last one had lifted its anchor. She hadn’t been on that one either.
He'd called the house when he’d left the club, but no she hadn’t come back. Neither Spin nor Lark was there. He’d walked the streets last night searching for her. She had been nowhere to be found.
He'd slid into her DMs, but she hadn't responded. He didn't have her actual phone number to call her, to talk to her. He needed to talk to her. He needed to tell her.
To tell her what exactly?
That he was in love with her? Was he in love with her? He wasn't sure? Was this pounding of his heart, this breathlessness, this yearning need in his fingertips, this thirst in his mouth, was all this love?
He didn't know? All he knew was that it would not abate until he found her. Until he had her in his arms again.
He'd sensed the first time they'd met that Spin was a runner. There were only two ways off the nation island of Cordoba. The next flight to France wasn't for a few hours. But there were boats headed out before that. As a last resort, he'd come to the docks. He'd looked into the face of every passenger that boarded the craft.
No one had had her fire. No one had had that crooked smile. No one had had that silent communication that the two of them shared. Instead of finding a kindred spirit in a single glance, they’d all glared at Zhi as he invaded their privacy.
He'd waited until the last person had boarded the first boat of the day, still looking each person directly in the eyes, still not finding the connection he sought. He stayed for long moments after the ship had sailed.
Had his own ship sailed? Had he lost her for good?
He reached for his phone again, readying to slide into her DM. He'd Gram her. He'd Snapchat her. Heck, he'd rebuild Myspace if that's what it took to find her and beg her forgiveness.
He’d beg her for another moment. Beg her to mix music with him. Beg her to simply look in his eyes and know exactly what he was feeling.
He'd gotten it all wrong earlier when he’d tried to use words to explain his situation. This time he’d simply hold still and open his world to her, to show her what was truly in his heart. She’d understand then. She had to.
Then they would have a whole new reality to contend with. He had no clue how he'd save his family and home now. What he did know was that there was no point in saving it if he'd lose himself.
Looking down at his phone Zhi saw that the device was dead. Made sense as he'd been tapping on it all night long. Unfortunately, there were no charging outlets on the pier.
He decided to head home. Perhaps she’d gone back to Mondego House in the early morning hours. She’d have to collect her things.
Pulling up at the front of the estate, he saw a white van with a colorful cartoon plunger painted on the side. There was a plumber parked outside the house? Things must have gone from bad to worse while he was gone. He had no idea how he'd pay for this.
No, he did know. He'd put the place up for sale. He'd turn the keys over to Mr. Schiessl. After the sale of the estate and the paying off of debts, there might be enough money left over for a modest home. Perhaps a townhouse with enough space to house his mother and two rooms for the small staff who depended on them. His father would have to go into state care. There was no other way around it. But first, he had to find and fix things with Spin. Whatever was between them, he knew he wanted a future with her.
Walking into the house, Zhi came face to face with Lark.
"Where have you been?" she demanded.
Zhi ignored her quip. If she was there, then Spin had to be too. The two women were best friends. Spin wouldn't leave Cordoba without her.
Relief surged through him. He wasn’t too late. He could spare a moment to deal with the disaster raining down on all their heads.
"How bad is it?" Zhi asked Oswald who had walked up behind Lark.
"It's bad," said Oswald. "But not as bad as we thought. They said they can repair it in two days.”
“Where are they?” asked Zhi. “I’ll speak with them about the bill.”
“The bill is taken care of.” That came from Lark. He’d nearly forgotten the woman was there. She had that way about her where she could blend into the scenery like a chameleon. “Spin paid for it with the money she got from DJing Parker’s cruise.”
Zhi closed his eyes. On the one hand, he was thankful that she cared enough to help his family. On the other, his shame reached his hairline that the damsel he’d distressed was now acting like his hero. He needed to find her immediately.
“Where is she?” he said.
“She’s not here,” said Oswald. “She left with Mr. Schiessl.”
The man’s words made no sense. “Schiessl? He took her?”
"He said he had business with her. He called her Lady Trent."
Chapter Twenty-Six
“It doesn’t matter what you say to me, I’m not going back.”
Spin plopped down in the plush office. Her arms were crossed over her chest. There was mud on her boots that she’d tracked through Schiessl’s office and she was happy for that. She loved putting a tarnish on fine things. But only things that belonged to snobby people.
She’d been a blemish her whole life, having been born the illegitimate child of an Austrian aristocrat. Though the noble class had been abolished in the last century, her father’s family still held tight to their fortune and their stuffy values.
The Earl of Feldkirch, Jakob Trent, had had no children with his wife. He had no love with her or anything in common with her except their blue blood. Or so her father had told her mother. And that wasn’t until Angelica had found his wedding ring in the back pocket of his pants.
Angelica had been her father’s piano tutor when he was in his twenties. Spin had learned that her father took up many hobbies and left them after his head was turned. Her mother was one of those hobbies. Unfortunately, he kept coming back around for his forgotten toy only to discard her again and again.
Her mother had endured it. Angelica endured anything for a crumb of her father’s attention. Her father rarely spared Spin a glance.
It had gone on that way her entire life. Until her mother had died just before Spin had turned eighteen. To her shock, her father had sent for her. Instead of heeding his summons, Spin had run.
And now he’d found her. She had no desire to be caught in his web, to be pulled out and then discarded when he grew bored. She didn’t need anything from him, wouldn’t accept any of the crumbs he’d lay at her feet.
Mr. Schiessl eyed her with cool disregard. “Your father is dead.”
Spin blinked. Had she heard him right? Dead?
She sat back in her chair, pressing her hand to her chest. She felt her mother’s necklace laying across her heart. It was the first gift Trent had given to Angelica and the last thing that Angelica had given to
Spin. The only reason Spin had kept the sordid gift was because of how close it had lain to her mother’s heart.
Spin waited to feel some sort of emotion. Anything. All she got was numbness.
“He passed away nearly a year ago. I’ve been searching for you since that time.”
A year? Last year was the first time she’d held still for longer than a few months. After all that, she’d been found on accident. Wrong place and the right time.
“He’s dead?” Spin said the words. She didn’t know if she needed confirmation or consolation. She just knew she had to say the words to make them real.
“I’m … sorry?” Mr. Schiessl looked entirely uncomfortable with the condolences. “I was given to believe you two didn’t have any relationship. With you being …”
“A dirty little secret,” she finished for him.
Mr. Schiessl inhaled. “Be that as it may, Eleanor—”
“My name is Spin.”
“Lord Trent provided for you in his will.”
“He what?” Now Spin sat forward. Her fingers grabbing the sides of the chair in a death grip.
Spin knew that her father had offered her mother money to get rid of her before she was born. She knew that he’d offered to put her away in a boarding school, out of his sight so that he could have all of Angelica’s attention. It was the only thing her mother had fought him on. Angelica wouldn’t be parted with her daughter.
For all her faults, Spin’s mother wanted no part of the man’s money, only his affection. She’d strove to prove that to him time and time again. Though Spin didn’t think her father ever believed her.
Whatever money he gave, her mother gave most to charity, after she took care of whatever she and Spin needed for themselves. Spin hadn’t grown up poor. But she grew up with a healthy distaste for money after her father had used it against her mother her entire life.
He’d come to her after her mother had died. Not to the funeral. Of course, he couldn’t be seen mourning his longtime mistress. But he had come to Spin and offered her a check to disappear, to keep her mouth shut about who and what she was. He had to keep up appearances.
The Duke and the DJ: a Sweet Royal Romance (The Rebel Royals Series Book 3) Page 12