Evelyn walked up the driveway of the house she almost bought for her parents. It looked so different. The shrubs and trees had been trimmed back and the driveway widened, and there were workmen at one side of it. It looked like they had extended it.
Roman was so insensitive to bring her here. How did he expect her to feel?
But of course, Roman never cared about anyone’s feelings.
She walked further up the driveway and saw her car parked in front of the construction trucks. Has it been repainted? It looked brand new, even the tyres.
A man in a high-visibility and hard hat came out of the front door holding a clipboard. She walked up to him quickly.
“Hi. I was told to come and collect my car,” she said pointing to it.
“Yes, I was told you were coming. Ring the bell, your keys are inside,” the man said.
“Thank you,” she said as she walked up to the door and knocked.
They would have to move their vehicles for her to be able to come out of the driveway. Hopefully, she wouldn’t inconvenience them too much. Then once she drove away she would finally be free of this man.
The door opened and she turned with a smile on her face.
And then the smile fell off and she sucked in a breath.
It couldn’t be.
Why was he there? Was this a trap?
“Hello, Evelyn.”
It had been months, she had forgotten the devastating impact he had on her. Hearing his voice brought feelings crashing back onto her body as those piercing blue eyes held hers. Her heart started pounding out of her chest. She felt her limbs weaken as she remembered their last night together. She’d been so scared of him.
“I…”
She turned to walk away. She felt lightheaded at being ambushed like this. Any moment now she was going to fall flat on her face. Why hadn’t she thought of this possibility? She was not prepared to see Roman face to face. Maybe she would never be prepared for that.
“Don’t run away, Evelyn. Come in while I get your keys. I’d put them safe so they wouldn’t get lost with all the work being done here.”
She looked over at the workmen who were busy on the other end of the house. Was she just being paranoid? This house was in a busy neighbourhood and the workmen were around. He couldn’t keep her here as he had at the other house.
She turned back to Roman.
“I… I’ll wait here,” she said.
“You can leave the door open, but I think you need to sit down while I get the keys and some water. You look very pale.”
Whereas he didn’t look affected at all. It was like he had already put everything behind him, and she was just holding him up from his work.
She nodded and then watched as Roman backed away from the door.
She left it open as he suggested and stepped into the house without taking her eyes off him.
“It’s a little bit dusty here. Come through to the kitchen.”
The house had completely changed. It was more open but the original features that her parents had loved were still intact. It was extended back but she couldn’t see what the other rooms were.
Maybe he’d added a playroom for his next whore.
“Evelyn.”
She turned her attention away from the house to follow him down a hallway into a kitchen that had also been extended.
She would never have afforded to do the house up like this, but her father would have had no problems moving around even in this room.
Was Roman trying to rub it in her face? Show her what she had thrown away by refusing to be his plaything?
She sat down at a chair in the kitchen-diner and looked out the glass sliding doors that went across the whole wall. And he’d even added a large patio. Somewhere her parents could have sat to enjoy the sunsets together.
She shook her head and watched Roman open the fridge and pull a bottle of water out.
“How have you been?” He asked as he found a glass and brought both to the table.
Was he really interested?
“Fine,” she lied.
Roman nodded and took the seat opposite her. She tensed. What was he going to do? Why wasn’t he getting the keys?
“You look well,” Roman said.
She didn’t answer him as she grabbed the bottle of water and opened it. Her hand was still shaking when she poured some into the glass, and when she looked up at him again, she knew he had noticed.
“I’m not a monster, Evelyn,” Roman said quietly.
No, he was worse. He was Satan.
She didn’t answer him again as she drank some of the water.
“Can I have my keys?”
She held his gaze for a moment before he nodded and stood from the table.
What was he trying to do here? Sit down and talk like she hadn’t had to run from him in the middle of the night? Like she hadn’t spent so long looking over her shoulder wondering if he would find a way to drag her back?
Like she didn’t cry herself to sleep every night because her stupid heart still believed she had loved him even after what he had done?
“Ma’am?”
She looked at the workman she had spoken to before as he walked into the kitchen.
“Can you tell Mr. Ashfield we’re going on our break?”
And leaving her all alone with Roman?
She nodded and watched him walk back out, but she followed seconds later. She was not going to stay alone with him. She would wait by the door and the moment Roman gave her the keys she would go and not look back.
Roman appeared in the hallway seconds later from where she assumed the staircase was. He saw her waiting by the door and paused.
There was a moment, just one moment, when she thought she saw something in his eyes. Pain? But it disappeared quickly as he walked to her and handed her the keys.
She didn’t wait for him to say anything else before she walked out of the house and went to her car.
She hadn’t even gone in yet when she realised her situation. The workmen had indeed gone, but their trucks were still there, blocking her car off.
“If they’ve gone on their break, they won’t be long,” Roman said from the doorway. “Come and wait in the house. It’s too cold outside.”
And then he walked back in as if he didn’t think there was a problem with that.
Was she the only one who could still feel that? The tension that had always been there between them that usually ended with a tumble in bed?
She looked at her little car, and then the trucks blocking it.
She’d used her last money to buy a one-way bus ticket to get here. Payday wasn’t for another two days so if she left the car here she wouldn’t be able to get to work.
She let out a breath as she walked slowly back onto the house and found Roman waiting for her.
“I’m not sure how long they’ll be gone. Close the door this time to keep the heat in.”
As she turned to close it, she heard her heart thundering even more in the silence. Why did she feel like she was making a mistake?