I shake my head and say, “Hi.”
Happily, Keenan looks more like himself than he did in the hospital a few days ago. I had to leave to come back here and deal with a work issue, but fuck, I hated leaving him. Keeva stayed, though, and every hour on the hour, she was texting me updates. I can tell he showered today for sure, and his hair is done. I like seeing him this way. Put together and like himself. In the hospital, he’d looked sick and it scared me. In a way, I think this whole experience humanized him in my eyes, not like he was godly or anything. But until something horrible happens, you never think it’ll happen to those you care about.
“Come see the balcony.” He intertwines our hands as he leads me through a beautiful set of doors and onto the balcony.
It’s a warm night, and the lights dance in the distance, reminding me that we are, in fact, in the city.
“How did you find this place?” I ask him.
“My cousin, Liam, set this up for me,” Keenan says so nonchalantly.
“Why?” This doesn’t feel right, none of this does. What long-lost family gives you a house like this?
“To be sure I stay safe.” Again, he says it like this isn’t a big deal.
I take a breath. “Why do you need to stay safe, Keenan? I know everyone does, but if you were mugged, why would you need a special place to hide out? And how does it keep you safe when you’re here alone.”
“You ask a lot of questions.” Keenan cackles with a smile, obviously trying to diffuse the situation.
“Only to people I care about,” I state, ready to strong-arm him into telling me what I want to know.
We’re here in a stand-off, and I have the distinct feeling he’s not going to answer any of my questions. Or if he does, it’ll be very little.
“Listen, Delilah, there are things you don’t need to know about. It might look like we’re alone, but we’re most definitely not. Plus, no one that doesn’t need to even knows about this place. It’s safe. We’re safe.”
I want to keep pushing him, but my phone begins ringing. Ignoring it sounds like the best option because I’d really like to know what’s going on with Keenan. Whoever’s on the other end is insistent, though. The phone just keeps ringing to the point that I’m getting concerned.
“Hello?” I answer after pulling it out of my back pocket. I haven’t even been here five minutes, and my assistant is already on the phone. I’m sure this could’ve waited until later.
“We have a major problem,” Cassie tells me. Maybe it couldn’t wait. Shit. Another problem?
“What’s going on?” I question her. Hopefully, I can fix this quickly.
“I just got a call from the venue for the charity fundraiser.”
My stomach drops. Nothing good could come from her words. As I brace for the worst news, I ask, “What’d they say?”
“That storm that blew through here last night caused some damage.”
“How much damage?”Please only be a little. Please only be a little.
“There was some flooding in the basement, which caused a pipe to burst.” She let out a long sigh. “There’s so much damage that we can’t have the event there. The place is shut down indefinitely.”
Damn. This is exactly what I hoped wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
Without a venue, the event is over, and I can’t let that happen.
“Okay. We have to think. We need a new venue. What’s available?” I pull the phone from my ear and put her on speaker so I can also use the internet to scour for a new venue.
There will be some logistical problems that go along with a venue change at this point, but it’s better than cancelling. We can handle the change.
The charity deserves our best, and that’s what they’re going to get.
“Almost nothing is available, Delilah.” The tapping of her nails on the keyboard tells me she’s doing the same thing I am. “You know these places book up months in advance.”
“Right.” Which is exactly why we booked months in advance. “What about that one we saw.” I snap my fingers as if it would help me remember the name of it. “It was on the shortlist, but we decided it wasn’t big enough.”
“Booked. Unless we want to change the date.”
