The sun shining through the windows woke me up. I groan slightly and gently maneuver Rio's arm off me to get out of the comfy bed. I gently slide the curtains closed to shield myself and to hopefully not wake Rio. I turn back towards the bed and see him face down into the mattress. I grab my phone and make sure the sound and flash are off before taking a picture of the sleeping man. I smile to myself in achievement. I tip-toed to the bathroom, answering a few of the texts that I had missed from being away from it for as long as I did. I decide to make breakfast since I assume Marcus has school today and Rio will most likely have to... work.
Let me tell you, it's a very hard task to cook breakfast with people sleeping when they don't have doors to help cancel out the sound. Rio woke up first and instantly sat up to make eye contact with me. He sends me a smile before checking his phone.
"Well well well." He makes his way over to me and wraps his arms around me, he places a kiss on the head. I giggle as I continue to scramble the eggs.
"You didn't tell me about dinner." I said, stirring the eggs around the pan.
"I know you, mama. You would've tried to bail." he chuckles.
"I wouldn't have worn a hoodie and I would've brought a dessert or something." I sigh.
"Rhea didn't mind." he pulls me closer and leans his head down to rest on mine.
"I'm going to make her a bouquet." I state.
"You don't have to do that." he shrugs.
"I want to and I'm going to try and get coffee with her sometime." I scoop the eggs out of the pan and separate them out onto the plates.
"Already regretting having you two meet." he sighs.
I got everything and placed it on the island counter as Rio went to wake Marcus up, who was happy to have a full breakfast waiting for him. Rio sends me a wink as Marcus dives into his food.
I didn't work til this evening and Rio told me he had to handle some business tonight as well. When we go downstairs to drop Marcus off at school I see my car sitting there. I look at Rio, who tells me he had someone pick it up from the cafe. He opens his trunk and I see the rest of my belongings sitting there, which I grab and he gives me my keys.
"You behave yourself, Darlin'." he smirks at me.
"You better behave." I retort as I place my stuff in my car. We hug and kiss each other good-bye and I wave to Marcus as I climb inside my car. Once again, he waits til my car starts before he makes a move to leave. I leave first and head straight to my apartment. I just want to shower, brush my teeth and take a nap before work.
Which is exactly what I did. I didn't wake up until I needed to be at work in 30 minutes and I threw on some light wash straight-leg jeans and Rio's solid black hoodie, in my defense he never asked for it back, my shoes and bag before walking back to my car.
Nat was sitting on one of the stools, flipping through a magazine when I walked in.
"Nat, I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your texts sooner. I was with Rio and-"
"Ooooh your new boy! Don't worry about it, get it girly! He's hot!" she laughs, looking up at me, "Is that his hoodie?" she asked.
I smiled, looking down to the floor.
"Damn! You've got it bad girl, just mentioning him and you get all red faced." she continues laughing.
"Have you heard from Sarah?" I said, changing the subject.
"Yeah, she said she's swamped with school work. She's been going from school, home and here." Nat shrugs, turning her attention back to the magazine.
"Does she need some time off?" I ask, walking to the back office.
"Doesn't seem like it, she would've mentioned it. I think she's working on a project or something."
I place my stuff down and go back out to place the new cards under the checkout counter. The same cards Lucy made... Lucy didn't deserve what Rio did, I know. I didn't really realize how dangerous he could be until that night. When I'm with him it's like he's a completely different person, and I think that part also scares me.
The bell to the shop rings, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Hey there, how are you?" I ask, walking around the counter.
"Hey." the man greets. He's also in a dark hoodie, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows , with a beanie on top of his head. He walks around the store, looking at everything.
"Is there something I can help you with?" I say, stepping closer to him.
"Nah." he said, looking at me. He gestures down to his forearm where a tattoo sits. A bird tattoo... I look back up at the man and back down at the tattoo.
"Did Rio send you over here?" I whisper. The man nods.
I sigh, nodding my head. I walk back over to the checkout counter to unwrap the packing for the cards.
"Why is he here?" Nat whispers.
I hesitated. "He's Rio's friend. He's here to see the catalog."
"Follow me." I say, begging for the guy to listen. Thankfully he does and I go into the office. He follows me and plops down on the small couch.
I close the door and turn to the guy, "Why did Rio send you here?"
"I just listen, I don't ask questions." he shrugs.
"You're telling me he sent you here with no instructions? That doesn't seem like him."
He shrugs again.
"Okay, well I'll just call him and we'll get this straightened out real quick." I say, pulling out my phone.
"All right, chill. I'm here so those housewives don't show up." he explained.
"Okay, well, be nice to Nat, and anyone else who actually works here, got it? And stay here." I demand.
The guy sends me a smirk and says "Yes ma'am."
I nod to him before leaving him in the office.
"You're just going to leave him in there?" Nat asks.
"Yep." I state, praying she'll drop it.
Nat had left for the evening, leaving me alone with the guy. I had placed an order for the pictures I took to be printed at a nearby pharmacy and began picking out flowers for a bouquet for Rhea when the door chimed again.
Beth, Annie and Ruby walked in and immediately came up to me.
"How are you not dead?" Beth harshly asked.
"What?"
"The drive, you stole it. He has to know you have it." Ruby explained.
"Oh, right." I forgot I did that for a minute. "He has it now."
"You just gave it to him?" Annie asked, bewildered.
"It didn't go down exactly, like that, but-"
"Then how did it go?" Beth demanded.
"Is there a problem here?" The guy that Rio sent emerged from the back, slowly walking towards us.
"No, no problem. Just having a chat with our friend." Annie says.
"Not anymore." he states.
