by Moxie North
Faye didn’t know how she felt about being a collectible. Did Gideon wander around Portland picking up strays? She’d never heard of him doing such a thing. It would be in the tabloids if he did.
“Faye, just stay through the weekend. He needs the company,” Sabrina added softly.
Shoot, she didn’t think that he would want her there coughing and hacking just for the company. Then again, everything about his life, even his apartment, seemed lonely.
“I will, just for the company,” she said.
“Good. I’m off. Why don’t you put on something warm and take a nap? I’ll tell Gideon not to disturb you. Oh, and when he asks about dinner tonight, shoot for the moon. It will be fun making him figure it out. I would suggest truffle risotto. Heck, ask for lobster.”
“I don’t eat bugs,” Faye said, shuddering.
“Oh lord, I love this,” Sabrina said with a laugh as she paraded out of the room. Faye admired how she always looked like she was on a runway. Faye wouldn’t have been surprised if she moonlighted as a secret fashionista by night.
Once she’d left, Faye went to the closet and stood admiring the sheer volume of clothes that could be stored in the space. This was a closet that could actually accommodate wardrobes for different seasons. That was something only wealthy people did. Right now, they would have their fall and winter clothes out. Spring and summer having been packed away, of course. Packing away clothes for six months also meant you had a surplus of storage for such a thing.
Faye didn’t want the clothes that Sabrina had brought. She also didn’t like the Gideon had paid for them. Why would he do such a thing? The garment bag in the corner called out to her. It was black and long and even the material the bag was made out of looked expensive. Choosing to not delve into something that would further stress her out, she grabbed one of the lounge sets and closed the closet door just in case.
Pulling off the robe and nightgown, she folded them neatly and put on fresh underwear. There were stacks of silky bras and panties in the drawer. Enough for a week without wearing anything twice. Finally at the bottom she found a bra that looked to be made of t-shirt material. It wouldn’t be super supportive, but it would be something. She followed up with a white t-shirt and a pair of dark blue pants that were super soft, and the matching short zip-front hoodie.
If she was a jogger, she could see herself strolling through the park in it, smiling and bouncing as she went.
It was nice to have her arms covered. As her fever was dropping, she was going back to her naturally cold self.
Thinking of that, she didn’t know what the thermostat in her apartment was set at. She wasn’t there; it didn’t need to be on at all. What if she had set it to be blasting hot air during some fever-induced mania? She wondered if Gideon would have someone go check it. No, she couldn’t have his staff do that. It wasn’t their problem. But an electric bill that wasn’t bare bones could throw her budget off in a major way.
She wished she had her phone, even her purse. Not that she used her phone for anything but emergencies. She paid for the most basic calling plan, no data, no internet. Having her purse would be nice though.
Deciding that asking such a favor would be too much; Faye went over to the window and pulled the curtain to darken the room. She was going to suggest to Gideon that she move into the guest room, but she had a feeling he’d have a perfectly logical answer as to why that wouldn’t be wise.
Lying down on the bed, she stared out to the crack of light that was shining through the sliver of curtain.
She was feeling better. Not back to normal, but she was definitely on her way. Maybe if she rested up and kept her fever down, she could convince Gideon that she was well enough to leave.
Chapter 16
“No, send him up.”
Gideon hung up the wall phone near his door. It was a one-way phone that rang down to the doorman. Anson had arrived and was there to meet with him. He’d gone by the office first and they’d directed him to the penthouse.
Sabrina had left with a devilish smile on her face. “Was there a problem with the clothes?” he’d asked as she gathered her things.
“Of course not. They’re top of the line, a varied selection, and she doesn’t want any of it.”
“What do you mean she doesn’t want it?”
“I mean. She’s not stupid. She knows that you don’t just accept gifts from men you aren’t dating, sleeping with, married to, or mated to.”
“But she needed clothes,” Gideon argued.
“And you could have asked me to pack her a bag from her house. You didn’t. You wanted her in new things that you had purchased.”
Gideon didn’t argue with that. He had wanted her to be dressed in new things. She deserved it.
“How much did she complain?”
“Faye doesn’t complain, she worries. She seems to do that a lot, actually. Why don’t you see if you can help her worry less?”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Get to know her, figure it out. If that’s all, I’ll let myself out. Night, boss,” she said, turning and walking to the door.
Gideon had found himself standing in the same spot pondering how he was going to get Faye to trust him when the buzzer sounded.
After he answered, he cracked the door so Anson could come in. He’d met the man once before when King had brought a group down to staff and train his new office in Portland. KSI’s main office was in downtown Seattle, but King had his fingers all over the world.
There was a sharp knock at the door.
“Come in,” Gideon said, reaching for the knob.
“Gideon,” Anson said stepping in. Anson was Clan Fehu, his Clan seat in the Northeast corner of the country. Fehu was a Clan that was made up of a majority of wolves with a few other shifters thrown in. They liked to be close to Wall Street, he assumed.
