Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Not a Girlfriend
Chapter 176: Not a Girlfriend
Naomi waited until she felt like a fish left belly-up in a bowl, and Elias still showed no sign of coming back.
Then she smacked herself on the forehead.
"Damn it."
She had been stupid.
How had she actually believed him? Elias took pleasure in lying to women. Serena Blackwood, Giselle Frost, all those terrifying women who could ruin most people’s lives with one phone call, he treated their feelings like toys. What did Naomi think her trust was worth to him?
He was definitely in Yvonne Quinn’s bed right now.
Meanwhile, she had been sitting at home like an idiot, waiting for him to come back for his suitcase.
Naomi shoved her feet into her shoes and left.
If Elias wanted to play, she could play too. She pulled out her phone, dialed a number, and smiled before the call even connected.
"Hey."
Sloane Sinclair answered with mild confusion in her voice. "Yeah?"
"Is Giselle with you?"
"No." Sloane sounded like she was sighing through her nose. "Don’t even get me started. I don’t know what happened to her, but Mrs. Frost called her home once, and now she’s been following her mother around to big events and charity dinners like a perfectly obedient heir."
Naomi paused.
That was a real change.
Giselle had left home in the first place because she could not stand Victoria Frost’s control. Now she had gone back willingly and was walking the path her mother laid out for her.
Naomi thought about it for a few seconds, and a certain beautiful, shameless face slipped naturally into her mind.
If anyone could change Giselle that much, it was him.
The corner of Naomi’s mouth lifted. She almost laughed, but held it back. "Do you know where Giselle is now?"
"Probably at some charity gala." Sloane paused. "Why are you asking?"
Naomi and Giselle were friendly enough, but mostly when Sloane was around. Left alone, Naomi rarely sought Giselle out. Giselle was too boring for her taste, the same age as them but always acting like she had already skipped straight into composed adulthood.
Naomi finally laughed. "Because I was going to that gala too. Perfect timing, right? Want to come? The three of us can hang out."
Sloane gave a bitter little laugh. "Can’t today. Family stuff."
Naomi had not wanted her to come anyway.
Going by herself to poke at Giselle would be much more fun.
She put on a disappointed tone. "Another matchmaking thing? Fine, fine. Go suffer. I understand."
She did understand, in the most practical way possible. Naomi had an older sister above her, and that sister was good at everything. The family business would never land on Naomi’s shoulders, which was why she could waste her days watching drama and chasing entertainment.
In that way, she was a little like Liora Voss.
While Naomi drove toward the charity gala, Elias and Yvonne were still locked in their own private war.
Yvonne was like someone who had starved all her life and suddenly been handed the best meal in the world with no limit placed on how much she could take. Once she tasted it, restraint became almost impossible. She devoured the experience with the kind of focus that made even Elias feel a flicker of danger.
It was as if she wanted to swallow him whole.
Even Elias felt it in his bones, a tingling ache that sank deep and spread outward.
Without Pain Shielding, that sensation would have been pain buried all the way down to the marrow.
That was enough to show how starved Yvonne really was.
And this was still before she had done anything truly twisted to him. Everything had stayed within the range of ordinary adult indulgence, yet Elias still felt as if his whole body had been taken apart and loosely put back together.
He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
Compared with before, his eyes were much more unfocused. It took a long time before his gaze gathered itself again.
Then laziness settled over him. He turned his face toward the woman beside him and slowly lifted one long, pale arm to touch her cheek.
His eyes filled with so much affection that it almost looked sincere.
"Yvonne," he whispered, his voice tender enough to pass for a confession. "I love you so much."
Yvonne did not even blink.
She did not believe a boy whose every move was aimed at getting a woman into bed would produce love that quickly. Even if he did, it would probably be like a soap bubble, pretty for a second and gone the moment someone touched it.
Yvonne gave no response.
Elias did not mind. His hand slid from her cheek to the back of her neck, and he rose just enough to press a loud, deliberate kiss against her mouth.
"Mwah."
Then he grinned. "Now I love you even more."
There it was.
That was his love.
A child’s love for a new toy. Bright, possessive, easily pleased, and just as easily discarded once the novelty wore off.
For this boy, novelty might already be close to running out.
Elias rested against Yvonne for a while, letting the aftermath drain out of his limbs. Then he glanced toward the window and realized the morning was no longer early.
He pushed himself up at once. "Crap. I still have to go back to school."
Yvonne’s expression shifted by a fraction, as if she had only just remembered that Elias was still a college student.
Elias looked back at her, and wickedness crept into his smile. "Dr. Quinn, do you want more? Sorry, I have to go. Try to endure it."
He paused.
"Though if you agree to be my girlfriend, I could maybe stay a little longer."
Yvonne cut him off before he finished.
"No."
Elias had expected that answer, but he still widened his eyes in theatrical shock.
"What?"
"You slept with me and didn’t enjoy it?" he demanded, looking genuinely offended. "Why won’t you be my girlfriend?"
Yvonne looked at him calmly.
In Elias’s mind, perhaps physical satisfaction and emotional attachment were supposed to rise together. That was why he seemed so shocked that she could refuse.
Yvonne’s pale lips moved.
"It’s getting late. You should go back."
Elias acted angry for a little longer.
Then his face changed.
The fury vanished so cleanly it might never have existed. He looked completely indifferent now.
"Fine. If you don’t want to, then don’t."
He dismissed the idea as easily as if he had never cared at all.
"I’m using your shower."
Elias climbed out of bed without bothering to cover himself and went into the bathroom for a quick rinse. When he came back out, Yvonne was no longer in the bedroom.
He shrugged.
So Yvonne was not that far gone yet. He had been standing right in front of her, and she had still managed not to drag him back and cut him open to see what was inside.
That was not strange.
Characters in the original plot were usually defined by a few broad traits, but once they became real people, no one could stay that flat. A real person had discipline, habits, pride, blind spots, limits, and little contradictions that never made it into a plot summary.
Which meant Yvonne’s darker impulses still needed time.
He would have to draw them out slowly.
Elias dressed, took his time smoothing himself into presentable shape, and walked into the living room.
Yvonne was there, already fully dressed.
Elias went straight to her, rose onto his toes, and kissed her mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Then he smiled.
"I had a lot of fun today," he said. "From now on, when I’m in bed with someone else, I’ll say your name."
