“Two bedrooms, Rhys. Why bother?”
“I’ll contact the guards in Asheville. Have some of them come collect you and take you there. It’ll be easier to watch over everyone in one place.”
Collect her? Take her? Like she was an object? “No, I don’t want that.”
“Any particular reason why? Surely at a time like this you’d rather be with your parents instead of a stranger. UnlessEliasisn’t the stranger you say he is.”
Rhys still didn’t believe her. Believe that Elias was just a friend, someone who’d come to her rescue when she’d needed it most.
But with all that had happened, she reminded herself that Rhys had a right to be suspicious of everything she told him. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not like that?” she asked for what had to be the millionth time. “Please don’t make it into something it’s not. There’s no ulterior motive to me not wanting to go to Asheville other than the fact I don’t want to listen to my father yell at me nonstop when I know I made the right decision. I can’t be trapped in a house with him or my mother right now. I refuse.”
Another stretch of silence followed her words until she heard Rhys inhale and sigh. “Let me talk to your…companion.”
Her fingers tightened on the phone, and one popped loudly. “Why?”
“Because I need to know that you’re going to be safe until I can get security there to guard you.”
“Of course I’ll be safe. He’s Cole’s brother and Ana’s friend. I’msafe.”
“And I am your fiancé—former fiancé apparently,” he amended in a low tone, “and I won’t compromise when it comes to yourlife. No matter what’s going on between us.”
“You can’t simply believe me?” The moment the words left her mouth, she winced but his silence spoke volumes. “Obviously not.”
“Let me talk to him. If he’s just a friend as you say, it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
She rubbed her forehead and slowly unlocked her legs to stand. “Fine. I’m in my bedroom, so I need to find him. Hold on.”
Quinley moved through her room and welcomed the loud squeak of the door as she opened it and ventured into the living room area beyond.
Elias was in the kitchen chopping vegetables and lifted one thick black eyebrow high when she appeared with the phone still pressed to her ear. “Rhys wants to talk to you.”
She watched as Elias’s gaze narrowed before he set the knife aside and quickly wiped his hands before he accepted the phone.
“Elias Blackwell.”
She couldn’t hear what Rhys said since she hadn’t thought to put the phone on speaker before handing it over, but she watched the steady play of thoughts cross Elias’s face as he listened to whatever it was Rhys said to him.
A muscle ticked in Elias’s jawline, delineated by his sharp features and short haircut.
“She’s telling the truth. We met yesterday when she hopped into the limo in her desperation to get away from the guards chasing her down like a wanted criminal.”
Quinley winced but made no effort to dispute the description.
“That’s not necessary,” Elias said next. “The cabin has plenty of room, and the bedroom would’ve gone unused.”
So Rhys wanted to what? Pay for her to stay there? Was he offering Elias money to cover her stay? Why hadn’t she put the phone on speaker?
She’d offered to reimburse Elias because she’d barged in on his vacation and ruined his plans. But that was different.
Yet wasn’t throwing money at a problem the norm for Rhys and his father?
To men like them,anyissue could be fixed by tossing cash at it, and even though Rhys wasn’t typically one to overtly flash his wealth, he’d certainly spent enough time with his father to have learned some of the same methods of crisis control.
She wrapped her arms around her front, glad she’d put on the sweatshirt. Despite her rising temper, there was a definite chill in the air now that the sun had set, and as if in tune with her thoughts, the fireplace clicked to light behind her. The room erupted in a spit of fire and burst of heat.
“If that’s what she wants, I’m happy to drive her to her parents’ home. I’m not going to force her, though.”
Oh, for the love of— She started tapping her foot, unable to stop the fidgeting as Elias listened to another stretch of conversation she strained to hear but couldn’t. “I’m not going to my parents,” she said, lifting her voice to be heard.