“Thank you for coming out on short notice.”
“I needed to get out of Seattle for a bit. We have a client that is having us work a long project. I’m not sure where it’s going, and honestly, I’m hoping that one of the other guys takes to it better. I fucking hate being undercover.”
“No need for undercover here. I have a delicate situation.”
“King said there was a girl?”
“A woman, yes.”
“She yours?”
“No. Employee.”
Anson stared for a moment. “Yeah, I can see it’s complicated. So what do you need from me?”
Gideon motioned towards the couch. They both took a seat and Gideon folded his hands together. “I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? What kind?”
“I might have leaped before I looked. There was a situation. I didn’t like it. It was distracting me from work.”
“The distraction being the woman?”
“Yes. She’s gotten under my skin. I checked in on her and she was sick. I brought her here and the media got a picture of me carrying her in. I don’t need to tell you how fast that shit spreads. From what I can tell, she’s not used to any kind of attention. So I’m trying to keep her here until the media loses interest. I had Royce drive by her place and there were a few cars there that didn’t belong. They’re probably waiting to get a picture of her.”
“Vultures. So you need one on one?”
“Royce and Tucker have that covered. I trust them to know my routine. I need another set of eyes. Someone to see the bigger picture. Hang back and watch for the unexpected. I need someone who is looking for danger. I know that they just want pictures, but that can lead to physical situations that I would rather avoid.”
“So she doesn’t know?”
“No, she’s been sick. She’s still sick. She doesn’t need to worry. I’d prefer that she never finds out, but that’s not going to happen. If I can keep her here until it dies off, so much the better.”
“You think it will?”
“I’m hoping. I realize that I’m never really out of the news. My
mother had been trying to dampen the interest, but they’re all speculating if she’s my mate.”
“Is she?”
“Not that I’ve been informed of. I think we are a little too different for that. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about her. She doesn’t have anyone. I can’t turn my back on her. Everyone needs someone to fall back on. I’m going to be that for Faye at the very least.”
“I’ll get my feet under me and keep you updated. You have my number if you need me directly.”
“I booked you a room at my hotel. Make yourself at home.”
“I will. I’ll also connect with Royce and Tucker so we can keep King updated on the situation.”
“I’d appreciate it. Thank you for coming down.”
“My pleasure.”
Gideon stood and shook Anson’s hand before he left. He glanced up to the bedroom door and saw that it was cracked open but that the room was dark past the threshold.
He wasn’t normally a drinker, but he felt that today he could use something to help him figure out his next steps.
Scotch. Definitely scotch.
Taking his drink into his office, he checked in with his mother and with Sabrina at work. He was going to have to deal with Faye alone tonight and he wasn’t sure what that would entail.
He wanted to know more about her. But more than that, he wanted to know how she felt about things. She’d told him about her life like she was filling in a form. He wanted to know who she was. Her world seemed very small to him. Not in a bad way, but he was concerned that it was not small by choice, but out of sheer survival.
Gideon could imagine her traveling the world. Seeing new things. From the sounds of it, she’d never left the state. How hard did she have to work to get into that tiny apartment? To put herself through school to do something she loved? Her stubbornness intrigued him. He wanted to get closer to it. Wanted to know her drive. Was it just survival, or was it something else?
She took the bus, walked alone on dark streets. These things worried him. They shouldn’t because she wasn’t his responsibility. At least she wasn’t before. But now, now he knew her struggles. He knew them and wanted to help. She’d probably never had a helping hand and would try to refuse anything he offered.
He was fine with that. He would find a way to show her that he was doing what any good friend would do. That’s what they would be. Friends that supported each other. Friends that spent time together.
Friendly things. Gideon didn’t have any women that were friends. Faye would be his first. He wondered if she liked sports, the theater. He didn’t, but he’d take her if she’d enjoy it.
Liking the idea of taking her on an adventure, he started making some plans.
Chapter 17
Faye had gotten up when she heard voices. She made use of the bathroom, making sure she didn’t have crazy hair. She did. Her one ponytail holder was getting thin. She’d have to resort to twine or maybe duct tape if Gideon had it.
She opened a drawer, deciding that decency dictated that she couldn’t keep finger combing her hair. She found a drawer with brushes and combs. She grabbed a brush and worked it through her hair. Re-braiding her mane, she made sure to remove all evidence of her hair from his brush before returning it to the drawer. She brushed her teeth for good measure and walked back to the door.
Faye was about to open it when she heard the penthouse door open and a voice she didn’t recognize spoke. Not wanting to interrupt, she paused.
The conversation went from basic greetings to talking about what sounded like business.
That was until the business turned out to be her. Gideon said there were pictures of her? People were at her apartment? Why on earth would anyone care about her? She was nobody.
As she listened, she heard enough to understand that Gideon was trying to protect her. That he felt she was in this situation because of him. He was trying to fix it. Her illness was just helping him do that. Convenient.
