Mastered(40)

“I’ve got to go now. I have an important meeting. Justice should be there soon if he’s not already, so you might want to make yourself presentable because I’ll be damned if another man sees what’s mine and mine alone to see. He’s going to take you to eat and then shopping. I don’t want you hungry.”

And she thought she couldn’t get more flustered than she already was.

“I need to know you get me,” Drake said impatiently. “The words, Angel. Give me your acceptance.”

“All right,” she finally said in a near whisper.

“Good.” And she could hear the satisfaction in his voice. “Now get a move on and get dressed so Justice doesn’t see what he shouldn’t and then I have to beat his ass.”

She thought he’d already hung up when his last statement came through.

“And, Angel, just so you know, I will not be pleased if you refuse to accept any of the items I have arranged for you.”

Slowly she ended the call and let the phone fall to the bed, then glanced back at the note that she still hadn’t finished reading. She started at the beginning again, quickly skimming to the parts she hadn’t yet read. At the very bottom, in Drake’s distinctive scrawl, was written:

And call your girls and give them your new number so I don’t have to have my men haul one or all their asses out of my apartment again at five in the morning.

She laughed and then drew her knees up, hugging them to her body as she looked around in wonder. Was this really happening to her? How on earth had she fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole into an alternate reality?

She shook off the overwhelming sensation that she was fast spinning out of control and called Steph first, because the last thing Evangeline wanted was for the police to burst into Drake’s apartment determined to rescue a kidnapped woman. To her relief, all three girls were at the apartment together, so they put her on speakerphone, which meant she wouldn’t have to tell the same crazy story three times.#p#分页标题#e#

In as level a tone as she could manage, she outlined the events ending with her coming back to Drake’s apartment with him. Their reactions were explosive.

“Have you lost your mind?” Nikki squeaked. “Vangie, what do you even know about this guy? What if you go missing and we never hear from you again?”

Evangeline sighed. “Is it too much to ask for a little trust from my best friends?”

“We just think you should give this a little more time, preferably away from him where you’re not overwhelmed,” Lana said diplomatically. “You have to admit, this is awfully sudden and completely out of character for you.”

“Yeah well, so was going to Impulse, but y’all didn’t mind coercing me into that,” Evangeline snapped.

Until now Steph had been silent, and that should have told Evangeline the worst was to come.

“And how long do you think it’ll take this Drake guy to get tired of you and scrape you off? What the hell are you going to do then, Vangie? You can’t let yourself be solely dependent on any man, and especially not one with his kind of power.”

Hurt splintered through Evangeline’s heart, and her sudden intake of breath had to have been heard over the phone, judging by the ensuing silence. But what bothered Evangeline even more was that Steph had scored a direct hit and nipped at an already blooming insecurity over just how long this thing with Drake would last.

“That was uncalled for, Steph,” Lana said angrily. “You’re acting like a jealous bitch and it’s not very attractive on you. Leave Vangie alone. As long as we’ve known her she’s never done a single thing for herself. Maybe it’s high time she did, and lived a little.”

“I need to go,” Evangeline said quietly. “I have to be dressed and ready to go in ten minutes.”

“Wait, Vangie, before you go,” Nikki said in a rushed tone. “The landlord came by this morning to give us a receipt and a rent-controlled contract. The rent has been paid in advance for two years, with a contract guaranteeing no increase in rent for the next ten. How insane is that?”

“Drake didn’t want my leaving to cause you financial problems,” Evangeline said quietly. “Lucky for y’all, after he shakes me off, you’ll still have a rent-free place to live and a guarantee of no increase for a long time.”

Then she quickly ended the call, still bothered by Steph’s comment.





Evangeline was so out of her element that she wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and die. She was hopelessly gauche and while Justice, her babysitter du jour, seemed rough around the edges, he certainly knew his way around upscale shops, either choosing or discarding appropriate items with ease.