Page 29 of Challenge Me

Silently, I continued to stitch together the words I’d started inside.

The crown of men is carved in bone, not gold,

A lineage whispered, silent, fierce, and old.

Yet standing near, I feel the dust I wear,

Unworthy shadow to a king unaware.

“I’m from San Francisco,” I said before I lifted the headphones to cover my ears. “But most recently Seattle.”

“And my other question?”

Tipping my head back, I closed my eyes and let the music overtake me, all while I felt his gaze on the side of my face.

Chapter 9

Amir

I’d hoped to go through a lot more questions on the plane, but Remi had tuned me out. Despite him throwing away the cards, I remembered a lot of them. Yet, as I parked the rental car, I thought about what he’d said and wondered if he was right.

Was I treating him like a data set, just letters and numbers plugged into the right positions to suit my purposes?

At the same time, I knew he was using me, too. That was the entire nature of this relationship. It was a quid pro quo, with me effectively becoming a weird sugar daddy to save some perceived reputation.

Did it matter in the long run? In my mind it did. I kept Mal off the Internet as much as I could without it being considered child abuse in the modern world. But everything that got posted about me affected her in one way or another. Someday, she could see the pictures and the claims they made about me. Clara had the nerve to insinuate that I might have messed around behind Avery’s back, leading to our eventual divorce. Keeping the details under wraps this whole time turned out to be a double-edged sword that left a lot to speculation.

I scanned the keycard that let me into the building where I’d rented a short-term apartment. As we rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor, I turned to face Remi. His eyes briefly flashed to me, then he returned them to the front. It felt purposeful. He still wore those damn headphones, but I was certain he could hear me.

“Can you take those off?”

He tapped his fingers on his thighs and swayed softly while he sang something I didn’t recognize—something about tame, middle-class demons. Done with his games, I grabbed the headphones and put them around my neck. He didn’t seem happy about it, but I wasn’t sure what else he expected to happen.

The doors opened and I stepped out, then waited until he followed. There was something contrarian about Remi, and it made me wonder if I needed to attach a leash to him so he wouldn’t park his ass somewhere and refuse to move when he was annoyed.

“Why’d you say no to Clara?” I asked as I walked down the hall.

“We’ve gone over this.”

“Yeah, but you were ready to drag me through the mud. Why are you willing to change your tune? What are you actually getting out of it?”

“I told you, I just want to get out of town. Live it up in your fancy lifestyle for a bit.” He gestured around with both hands and spun in a circle. “I do expect a shopping spree or two, if I’m being honest.”

“Hm. And here I thought”—or hoped—”you were being a little selfless.”

He laughed dryly. “Nobody’s selfless. The sooner you figure that out, the better off you’ll be. Trust me.”

“I don’t.”

“Good. You’re learning.”

It was hard not to frown as I unlocked the door. Even though it was naïve, I’d still been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But there was no trace of that spark I’d been consumed by at the bar, the one that convinced me to stay a little longer, over and over again until I was naked on that pool table.

This was a business transaction. As long as I went into it with that mindset, the boundaries were perfectly clear. And something told me he would have no trouble playing his part.

“I’m going to shower,” I said, tossing the keys on the kitchen counter. “Wash the recycled air off of me.”

Remi set his boots beside the door. He looked around the place with a blank expression, from the vaulted ceilings to the large window overlooking the city, then the white sectional, and finally, the gourmet kitchen. When his eyes met mine, I couldn’t read what was in them.