“We were in the same master’s program,” Cedar supplied before Darrin could bring up their short but meaningful relationship. She needed to tell Teo that she’d dated Darrin, but this wasn’t the time nor the place to bring up a personal attachment. Besides, she didn’t want Teo to look down on her for dating Darrin. His dislike for the man was as easy to read as his name on ajersey.
“And we interned for the Tiny Titans Camp.” Darrin was all toothy smiles and self-congratulations.
“Like you did any work,” Cedar mumbled into Akoni’s hair. She prayed Darrin would keep it professional tonight despite her mutterings. She’d been the injured one, the breakeenot the breaker.Now there was a term completely appropriate for what Darrin had done to them. He’d broken…them. And, in the process, caused collateral damage toher. He didn’t seem to be any worse for wear and yet she fumbled with her silverware and nearly tipped over her emptycup.
Their server came by with chips, salsa, and waters for the table. “Hey, Teo. Haven’t seen you in awhile.”
Teo smiled easily. “Hi, Anna. I’ve been a homebody.” He waved his hand around the table. “Everybody, this is Ace Sanchez’s cousin, Anna. Anna, this iseverybody.”
“Hi.” She waved to the group and then placed a hand on Teo’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for yourloss.”
Cedar closed her eyes. Teo didn’t act like a man whose wife had passed away not long ago. Sometimes, she forgot. They were so wrapped up in each other and what was going on at the moment that the past just didn’t come up or even seem to matter. Teo was working through some things, and every once in a while she’d find him deep in thought with a stony face, but he was generally content if not happy. Likewise, she’d kept her past relationships under her hat. How she wished she’d told Teo something, anything about Darrin. Then he’d understand why she would bow out of the meeting. But, since there wasn’t much she could do—short of pinching Akoni so he’d throw a fit, which she wouldneverdo—she wasstuck.
She chanced a glance at Deja to see if her thoughts were spelled out on her face. Her lower lip was slightly out, and she had a sympathetic tilt to her head. Cedar wondered if Deja thought she and Teo were moving too quickly or that Cedar was a “rebound.” Did people have those after their spouse passed away? Not used to all this insecurity and ticked that she let Darrin get to her so easily, she fussed over Akoni’s shirt, making sure it lay just right on hisback.
“Thanks.” Teo pointed to his menu. “I hope you don’t get a cramp carrying all this food—I’m in training.” He grinned atAnna.
Anna laughed. “You’re just like Ace. He could eat one of everything on the menu in one night.” She held her pen over her pad. “Shoot, Tex. I’mready.”
They ordered, Darrin going last so he had a chance to look at the menu that the rest of them had already lookedover.
After Anna left to put their order in the kitchen, Elijah turned to Darrin. “How are things going with thesalon?”
“Just for Curls will open its doors in three weeks. Everything is right onschedule.”
Cedar’s blood ran cold. Just for Curls was the name she’d planned forherbusiness. Darin not only stole the idea, he wasn’t creative enough to come up with a different name. She narrowed her eyes at Darrin. “What’s that nameagain?”
Darrin coughed. “Just for Curls.” He sipped his water. When she didn’t look away, he took a longerdrink.
Good. She hoped she was making him feel hot under the collar for practicing corporate espionage. Okay, so the term didn’t exactly fit since she wasn’t in business, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t stolen information from her that would have made her business asuccess.
A moment after the air grew thick with Darrin’s discomfort, she turned away, studying a red, yellow, and green sombrero on the wall. “That’s a cute name. How did you come up with it? I mean, you have straight hair, so why not do a salon for straight-hairedpeople?”
Teo’s hand came to rest on her leg under the table. He asked her what was the matter with a look. “I thought you liked theidea.”
“I think it’s brilliant,” she gushed. “I’m just wondering how a guy—without a curl in sight—would find this specific hole in the market.” She applied a tight-lipped smile to her face. “What sparked that creative genius inside of you,Darrin?”
Darrin leaned back in his seat and hooked his arm over the back of his chair. “It came to me while I was working for the Tiny TitansCamp.”
Cedar barely held back hersnort.
“I met Allissa, one of the Titan cheerleaders. I’m sure Teo here knows her pretty well. She’s the blonde with the big, curly hair and big—” He cut off when Deja cleared herthroat.
Teo’s hand tightened on Cedar’s leg. Cedar chewed the inside of her cheek. She had been practically living at Teo’s house during the day and not once had he gotten a phone call—that wasn’t from the team or Elijah or his family—that he left the room to take. Most often, he talked while right next to her, making it impossible not to overhear his conversation. As transparent as Teo was, she wasn’t with him all the time. He left for meetings, photo shoots, to film commercials, she couldn’t account for his whereabouts twenty-four hours a day. An icy chill trickled between her shoulderblades.
If he knew his words were ice cubes down Cedar’s back, Darrin didn’t slow down to give her time to recover. “Allissa has this amazing hair—big curls every woman dreams about.” He winked atDeja.
Deja jerked. Cedar could see her trying to work out if she’d just been insulted. Her hand went to her own tight spirals. At least Cedar wasn’t the only one thrown off byDarrin.
His lies continued. “She was always complaining about how hard it was to find someone to cut it and cut it right. And, well, there it is.” He layered on the cheesy grin like he was making an I’m-a-big-fat-jerkquesadilla.
Cedar held back from telling him just what he could do with that smile. The trouble was, even if he did steal her idea, there was nothing she should do about it. Darrin had the money and he had the jump on her. Three weeks from opening!Grrrr. One look at his smug little face and she knew he knew it too. No wonder he was so confident in his bold-facedlies.
“You should have brought Allissa with you tonight. We could have squeezed one more chair around the table.” Deja glanced around the room as if Allissa would appear at any moment. “I’d love to meet the inspiration behind theman.”
“We, uh.” Darrin picked up the straw wrapper and began twisting it. “We are no longer seeing eachother.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Deja managed an appropriate level of sympathy. Or maybe she was really sympathetic. She had no idea what was going on under the surface. None of them did. Well, they would. But Cedar wasn’t going to make a scene. Not in front of all these people. The cameras and whispers that had surrounded Teo the last time they went out were still fresh in her memory. She didn’t want to cause him bad press. Cedar was trapped in this box made up of all the angles and consequences she couldforesee.
