Page 82 of The Stalker Snafu

Fingers crossed.

Oliver nodded and nudged the tray closer to my side of the coffee table. “I’ll let you focus, then. I should go pick up that metronome.”

He got up from the couch as I slouched back against the cushions. They embraced me like fluffy little clouds, and I briefly considered taking a nap. It’d been ages since I slept. “Okay. See you later, Oliver.”

“See you, Emma. Try to eat something.”

CHAPTER 31

A Gift

Turns out it didn’t take too long to pick up a metronome. An hour later, I had forced myself to eat half my sandwich and polish off a bag of chips when Oliver walked back through the door. I’d also written down a few notes from my textbook before switching to doodling this time.

I also might’ve dozed off for most of the hour, but it didn’t look like I’d left behind any drool on the pillow.

A small win.

Oliver stopped in front of me and held out a shopping bag. “Here. This is for you.”

Intrigued, I wiped my fingers on my thighs to get rid of the last of the chip grease and took the bag. Peeking inside, I found a box for a gleaming, brand-new tablet.

I stared at it.

“What?” I asked dumbly, not making any move to fish it out of the bag.

He smiled, pulling it out himself. “You like phone games, right? I thought maybe you’d like a bigger screen to play them on.”

I gripped the empty bag’s handles, not understanding. How did someone jump from me liking phone games to buying me a fancy new tablet?

I blinked. “You bought this for me?”

“Yeah. There’s not much to do here if you’re sticking around, so I didn’t want you getting bored,” he answered, as if he’d bought me a plastic yo-yo from the dollar store and not a top-of-the-line gadget. “I already loaded a few hundred dollars onto it, so you don’t have to worry about buying credits. You can just pick whichever games you want and start playing. Or books and movies. Whatever.”

My jaw dropped for the hundredth time today, and I finally unglued my eyes from the tablet long enough to gape at the guy in front of me. Had I heard him right? “A few hundred dollars?”

Oliver frowned and scratched his jaw. “Just three hundred. Is that not enough? Let me know when you get through it, and I’ll add more credit.”

“No… Oliver, that’s not what I…” I looked back at the tablet in shock. Leaning back into the couch cushions, I shook my head. “No. I can’t accept this. It’s way too much.”

“Consider it a late birthday present,” he said, lifting a shoulder. “I didn’t get you anything.”

A birthday present worth hundreds of dollars for someone he barely knew? I swallowed and shook my head again. “Are all of you loaded or something?”

He smirked. “I’ve been playing sold-out concert halls for over a decade, and Kincaid’s always been smart with money. He likes nice things.”

My boyfriend’s lineup of fancy pens proved that a bit of an understatement.

“Listen. It’s obvious Kincaid loves you, which means you’re one of us now as far as I’m concerned,” he added. “And we take care of our own, so just take it. Please. I’m surprised he didn’t already get you one.”

My mouth was at risk of catching flies. “I’m sorry. And I’m really grateful for the gesture, but I can’t accept this. I just can’t. It’s above and beyond even the best hospitality. I already have my phone if I get bored.”

“Well, I’m not returning it, so if you don’t use it, then it’ll just sit here and collect dust.” Oliver sighed, setting the box on the coffee table. He shook his head. “Julian is the only one of us who doesn’t have one, and he hates technology, so it’ll go to waste.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but they were too busy making goo-goo eyes at the abandoned tablet. “Oliver, I’m not a child. Reverse psychology won’t work on me.”

I saw him grin out of the corner of my eye, and the smugness in his tone was suffocating. “Won’t it?”

I used every ounce of my willpower to pull my gaze away from the shiny new toy and look at his smug face. “I really appreciate that you went out and got this—and I love the thought behind it—but I can’t accept a gift like this. I’m sorry. I don’t want you to spend money on me.”