shortly after that, and I looked out to see a small Italian restaurant.
David Walter was already seated on one of the window seats when I walked in, and the same sickening smile crawled its way onto his face once I arrived at the table.
“Emily Johnson. So lovely to see you again.”
“I don’t eat Italian,” I replied bluntly, keeping my face blank.
“Yes well, under the circumstances you’re going to have to eat Italian.” His face hardened momentarily before he gestured to the chair across from him. “Have a seat, Emily.” He smiled, before waving a waiter to come over with the menus.
“Circumstances?” I asked, frowning slightly in curiosity.
His face hardened again. “Yes. A little birdy told me you told Adrian about our little date tonight. Bad move. I had to make do with what I knew would be an isolated location.”
“Your ‘little birdy’ is wrong. I haven’t told him about any of these dinners,” I emphasized, not liking the fact that he referred to tonight as a date.
David smiled coldly just as the waiter reached our table and placed the menus in front of us. “What can I get you two to start off with?”
“I’ll have a scotch on the rocks,” David replied while he scanned the menu.
“Water please.” I smiled, before picking up my own menu
“You’re really beautiful,” the waiter spoke up. I cringed at the thought of the waiter complimenting David Walter’s appearance before looking up and realising that he was speaking to me.
“Oh, thank you,” I replied, giving him another tight smile.
“So who is he? Your brother? You guys don’t look the same,” The waiter responded.
I looked over to David Walter blankly. “No, thank God. He is just a pestering man I have to deal with until he grows up and stops taking a woman who is already spoken for out to dinners.” I looked at David as I said the words, hoping he’d take the hint.
A whistle sounded from the waiter, breaking our eye contact. “You don’t sound very happy about being with him. Would you like to come home with me?” he suggested. “I get off in 5 minutes.”
“Yes, I’m sure you can’t last any longer. I want a new waiter,” David stated, giving the man a look.
“Since we’re all putting what we want out there,” I said, “I want to go home. Oh! And I want these stupid, boring dinners to stop and I want you to stop blackmailing me.”
David laughed and turned to me again. “That’s not going to happen any time soon, sweet cheeks.”
I opened my mouth to respond before my phone began to buzz on the table. Adrian’s pouting face appeared on the screen and I answered it immediately. “Hello?”
“Play along, Shortcake,” he said a breath before he roared, “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” My eyes briefly flickered over to David, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“I- I’m at Amy’s hous-”
“NO YOU’RE NOT. I’M WITH AMY RIGHT NOW. WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?” he asked again. His voice became louder with every word, and I looked over to David Walter as a thought came to mind.
What do I say? I mouthed to him, trying to look panicked.
Tell him you’re on your way home, he responded, before making a ‘cancel’ gesture to the waiter.
“I’m on my way home,” I responded, trying to sound nervous.
“OH YEAH? OKAY, I’M COMING HOME NOW THEN. WE’LL SEE IF YOU’RE LYING OR NOT,” he barked through the phone, before the line went dead.
“Hmm. Maybe my little birdy was in fact wrong after all. We’ll have to do this another time, then. We wouldn’t want the big bad wolf catching us on our little dates now, would we?” David Walter spoke up, getting out of his chair.
I didn’t respond, and just walked out of the restaurant and got back into the same car that brought me here.
“Take me back home,” I mumbled, before sending a quick text to Adrian:
Thank you for that. On my way home now.
***
“Who else did you tell other than me?” Adrian asked angrily, pacing around our bedroom.
“No one! Just Amy and Rita! But they wouldn’t tell him!” I exclaimed in their defense. It was true; once Amy and Rita found out about the fact that Adrian had a plan against David, they jumped at the chance of being a part of it to take him down.
“The only people that I told were my security and Allen, and none of them would have told either,” he growled in response.