22. Antoine Delacroix

Islept in. I can’t remember the last time I did that. Unfortunately, Caleb won rock-paper-scissors on who got to stay in Evie’s bed last night, so I’m waking up alone.

It’s also fortunate he won, because I wake up to a phone call from my brother.

“Mark,” I say as I tug on a pair of jeans. “Hey, how are you?”

“Great,” he says. “Things are okay there? I heard you took a trip.”

“Yeah, Texas. A law firm wants us to manage a build for them.”

“Are you going to take it?”

“We talked it over and it’s looking that way, yeah.”

“Hey.” His voice gets quieter. “Is Evelyn okay? Truly?”

Fuck, I wish he wouldn’t ask me this. Because she seemed more than fine when she came on my cock last night.

“She’s good,” I say. “Thriving. And her friends seem nice—I met a few of them when she had them over for swimming.”

“Hands off those girls,” he says. “They’re too young, even for you.”

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

“Yeah,” I say. “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in any of Evelyn’s friends.”

He laughs, like of course I wouldn’t be interested in anyone that young. I want to bury my face in my hands and disappear.

“Anyway.” I clear my throat. “How’s Japan, how are you?”

“Oh, nothing new. I was actually calling because I wanted to talk to Evelyn and she isn’t answering her phone.”

Normally, I’d make some kind of joke about how he only wants to talk to his daughter and he doesn’t want to talk to me, his poor neglected brother, but I can’t dredge up even the tiniest bit of humor.

“Let me see if she’s around,” I say, heading down the hall.

Her bedroom door is open, but she isn’t in there. Sounds of the shower running come from the bathroom.

“Sounds like she’s in the shower,” I say as I walk back to my room. “Want me to have her call you back?”

“No, I have to run. I have a contact for her—I texted her the name and number. It’s a guy in Paris. He works with the firm where she can work.”

My breath stutters in my throat and I nearly choke. “A firm? In Paris?”

“She didn’t tell you? Maybe because you were gone when I called. But yeah, I have some friends who work in Paris and there’s an opening at their translation firm. They could use someone with Evelyn’s qualifications. She’s thinking about it, but I really hope she takes the job.”

Every cell in my body revolts at the idea. But I say, “Cool, that’s really great.”

“Yeah, I’m excited for her.” He pauses, but when I have nothing useful to contribute, he goes on, “Well, I wanted to talk him up a little bit, but if she’s busy, I guess I won’t. Tell her to give him a call as soon as she’s out of the shower. He’s free right now, and eager to chat with her about the job opportunity. I think the two of them would get along really well.”

A job opportunity. In Paris. And some guy her age wants to chat with her about it.

Mark likes the guy, I can tell. He’s doing everything to say it without actually saying it. This isn’t just a job opportunity, it’s a fucking blind date, and I’d have to be blind not to see it.

“Link?” Mark says.

“Yeah. I’ll pass along the message.”

“Thanks. Talk to you later.”

I barely hear myself say goodbye to my brother as I storm back down the hall toward Evie’s room.

* * *