Well, tough luck. I didn't come here to play a vapid airhead.
"No, I don't have the patience to wait that long. If you're fucking around, you gotta spill now!" Hell hath no patience for a woman previously scorned. He should know better. My temper was about to explode like Mount Vesuvius, so he better rethink his strategy.
River's dark eagle eyes flickered about my face, unperturbed from the flare of my temper. "You really think I'd do that to you?" he asked, affronted.
Damn him.
"Right now, after looking how domesticated you both are, I don't fucking know!"
River gaped at me in pure disbelief. Then groaned before scratching the side of his stubble. He then led me towards the end of the foyer for some privacy and away from Willa's hearing range.
"She called last week, begging for a job, and since I don't know where to put her on my team, I hired her as my assistant and offered for her to stay here until she saved up enough money to get her own place."
"You did what?" My insides shrunk, seething. He just didn't invite Satan's stepsister to live with us!
His frown deepened as he tried to console me. "I know, I know. I should've said something to you, but we both know you've had it in for her since the beginning of time, and I can't turn my back on her. She's family, too."
"Are you insane? Have you forgotten the time when she tried to break us apart?" Family, she surely wasn't! "Willa is a conniving snake. This is one of her ploys to get sympathy from you. You know it! And for her to live here? Fine, go ahead. Whatever I think or feel doesn't seem important, anyway. So why don't you guys go play family while I head back to my apartment." I was livid, my body shuddering from suppressed rage.
I was about to move when River reached out to hold my hands, as if trying to reassure me that everything was going be okay.
"Baby, please … Let's give her a month, just a month to get her own place," he implored, hoping to dismantle my resolve.
Willa was bad news. She and I never got on. Never. In all those years we were roommates, she never offered an olive branch. And each time I tried to bridge a friendship with her, she would become a spiteful brat. She loathed me from the beginning, and that hatred had never dithered. To this day, I believed she still harbored the same ill feelings towards me. Deep-rooted hatred like hers never went away.
How could this man not see my plight? Did he deem me unreasonable? Well, it sure seemed that way.
"Do what you have to do, River," I said, resolute.
River held me down, not ready to yield. "Don't leave. I want you here." Lifting my chin to meet his gaze, he pleaded before softly brushing his lips on mine, connecting his forehead with my own, longing for me. "I've missed you," he softly whispered against my lips.
The emotion in his voice slightly shook my resolve. Damn him. I missed him, too, but with Willa around? Fuck, that proved to be difficult. She made my passionate nature take a nosedive.
Torn between hate for that vile woman and the love of my life, I gripped River's honed arm, loving the hardness of his muscle as I sought those beautiful depths I loved to get lost in. "Why, oh the fuck why, didn't you say anything?" He knew better than to give me a surprise heart attack.
"I'm sorry, petal, but please don't leave because you're pissed. We'll fix this, okay?" He grimaced, knowing he was at fault. "We'll talk after dinner, but for now … I've made a feast. Let me feed you first."
Eat? The last thing I wanted was to choke on anything. If at all, I wanted to shove the food in that horrible person's throat.
"I don't want to eat," I petulantly stated. I was sure I sounded like an absolute drama queen, but this was grave. How could he not grasp how dire the situation was?
"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know how to bring it up in fear you were going to react this way. I can't turn my back on her, Cara, not when she needs someone to help her stand on her own two feet. It'd be cruel not to help her."
Seeing how distraught he was after declaring that I wasn't going to tolerate this nonsensical bullshit, my heart broke a little. I felt like a triple bitch, and somehow obligated to dine with them just to put that smile back on his face again. Damn my heart. And double damn to loving a man who had a soft spot to helping evil cunts.
"We'll talk about this later," I muttered as I marched past him before I pointedly glanced towards Willa, who was now in the kitchen, helping herself to River's wine collection. "You've found another way to worm yourself into his life. Congratulation!" I scathingly gazed at her, hoping she'd disappear from the hate I was projecting from my eyes.