"You too!" Evie hung up and spun in circles, coming face to face with Thorn. He chuckled, caught her hand, let her twirl under it, and dipped her, making her giggle.
"What are we celebrating?" His smile was wide, clearly enjoying her happiness.
"A publishing company is interested in my book. Not just the book. They want it expanded into a series.” Evie whisper-shouted the last part, still not wanting everyone to know.
Thorn’s eyes widened, and then he swept her into a tight bear hug, lifting her off her feet. "That is wonderful, Mališa. I am so proud of you. I was not aware that you wrote."
"Well, that’s because only Alex and you know about it." She stepped back when he set her down. "And I’m not sure I’m ready to tell anyone else yet."
"As always, Little One, your secrets are safe with me." Thorn pulled her in for another hug. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a movie tonight. I feel like we have not seen each other in a while."
"Your place?" She asked quickly, not wanting to be in her apartment.
"Sure. Come up when you are done here. I havesljivovica, and we will make somegibanicato eat while we watch the latest Trolls movie. We must celebrate your accomplishment." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Have I told you how proud I am of you?”
Evie giggled. "Yes, but you can tell me that as much as you want.Sljivovicaandgibanicasound incredible, Thorn. I’ll see you in an hour or so."
He waved over his shoulder as he left her office, and Evie blew him a kiss.
**********
Quickly finishing up for the day, Evie headed upstairs to her apartment to change and grab her laptop, wanting to let Thorn read her outline for her novel. She was washing her face in the ensuite when Alex appeared in the doorway, startling her. She hadn’t even known he was home.
"Where are you off to?"
"I'm watching a movie with Thorn tonight. We haven't seen much of each other lately." She dried her face and ran a wide-tooth comb through her hair before pulling it into a loose bun.
"We haven't seen much of each other either." He folded his arms and watched her with the permanent frown he wore whenever he was around her now.
"I'm home every evening at five." She shrugged, not interested in playing the game. "You're the one who isn't coming home until I'm already in bed."
"I'm home now," he pointed out, stepping aside as she walked into the bedroom to dig through her dresser for comfy clothes.
"And I wasn't expecting you to be, so I made plans with Thorn. You should have let me know if you wanted to spend time with me." She changed into jogging pants and a tank top, laid her hoodie on the bed, and tried to get out of there as soon as possible. "You moved in four months ago so we could spend more time together, and almost immediately, you started working more. We see each other less now than before you moved in."
"What's going on with you and Denton?" he asked abruptly.
"Nothing." She stared at him, confused. "We talk sometimes, we’ve gone to lunch a few times, which I invited you to and told you about. That’s it. Why?"
"Cause I've been hearing it's more than that." His tone was sharp, and he watched her carefully, waiting for a reaction she didn’t have.
"Well, you're hearing wrong." She rolled her eyes and kept digging for socks. "Is this why you've been a pill?"
"How do you expect me to act when my girlfriend is getting cozy with another man?" He stepped closer, following her so tightly she could feel his breath on her shoulder.
"I expect you to talk to me at the very least." She sighed. "So, what did your surveillance tell you?" Something told her he was using Tower security to spy on her.
"Nothing," he muttered. "But I don't have access to the cameras..." He trailed off, realizing he had just walked into a trap.
"Right." She stood and made her decision. There was no point dragging it out. "We’re done. I can't do this anymore. You need to move out."
"Evie! That wasn't fair. I thought you were cheating on me!" Panic hit his face, and he grabbed her arm to stop her, but she shook him off and picked up her hoodie.
"And instead of asking me, you spied on me." She walked into her office to grab her laptop. "You have thirty days. I'll stay with Tommy until you find a place to live and move out."
"That's it? No conversation, no compromise, just done?" He followed her down the hall. She didn’t look at him, but she heard the panic rising under the anger.
"Yep. All you had to do was come to me and say you'd heard something about Aaron and me, and I would have told you exactly what was going on. I would have let you read our messages if you wanted. Instead, you spied on me. And even after spying showed I wasn’t doing anything wrong, you still asked me what was going on between us." She finally turned to meet his eyes. "Who told you, and what did they say?"
