Free Help Me by Clara Bayard Page B

felt like I might faint.
    “What is it?”
    “He’s the one. The man I saw at the airport. The one who was staring at me.”
    “Are you sure? It’s dark out here.”
    “I’m sure. He walked right through the light. And I’ll never forget that face.”
    “Shit.” Trey crossed his arms. “That’s bad.”
    “Damn right. If he was following me, he knows who I am. Which means he knows why I’m here.”
    “No way. Can’t be. Veronica and Peter wouldn’t let you walk down this block if they had even the vaguest idea that you weren’t who you said. They certainly wouldn’t give you a tour and hire you.”
    “Then you explain it.”
    “I can’t.” He put his hand on my back and led me down the driveway. “But we need to get out of here. Let’s go to dinner and think about this, okay? I’m sure we can figure this out.”
    I sighed. “Fine. I’m trusting that you know these people well enough to be right about this.”
    “I do. I swear.” His face was resolute and ferocious in the dim light. “I will keep you safe.”
    +
    Fortunately, Trey was right about dinner. The conversation was so dull I had no problem tuning it out to think things through. I only paid attention to the food and drink that were placed in front of me. Even in my anxious state I couldn’t help but devour everything. The food didn’t look like anything I’d ever eaten, but the flavors were incredible. Meat so tender I barely had to chew it, vegetables swimming in a light, citrus sauce I wanted to slurp up with a spoon. And the wine wasn’t bad either. Which is why I had almost a whole bottle myself.
    It was interesting, as I grew more and more tipsy, to watch Trey. So far I’d seen a few different facets of his personality, but this was something new. He charmed the couple we shared a table with as easily as he had me, but in a rather different way.
    From what little I listened to, the couple – in their late forties – were hoping to sell a portion of their company. They were rich compared to me, but pretty much paupers next to Trey’s family, and they wanted to find a parent company with deep pockets to help grow their business.
    Snore-fest.
    But, contrary to what he’d told me, Trey dove right in to the business talk. He rattled of numbers and jargon I didn’t even try to keep up with, and dazzled them. This was probably fun for him. I’d seen how he liked defying expectations and wanted to do things his own way. Most people who met him for the first time expected him to be not much more than a pretty face, probably. And when he showed them to be wrong, it would knock them off balance in a wonderful way.
    The man, Patrice something or other, flagged down the waiter to order another bottle of wine and I smiled. He grinned back playfully. “If you must sit through endless business talk, it’s easier with a bit of wine, right?”
    I nodded.
    “It is a shame, Trey, don’t you think, to have such a beautiful young woman on your arm and be stuck looking at my ugly face.”
    We all laughed. Patrice was anything but ugly. His hair was beginning to gray at the temples but otherwise he was fairly youthful, and quite handsome in a refined, soft-living kind of way. So different from Trey, even though they lived in the same world. Where Patrice gave off an air of a life full of comfort, there was a hint of something primal behind Trey’s eyes. Something that confused and intrigued me.
    Patrice’s wife, Claudia, patted him on the hand. “Please pardon my husband. He gets so talkative when he has too much wine. You two should go up there and dance. Leave us, what is the term – ‘old farts’ here.” She gestured with her chin to the front of the restaurant where a few couples had begun to slow dance to the music of a quartet. I’d never been in a restaurant that had a live band before. Maybe it was because the place was part of a hotel? I couldn’t ask if it was weird without making it obvious that I was completely out of my