So maybe her brush with the flu wasn’t part of the plan. But now she had to figure out how she was going to work her way out of the current situation.
The more she wanted to go home, she now realized, the more Gideon was going to think of a reason for her to stay.
There were people at her apartment! If she went back, they’d take pictures of her. Pictures of Faye Dixon, once they were in focus, could not be worth very much. She had to make a choice. If she hid from them, they might think she was worth the time and effort to keep tracking her. Or she could give them the picture they wanted. Then they’d see that they were mistaken in their assumptions about her and Gideon and they’d move on.
She was going to have to sell that to Gideon. Maybe she could have one of his security guys take her back. She could explain to anyone waiting for her that it was a misunderstanding and that they should find someone else to follow around.
She’d take that reasonable rationale and explain to Gideon that the best way around this would be to face it head-on. And yet here he was hiring extra security. That was insane. She was disrupting his life, granted not from her own doing, but she could do something about it.
Faye waited for the visitor to leave and then she opened the door. Gideon wasn’t in the living room so she made her way down the stairs.
“Faye? Did you need something?”
She turned and saw him standing at the door she knew led to his office.
“Yes, can we talk?”
“Sure, have a seat,” he said pointing to the couch.
“Actually, could we use your office?”
“My office? Won’t you be more comfortable in the living room?”
“Yes, but we need to talk and it’s important.”
“All right, come on in.”
Gideon stepped back to let her in. She walked in and wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Maybe a large wood desk and Tiffany lamps. Bookshelves full of leather-bound books that no one will read.
Instead, the room had plants. Real plants. Green ones. There were multiple pots around the room and a large palm in one corner near the window. His desk was glass with silver legs that gave it an industrial feel. He had a slim, futuristic-looking chair instead of the grand leather one she had envisioned. There were also two comfortable-looking black upholstered chairs. Faye sat down and kept twisting her head around the room.
“You have plants?” she blurted out.
Gideon paused looking around. “Sure.”
“But why?”
“What do you mean why? I need a reason for plants?”
“Yes. They are alive. Nothing else in your apartment is alive.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Gideon took a seat next to her instead of the one behind his desk.
Faye sighed. “No, I mean the apartment is beautiful. But it looks… staged. Like you hired someone to fill it.”
“I did, I wanted it completed quickly.”
“This room doesn’t feel like that.”
“What does this room feel like?”
Faye spied the candy dish sitting on his desk and held back a smile. She’d noticed there was strategic candy around the apartment. On shelves, in drawers, sometimes the oddest places. Gideon had a sweet tooth.
“You. The real you, I think. I’m not sure, but I’m feeling like that might be it.”
“Well, you will just have to gather more information to make an informed decision. So, what did you want to talk about?”
“I know,” she blurted out.
“You know?”
“About the picture. I mean I haven’t seen it. I just heard you talking to someone about it. How do they know it’s me?”
Gideon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Someone talked. Probably someone from work. The magazines and papers will pay plenty of money to get that information.”
“Do you think me staying here will fix that?”
“I think staying here will give you time to get better and let some of this die down.”
“Then what?”
<
br /> “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I have to go home eventually.”
“I know that.”
“Why don’t we just plan it? Control it.”
“Control it how?”
“By giving them the picture they want. I’ll go back to my place. Maybe one of your guys could come with me. I’ll explain who I am and that I was ill and you were helping me. They will see there’s no story.” Gideon was giving her a look that she couldn’t quite understand. “Don’t you think that will work?”
“No.”
“No? Why?”
“Because if you talk to them, they will want more. They will always want more. If you say one wrong thing, even something not wrong, if it’s something they can twist, it will only get worse. They will hunt you for any information they can get. They have no morals with how far they will dig into your life.”
“I don’t think so. I mean, I know I don’t know. But it can’t be all that bad. Isn’t there a chance they will get bored and leave me alone?”
“Not a chance. I’m sorry you have to deal with any of this. It wasn’t my intention when I went to your place.”
“Yeah, I’m still not really clear on that.”
Gideon leaned back in his chair. “I wish I knew what to tell you. I have instincts like everyone does. Mine was telling me you needed someone, anyone. I made it my job to be that person for you.”
“I didn’t need rescuing, you know. I was okay. I mean the flu wasn’t planned. But I can do for myself.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t. There’s something about you, some reason you need to be in my life. Or me in yours, I’m not sure yet.”
“So what, I’m supposed to go from dowdy mail clerk to BFF of Gideon of Clan Othala? Is there some kind of badge you get? A club of some sort? Because I’ll be honest with you, I don’t fit in your life.”
“Why not? Why can’t we be friends?”
“Friends who buy each other expensive gifts? Because that is going to be very one-sided.”
“It wasn’t expensive, it was basic necessities.”
“Only someone like you would say that. Did you know Sabrina bought multiple pairs of shoes? Where am I going to wear them?”