Tangled In Strings

Chapter Twenty-Six

I shake my head, having perfected the lie. "No."

"Right, you can't be more than twenty-five. Twenty-five and a CEO. Babies would be hard."

"I'm almost thirty."

"No way."

"Yep."

"So you're older, but far better looking than I am," is all he says in reply, which is enough to make me shut down, staring hard into my drink as he takes orders from people who just took seats down the row. I'm noticeably uncomfortable as he nears again, sure he's harmless, but knowing if he continues, I'll be forced to have this drink with the security a few feet away.

"So, why are you here? Drinking tea of all things? Recovering alcoholic?"

I laugh at the irony. "No, not at all. I'm just getting out for a bit."

"Trouble with the boyfriend?" He smirks when I don't answer. "I'm assuming because you don't have a ring on your finger, so you're probably not married."

"I'm dating someone, yes. And yes, I'm here because of trouble. Not necessarily his fault, though. More my own."

I catch him hide disappointment, which makes my face heat. I've always been a grumpy, odd girl, with poor taste in clothes, with legs that are slightly too long. At the start with Giovanni, I went out and cut off my hair, bought a sleek new wardrobe full of lace and stilettos and lingerie, in an effort to feel beautiful. And it worked. People began to notice, despite the fact that my eyes would and could never leave Giovanni.

To go from an intimidating, successful woman that men avoided, to the girlfriend of a strikingly handsome fashion designer with expensive clothes and a new world of fame, is hard to come to terms with. I still feel like that girl. I still feel wonder at how Giovanni chose me, how he wants me, which only shows my own faults, the cracked layers deep in my marrow that doubt everything about myself.

Giovanni sees my beauty, even when I can't anymore.

"He's gotta be crazy."

I sit up, awkwardly. "Why? What do you mean?"

"Well, you're here. He's somewhere else. It's a given."

"I'm difficult to deal with," I say, with the utmost confidence.

"Probably worth all the trouble, though."

"He just did something really, really amazing for me, to help me and I am sitting here, angry as hell at him instead of worshipping him at his feet. How is that worth the trouble?"

"Okay, but do you have cause to be upset?"

"I think so. What he did affects more people than just himself. And he did it for my sake...I didn't ask him to. In fact, I told him not to."

"So, your anger is actually guilt then."

An overwhelming amount of guilt. This guy gets it.

He breathes in, making the peoples drinks with a memorized fluidity.

"It'll be okay."

"Why do you say that?"

He smiles. "Because he's willing to sacrifice for you, and you're willing to fight him on it. That's a natural reaction. No one wants that kind of pressure. He made the sacrifice, and he did it in your name, your honor, whatever you want to call it. Who wants that?"

"I wish he could get that."

"He will. A woman like you...he's not going to let you go."

I sigh, grabbing a fistful of my hair. It's messy and knotted from my pulling. I can still feel Dixon's grip on my neck, where he sank his fingers into the nerves to hold me in place, and am sick by the thought that if Giovanni hadn't showed up, I have no clue what would have happened.