“Go, shoo,” I tell her before spinning her in the direction of my brother while I head for the kitchen to find Anita.
~~~
I hear Christian’s voice as I get to the kitchen but don’t quite catch what he says. Anita’s voice takes over now.
“Maybe we should return to everyone else…perhaps you could introduce me to your wife and children.”
Whilst her words sound reasonable enough there is something off in her tone and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable. I can’t quite put my finger on what her voice is laced with, but whatever it is, it’s heavy and loaded. Is it contempt I detect? Maybe not, but it’s not positive and yet somehow familiar.
I hear a hiss that is definitely Christian’s meaning he is picking up on the negativity my Cupcake’s voice is aiming at him.
I’ve heard enough.
“Anita,” I call, walking in, hoping my face doesn’t divulge my irritation and concern at whatever is going on between them. “Oh, Christian. I didn’t realise you’d escaped the circus.” I offer him my best fake laugh. “Anita, Bethy wants to pick your brains on catering.”
Anita looks a little stunned, but relieved more than anything. She steps back from Christian making me realise just how close to each other they were. I am getting more and more pissed off with every passing second I stand here so am relieved when Anita comes alongside me and takes the hand I offer.
We return to the others, and I keep Anita close by for the remainder of the afternoon, ensuring Christian keeps his distance. Mase keeps checking in with me meaning he knows something is off with me, as does Liv who says nothing, but her gaze is constantly flitting between me and her sister. Eventually, a couple of others make noises about leaving and Mase quickly jumps on that bandwagon. Thank fuck because I feel ready to explode with pent up rage at the niggling feeling in my head that there is something between Christian and Anita I am unaware of, but I won’t be unaware for much longer if I get my way and I always get my way.
~~~
We have barely left my mother’s property when Mase launches into his own version of the Spanish Inquisition for Liv about Christian.
“So, what did he have to say?”
“Nothing really.”
I avoid looking at either of them because he did far more than nothing really and I don’t want to get dragged into this, especially not when I am more interested in what was going on between him and Anita.
“You’re lying!” Mase accuses with an angry snap in his voice.
“Mason!” Liv hisses. “He doesn’t like me and is generally unpleasant, we all know this, so, he didn’t really have anything new to say. Happy now?”
“Fucking ecstatic,” Mase grinds out between gritted teeth.
I briefly move my glance from an uncomfortable looking Anita to the woods we are driving past, but my attention quickly snaps back, much like my head when Anita speaks.
“Why doesn’t he like you, Tristan?”
With the use of the wrong name, she has all of our attention.
“Christian,” Liv corrects.
Anita flushes at her mistake and if that doesn’t piss me off and increase my suspicion a little more.
“I mean he’s not exactly a super friendly people person with anyone,” Liv continues.
Mase nods his agreement. I maintain my silence.
“But I think he only really attempts to be civil professionally or if the person he’s dealing with is somehow advantageous to him. I am not and have never been advantageous to him and in terms of having been employed by him, well, he very much had me pigeonholed as his receptionist and no more.”
Liv was pretty much spot on in her summing up but wasn’t done yet.
“He wasn’t unpleasant to you, was he? I assumed you were on my heels when I left the kitchen.”
My rapt attention is now fully on Anita, looking for any sign of, well, anything that might offer some answers to my unanswered questions about her and Christian.
“No, no,” she mutters. “I mean why would he be? I doubt he knew who I was or most likely he must have thought I was something to do with catering, the food…” her voice trails off, possibly because she can hear how flustered she is becoming, and if she can’t, I certainly can and that convinces me even more that there is something off with her and Christian, or Tristan as she earlier called him.
