The Prince and the Pawn (When Rivals Play #4) - B.B.Reid Page 0,3

passenger seat and not for any of the usual reasons. When he finally, mercifully looked away, I could see the muscle in his cheek ticking.

And just as I was about to give up and flee his car, he surprised me with a curt but quiet “Yes.” Dread pooled in my gut because he didn’t seem happy about it, which left only one possible reason.

“How far away is it?”

“Far.”

The ringing in my ears could only have been caused by the deafening sound of my heart dropping to my feet.

“Oh.”

The silence that fell over the car made it feel as if we were the last two people on earth. Vaughn would be hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away. How long before the feelings he wouldn’t admit to having faded?

“Is that why you kept it a secret?”

Closing his eyes, he rested his head against the seat. “Yes,” he answered easily, though his voice sounded strained.

My gaze dropped to his lap, where his right hand rested, in time to see his finger tap his thigh. It hadn’t taken me long at all to learn his tells.

He’s lying.

But about what? The distance or the reason he’d kept it a secret in the first place?

Checking my watch, I realized my shift had already started. Before Vaughn, I’d never been late or missed a day of work. Now I was skating on thin ice and one tardy away from being fired. What else was I risking for a boy who kept secrets and lied about the reasons?

“I have to go.”

I quickly lifted open the scissor door, and my irritation skyrocketed when I realized I wouldn’t be able to slam it behind me.

This day just keeps getting worse.

I felt Vaughn’s gaze tracking me as I stormed inside, but I didn’t dare look back. Macchicino, the owner’s indulgent amalgamation of macchiato and cappuccino, was yet another over-priced pretentious coffee shop. Thanks to all the tables and booths doubling as comfortable workspaces, Macchicino stole a lot of business from Starbucks down the street. The only things not painted either black or gray were the lightbulbs, and that included the fake plants and the exposed beams in the ceiling. It made the millennials who frequented feel posh while the boomers thought of themselves as hip.

I made eye contact with Terry, who pointedly checked the clock on the wall before giving me a dirty look and disappearing in the back. Thankfully, his office, an old desk pushed against the wall near the supply shelves, was where he spent most of his shift. I was only four minutes late, but with my recent track record, I might as well have been forty. Relieved to see that we weren’t too busy, I quickly waved to my coworkers before ducking inside the bathroom. Even though I was late, I needed a minute to clear my head, or else I’d be no good to anyone.

Why was Vaughn lying to me?

It had taken me nearly a year to get my head out of the clouds, and I almost wished I could shove it back up there. Impossible. No way could I ignore all the questions flooding my mind now. Questions such as why Vaughn hadn’t introduced me to his parents. Could it be because of the rumors about his father being a crook? If they were true, then I guess I could understand why Vaughn wasn’t eager to introduce us, but what about his mother? Where was she, and why does Vaughn never mention her? All I knew about her was that her ancestors founded Blackwood Keep.

Sighing, I closed the bathroom door behind me and started to flip the lock when the door was pushed open. Before I knew what was happening, Vaughn had forced his way in and had locked us both inside.

“What are you doing? If my boss sees you, he’s—”

“What is the number one rule?” he inquired—as if I weren’t in the middle of speaking.

“I—what?”

“What. Is. The. Rule?” With each word, he’d taken a step until I was trapped between his warm body and the cold porcelain of the bathroom’s lone sink. Without warning, he lifted me onto the edge, bringing us eye level and leaving his hands on my hips. I bet he knew just how hard I found it to be annoyed with him when he touched me. I was already short of breath and wanting to run my hands down his chest and maybe find out if he was still hard underneath his sweats. As a scientist, I found Vaughn to