"Citrine, why don't you come with us to grab a coffee or something?" Beth asks, looking at me with hard eyes.
I look back to the guy before catching her gaze again "I actually don't drink coffee, but thanks anyway." I go to the wall, picking out more flowers.
"Then get some tea." Ruby tries.
"Nah, I'm good." I insist.
The guy still stands there, and the women give up, quickly leaving the shop.
"Thank you for that." I sigh when the door closes.
"It's what I'm here for." he shrugs, making his way back to the office.
"What's your name?" I ask.
The man stops and looks towards me, "Eric."
"Thank you, Eric."
He nods towards me before entering the office, closing the door behind him.
Eric didn't leave the office until closing time and once he made sure I made it to my car, he drove off on his own. I ran to the pharmacy to pick up the pictures and even had time to go to a store to get frames for them. I got Rhea more decorated frames, but for Rio, I stuck with dark wood or black frames. I thought it would be a nice little gift for them. I only printed out three photos for each of them.
When I got home I placed the photos in the frames and grabbed them up, placing them in their own gift bag. I texted Rhea to see was available for lunch tomorrow and she accepted my invitation. I can run to the shop in the morning and grab her flowers before lunch. I hadn't heard from Rio since this morning, but he said he had to do some business this evening, so I honestly doubt I will.
I spent my free evening just lounging around my apartment. I caught up on some reading and just enjoyed my own company. I will admit though, it was a little lonely. I don't know if Rio even likes reading... but it is nice to be in my own space.
I got very excited this morning for my lunch with Rhea. It's been a while since I've been to lunch with someone I don't pay or see. I stopped by the shop and greeted Sarah. She said she was relieved her project is almost done. I grabbed the flowers for Rhea and headed back out.
I enter the restaurant and look around for her, quickly spotting the tall woman, she already got us a table. I had the flowers and gift bag in hand.
"Is it my birthday?" she jokes, standing up to hug me.
"Well, since Rio didn't give me a heads up about the dinner, I thought I would prepare a bouquet for you to make up for not bringing anything." I place the flowers down on the table and slide them close to the wall.
"Don't worry about it, you didn't know." she chuckles.
"Well, I still hope you like them." I climb into the booth seat across from her.
"They're beautiful." she beams.
"And I have this." I gave her the gift bag, which contains the photos.
She laughs again, shaking her head as she begins to dig through the bag. She slowly pulls out each photo and examines them, "These are amazing."
"They were too precious to not give you a set of them too." I smile, picking up the menu.
"What did Rio say?" she asks, taking a sip of the water she ordered before I arrived.
"Oh, I haven't seen him give them to him yet." I look over the menu options, trying to decide.
"Just a little advice, you have to be very communicative with him. If something is bothering you, tell him. If you want to see him, tell him. He'll make time." she explains.
I place the menu down and shrug my shoulders, "I know he's busy, and I just don't want to interrupt him."
"I understand, but you can't just wait around for him to pop up."
"Maybe I'll text him after lunch."
"Good! You got this."
We talked a lot. A little about Rio and their relationship, but mostly normal things.
"I like that I actually have someone to talk to about things other than 'mom' stuff." she lets out as we leave the restaurant.
"I'm glad I can be that person, I don't have a lot of friends outside the people I pay." I joke.
"Well, we got each other now. I'm glad Rio found you." she says.
"I'm glad he introduced us."
We say our good-byes, her last words were "Call him." before heading to her car.
And I decided to do just that. I get into my car and pull up his contact, hitting the little phone icon.
It rang twice before I heard the deep "Hey, Darlin'."
"Hey." I whisper out.
"Everything good?" he asks.
"I know you're busy, but is there any way we can meet? It can be quick, I just have something for you."
"Never too busy for you, Darlin'." He gave me the address for the bar that we had visited on our second date? Was that a date? I don't know...
I parked in front of the building and walked in, bag in hand. Mick was sitting at the bar, and nodded over to where Rio was sitting. I thanked him and slowly made my way towards him. I was going to try to scare him, but the walk was long enough to convince myself that it wouldn't be a good idea.
"Hi." I whisper out, coming into his view.
"Hey, Darlin'." he stands up from the booth and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before returning to his seat as he gestures to me to do the same.
I sit across from him and see he is attempting to eat sushi.
"Here." I reach over and help position his fingers. He still struggled, but less than before.
"Everything all right? You sounded a little off." he said, placing a piece of sushi in his mouth.
"Yeah, I just didn't know if you were busy or not." I shake my head, looking down at the table.
"I'll always make time for you, Darlin', remember that." he states.
"I brought you something." I change the subject, placing the bag on the table.
"Look at you." he smirks, opening the bag. He pulled out each framed photo that I had wrapped individually with tissue paper, so there was some cushion in the bag. He raises an eyebrow at me and I motion for him to keep going.
He slowly unwraps the first and looks almost shocked at what was in the frame.
"You took this?" he asked, examining the photo.
"Yeah, when you two were playing before dinner." I explain.
He unwraps the next one and then the final one, placing them to sit upright in front of him. He stares at them for a moment, not saying a word. I begin wondering if I pushed a boundary. He stands up from his seat, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of mine. He instantly wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a deep kiss, which I returned.
"Thank you, Citrine." he says, looking deep into my eyes.
"Oh, it's nothing." I try to wave off.
"Not nothing, everything, Darlin'." he confirms.
"I'm glad you like them." I smile.
I sit with him while he finishes his food, trying to help him but he would push my hand away with a chopstick, sending me a smirk. Right before I left he invited me to return here later tonight, he said Beth was supposed to bring some ink guy by for him to meet. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed.