“I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah, if not, I’ll call you.” She left him alone.
Chris waited until she was out of sight before going around the back. Richard was waiting for him. The other man was sat on a step with his hands fisted.
“What do you want?” Richard asked. The real bad attitude of the man was coming through. Chris saw through the charm to settle on him.
“How high is the bet going? I mean, do you get more for screwing her or just going on a date?” Chris asked, getting straight to the point.
He’d been a man. While he’d been training to become a doctor, he’d worked in a lot of odd jobs. He knew the men who would put a price on dating or fucking someone. Chris had been exactly like it. Claire had been the woman at the hospital the men wanted. She’d been a nurse, an untouchable nurse.
When he’d told her about the bet on her head, she’d been heartbroken. Chris never expected to fall in love with her. Once he realized his feelings, he’d nipped the betting in the bud.
“Why? Do you want in?”
Chris smiled. This man’s life was going to get hard. Acting, Chris grabbed the man’s apron and threw him against the wall. Pinning him to the wall, he pressed an arm over his neck, halting his struggles.
“Do you really think screwing with my friend is funny?” he asked, getting angrier as he looked at the slime-ball’s face. Shaking his head, Chris applied more pressure to the man’s windpipe. “This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to go on a date with her, and then you’re going to tell her everything that happens here. I don’t want you to leave a detail out of what and how much you were going to win for getting in her pants. Do you understand?”
Richard jerked his head in acknowledgement.
“Good.” Releasing the man, Chris kept his gaze on him. “No one hurts my friend.”
With his parting words, he turned and left.
Chapter Three
By Friday Rachel settled on the black cocktail dress she owned, her hair tied back with minimal makeup. The last thing she wanted to do was look like a clown or something. Chris had phoned to check in with her. She’d tried to talk to him about tonight, but he wasn’t having any of it.
She avoided going to his place, but against her better judgment, she’d walked past her old home, the home he’d sold after Claire died. She needed to put her relationship with Chris into some kind of perspective. He was not her lover or boyfriend. Chris was Claire’s husband, and her sister was dead.
Any feelings she had for him were wrong, and she needed to stop them from taking any kind of form. She was twenty-six with no chance of settling down. Rachel still wanted to have a life, become a mother, a wife, and have the dream of a family.
Chris was not part of her life. He’d told her before that he was done with having a family and trying to have a life that meant happiness.
Her cell phone buzzed, and she saw it was Chris dialing her.
Rolling her eyes, she clicked accept on her phone and listened to him talk. “Have you gone on your date yet?” he asked.
“No, I’m stood making sure I look okay.”
“What are you wearing?”
“A black cocktail dress. It’s plain, but it’s all I have, and he wasn’t very specific on what to wear.” She wiped some lipstick from her teeth. Another of her faults, she’d never been good with the makeup or getting all girly. Claire was the woman who could primp and pamper herself all day. Rachel had never been good at looking in the mirror and getting herself all pretty.
“Remember I want you to phone me—”
“Yeah, I know, you want me to phone you during every stage of my date because you don’t trust me,” she said, interrupting him before he got into the flow of his rant.
“I trust you, not the chef.”
Her door was knocked on, and she headed toward it.
“Please, stop worrying about me. I need to get out and date. I’m not getting any younger, and I want a family soon.”
The silence on the other end was deafening.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I never do anything stupid,” she said, loving his concern way more than she should.
“No? Then what do you call losing your virginity in college and the guy crushing you because of it?”
She paused at his accusation. Rachel had begged her sister not to tell him the truth. Yes, she’d lost her virginity to a musician at college, but not once did he give her the time of day after that. She’d felt cheap and hated the sight of herself when she looked in the mirror.
“Did Claire tell you about that?” she asked.
“No, I knew from looking at you. You’re like an open book, honey. Please, don’t do anything stupid.”