The main focus of most articles centred on an old love of his who was found murdered and floating in the New Raven River. It was interesting because nobody accused Borden of committing the horrible crime, but rather sparking a long chain of criminal activity afterwards. They said it was revenge that the two main murder suspects (who happened to be brothers) were found dead, their bodies almost burnt to a crisp a short distance from the river. But they could never surface the evidence that it was him who committed the crime. He had an alibi whenever he needed one. He had the knowledge and powerful league of lawyers when he needed them. He was, like everyone said, untouchable.

I spent a long time suddenly questioning my boldness today.

And kissing such a vile man.

And getting horny by it too.

Ughhhhhhhhhh.

My stomach churned in guilt. Granny would kill me if she knew.

After I finished, I cleared the history in case Granny was technologically savvy enough to see what I looked up; that woman never surprised me. Then I headed out the door and walked three blocks to the nearest bus stop, my hand in my pocket, gripping tight my blade.

When I got home that night, I looked him up again.

And again.

And…(sigh) again.

Twelve

Emma

The rest of the week was uneventful. Though I had Blythe and Tessa breathing down my neck about Borden’s visit, I remained tight lipped and unwilling to open up. Eventually they gave up, but they were pissy about it. Blythe was more concerned about me being in deep shit, but I assured her it wasn’t like that. Even though it totally was. Goddammit.

Friday rolled around and Granny had passed on the news to meet Joel at the New Raven Square in the north of town. It was no wonder either, of course a doctor like him could afford to live around there. He said he would be in front of the Bistro Bay restaurant, a very upmarket posh place I’d never been to before for obvious reasons.

I wasn’t looking forward to it. I sort of just wanted it done and over with because there was no way I was interested in being in a relationship. Especially when the last week I’d guiltily obsessed about Borden, part of me hoping he’d return to the diner to finish off that kiss.

But yeah, none of that happened.

I struggled finding something to wear. My finest outfit was the black strapless dress I’d worn at the club the weekend before. That might have been too revealing for a first date. I found a casual cap sleeve red dress with a long v neck. It definitely gave me curves in all the right places, which was a difficult thing to achieve lately when I dined on barely anything at all and nothing in my wardrobe hugged my figure the way it used to.

I straightened my black hair. Without the loose curls, it reached almost elbow length. It was a bit plain looking against my colourless face. I couldn’t afford a decent hair cut so I needed a distraction. I settled with red lipstick. It was bold but I hoped it worked.

It was just starting to get dark when I reached the New Raven Square. There were shops, restaurants, clubs and gardens all along this strip. I didn’t come down here too often. Everything was way out of my price range. I was definitely pressed for time, and it was made worse when I couldn’t find the place. There were many people roaming the streets, all fashionably dressed in groups or as couples headed in all different directions. Smiling faces everywhere. I felt out of place, like I was a wannabe in a sea of privileged people.

By the time I found the restaurant, I was late, out of breath and my feet were uncomfortable due to wearing high heels made from Satan’s asshole. I spotted Joel immediately, standing out front with his back against the wall, staring down at his watch with a frown on his face.

I hoped I didn’t fuck this up already by being late.

“Hi,” I said as I approached him carefully.

He glanced up at me and immediately his eyes roamed me up and down for a short moment, like he was checking out the product.

His mouth formed a wide smile. “Emma, right?”

I nodded, surprised by his high pitched voice that wasn’t all too manly.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I said.

Relaxed, he pushed off the wall and moved to me. He wasn’t huge, or anything, but he was tall and very fortunate looking (which helped overlook the voice thing). He moved in for a hug, surprising me with a soft kiss on the cheek. Whoa, that was fast.

“I’m glad you made it,” he told me softly. “I was worried you wouldn’t. We’re running a bit late because of your tardiness. Let’s go in, shall we?”

I blinked in surprise at his tardiness remark. “Sure,” I muttered.

“You look beautiful, by the way.”

I forced a smile. “Thank you.”

He lightly rested his hand on my lower back (of which I squirmed away from at least a dozen times) and led me inside the large two story stone structure. In no time, we were escorted to our table by a gorgeous hostess. The entire way there, I gawked at the place. It was so big and bright, the tables and chairs plush and luxurious. I’d never dined in a place so richly set up before. There were tall glass windows that put my diner to shame, crystal chandeliers dangling overhead, and a long winding staircase to the second floor dining area.

We made little chat at the table as the waitress dressed in a green, body hugging uniform gave us our menus. She was immaculate looking, without a hair out of place, just like all the others. Whoever hired them was very picky, I decided.

“Did you make these reservations a while ago?” I then asked, opening up the menu. “I can’t imagine a place like this making a booking unless it was way in advance.”

“Actually, I paid for the privilege,” he responded. “I put myself on the waiting list in case of cancellations. There was one three days ago and I paid a little extra for it.”

Oh jeez, talk about impressing a woman.

“I’m not sure I want to know how much you would have had to pay then. Judging by the price of these meals too, I’m a little speechless.”

“Relax,” he soothingly said on a wink that made it to both eyes. “You pick whatever grabs you, Emma. I’m more than happy to spend a fortune if it means being around someone as beautiful as you.”

I should have blushed but…no, I didn’t. Truth was, I was wary. How many men had tried to smooth talk me before, and how many of them did it with a single mission to get in between my legs?

We waited a while for our meals, and I tried my hardest to stare dreamily into the eyes of the man that clearly had the ability to sweep a woman off her feet, but I didn’t feel anything inside of me. No butterflies, no warmth, no curiosity. Instead, it was that stretch of awkward silence you sometimes get trapped in, like when you make a mistake by opening the door to a religious person, or a salesman, and you have no choice but to endure ten minutes of awkward chatting and you pretend to give a shit before finding an excuse to escape into your house and cringe like a motherfucker.