Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes. “No, I’m not.”
Drake starts laughing, but nods his head in Mandy’s direction. “Yes, she is.”
“So you are boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Drake smirks. “I would say we’re a little more than that. Next year, Evelyn will become my wife.”
With my mouth open wide, I glare at Drake. Did he just say what I thought he said?
I feel a slap on my arm and it makes me jump. “Why did you hide this from me? You said you weren’t serious.” She starts giggling. “In fact, I was just telling Evelyn how handsome I thought you were.” She giggles annoyingly again. “I was hoping to ask you out, but now …”
Drake offers Mandy a heart-warming smile. “As lovely as you are, Mandy, I’m promised to another. I only have eyes for Evelyn here.”
“Aww, that’s so romantic.” She nudges me again. “Don’t you think that’s romantic?”
No, I do not. I also didn’t find it romantic when he got his henchmen to steal our bags from us. “Do you think we can have our bags back now?”
“Evelyn,” Mandy scorns. She leans in and whispers, “Stop being so rude.”
Ugh. If only she knew what was being forced upon me against my will. I’m not an object, but yet I’m being made to feel like one. I barely have my freedom now. What’s it going to be like once I turn that magic age?
“It’s almost lunch time. Do you ladies fancy some lunch?”
“Actually, we were just about to—”
“We’d love to,” Mandy interrupts.
I snap my head to her. “I thought we were going to the cinema?”
“What were you going to see? I could take you there too if you’d like. I can be at your disposal.”
I suddenly want to escape. I can’t go to lunch with this man, and I certainly cannot—without a doubt—sit in a darkened room next to him. His body already does things to me that I don’t want it to. Not to mention that the smell of him is hitting me right between the legs.
God, I hate this man!
“We would love to,” Mandy says, tugging at my arm. “Why don’t we get your shoes, and I’ll have a look at what time the films starts?”
Drake smiles widely. It seems that no matter what I feel, this is their plan. “That sounds good to me.” He motions to one of his men. “Reese, go take the ladies’ bags down to the car. We’ll be in Berluti when you’re done.”
Reese gives Drake a sharp nod. “Yes, sir.”
“Shall we?” Drake motions for us to start walking, so I begrudgingly start to move.
I guess there’s no way of getting out of this now.
We walk to the shop where Drake ends up spending over two thousand pounds. The shopkeeper gave Drake a heavy discount, so lord knows what the price would have been. I guess everyone here knows him, and everyone wants to be in his good books. Everyone, but me of course.
As if that wasn’t enough, Drake then insisted on taking me and Mandy to Prada where he bought us each a handbag. I said that he shouldn’t, but Mandy nearly punched me. We both ended up with matching, new to the range, black Prada bags—much to my chagrin.
“Aren’t these so pretty?” Mandy gushes.
“So, what time is the film on, Mandy?” Drake asks.
Mandy reluctantly takes her eyes from her bag and gazes at her watch. “There’s one showing in twenty minutes, and there’s another one in three hours.”
“Which one do you want to see?” Drake questions, looking in my direction. “We can either eat now or after the film.”
I rub my tummy. “I’m actually not that hungry.”
I’m about to tell him I feel sick and want to go home when Drake speaks. “Okay then. How about we try and make the first one?”
“Okay,” Mandy says excitedly.
I inwardly groan, but move when everyone else does. I’m actually rather pissed at Drake. He has no interest in Mandy whatsoever, but he’s acting like he does just so he can spend time with me. I hate it!
“Mandy, how about you sit at the front with Reese? I’m sure he could do with some company on the short ride there.”
He motions to the front passenger door of the huge Bentley and Mandy’s eyes pop out. Of course she won’t object to spending time with a big, bulky man like Reese. “Of course,” she beams. “I’ll give you two some alone time in the back.” She winks at Drake, and I roll my eyes. This is just going from bad to worse.
Shutting Mandy’s door, Drake then opens the back and motions for me to get in. “After you.” I stand for a moment and deliberately sigh my displeasure. All this does is make Drake’s smile widen. I think he sometimes finds me a challenge. “You have two choices, Evelyn. You can either get in yourself, or I can quite happily pick you up and throw you in there myself. Your choice.”