He was worried about me?
"I'm sorry," I blurt out. "I had to work."
He lowers his voice. "After what happened yesterday?"
Another person comes through the entrance but remains near the door. Tommy from accounting. A typical, glasses-wearing, pencil-pushing, shirt always tucked in and his i's dotted and his t's crossed. "Is everything okay in here?"
"Yes," I say, genuinely meaning it. "Everything is fine, Tommy."
Tommy looks from me to Silver, then back to me. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything." He disappears in the direction he came, leaving me and Silver in here alone.
"I figured keeping up with appearances would be good," I tell Silver. "That I'd draw less attention to myself if I continued with things as normal."
Silver sighs and rakes his hand over his beard. "Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I just...I didn't know. I got worried."
My cheeks turn up into a smile. "You said that already."
"Fuck, I know." He shakes his head. "You're making me soft, Angel."
I tilt my face and doe-eye up at him. "You, a softie? C’mon, now."
"Plus," Silver continues. "Miller told me to keep an eye on you. I can't do that if you run away from me."
I slap his shoulder with my free hand and hold onto my mug with the other. "I did notrunaway. I took an Uber."
"I could have called a car."
Rolling my eyes, I say, "I'm fully capable of getting my own ride."
He rubs at his neck and for the first time, he almost looks...vulnerable. Silver shifts his focus to the empty doorway then back at me. "Do you need a place to stay?"
"What?"
"You mentioned things being weird at your parents. I'm offering you a place to stay, in the meantime, until you figure something else out. No strings attached."
"Silver, I'd never impose like that..."
"It's not imposing if I'm offering it." His face remains straight, and I can't tell if he's doing this because he wants to or because of the job Miller seemed to assign him.
In another lifetime I would take him up on his generosity and get as far away from my dad as possible, but maybe in that lifetime, my dad wouldn't have put me in a situation that makes me hate breathing the same air as him.
So many things would be different if that one single thing had been different.
But would that have led me to Silver? And because of that unknown, maybe I can't be entirely mad about how things turned out.
It's just a shame nothing can come from it because I'm already spoken for. Not my heart, but my body, and in a way, my soul. Because once Ricardo uses me to fulfill his sick fantasy, I'm not sure what shell of a human will remain.
Although, if I only have a few more weeks of freedom left, shouldn't I use every moment of it that I can? Shouldn't I enjoy the company of another man, one who respects and cares for me—even if it's partially because of a job that he was tasked with?
That alone doesn't really make sense either. Why would Miller be so concerned that he would ask Silver to look after me but not do it himself? And why does he care enough at all? Because he hired Silver, because he doesn't want to get caught? I guess that would make the most sense, because nothing else really explains why Miller would involve himself, or Silver, like that.
Finally, I say, "I'll think about it, okay?"
Silver's jaw tenses and he considers my words carefully before answering. "Okay." He shifts his focus to the cup of coffee in my hand. "That smells burnt."
I smile again. "It is."
"Gross."
