Secrets Of The Alpha: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (His Secrets Series Book 1) (13 page)

“Sure. I’ll have some before I go to bed.” I slowly walked up to where he was and looked at him.

“Where were you all day, Vincent?” I asked as I looked at him. He took a long deep breath and made his way to the kitchen.

“I’m tired, Winnie. I really don’t want to talk about this,” he said.

“What do you mean, Vincent? You are too tired to tell me what you did?” I followed him into the kitchen as he gulped down a glass of water. “Well, I can get you started if you don’t want to talk. I woke up, had cereal for breakfast, baked some cookies and…” he turned around and looked at me.

“Damn it, Winnie! I said I am exhausted.” His tone got me off guard. He had never spoken to me like that. I looked at him and wondered what I was supposed to say to him. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.” He walked out of the kitchen and I wanted to mention that he had not had his stew but I didn’t think he was going to listen to me.

What could he have been doing that left him so tired that he didn’t want to talk about it?
I wondered as I stood alone in the kitchen. At that moment, Gloria’s words echoed in my head again. I could not help but wonder if she might have been right. I leaned against the counter and took a long deep breath as I blinked back a tear. This was not the Vincent I knew. This was not the Vincent I loved.

Chapter 10

I was still angry with Vincent when I woke up the next morning. I chose not to fight with him because I had a big day planned. Gloria was supposed to come back for another meeting and, judging by how great the first meeting had gone, I was really looking forward to meeting her that day. I chose to put on a strapless maxi dress and held my hair back, leaving a few curls free to frame my face. For the first time in a long time, I put on some light makeup: some color on my cheeks and some plum lip-gloss before I put on a pair of flat-soled strapped sandals. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and took a long deep breath before I walked out of the room. I made my way to the kitchen and cleaned up a little before I grabbed a cup of yogurt. I then prepared myself a bowl of fruit and then walked to the living room. I switched on the TV and sat down as I enjoyed my very light breakfast.

Damn it, I miss you Lou,
I thought as I bit into a strawberry. He had only been there for a month, but he had me spoiled rotten. I loved the idea of waking up to a fresh delicious breakfast and being waited on.
You sound like a spoiled brat.
I looked at my bowl of fruit and smiled. I had been waiting on people for so long, but when I had a taste of what the people I served had I didn’t really wanted to lose it. But now, the service was gone and I was back to waiting on myself and picking up after Vincent. I looked at the TV and realized that I had been sitting there watching it, but never really engaged in what was happening on the screen.

I had been sitting there for a while wondering why I was holding a grudge against Vincent. I wished he was there so that I could apologize for trying to be pushy but I didn’t know where he was or how he was and he was probably the only person I knew in this day and age who didn’t have a cell phone on him.

I had just walked back to the kitchen when I heard a knock on the front door. I took a series of deep breaths to calm myself down as I walked to the door. I had to make sure I looked relaxed when Gloria saw me.

“Ophagia,” I said in surprise when I opened the door.

“Winnie,” she said as she stepped in. “You look surprised to see me.” She walked to the living room and I shrugged.

“A friend of mine was supposed to drop by this morning, that’s all,” I said as I followed her to the living room. “Can I get you something? I just had some fruit and yogurt.” Ophagia shook her head and sat down.

“I don’t intend on staying long, my dear. I only came to talk about Vincent.” I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Why? Is everything okay?” I asked as I looked at her. She shrugged and then shook her head.

“I don’t really know, dear. He has been…a little off of late. And I was just wondering if you could tell me what he has been up to,” she said.

I sat down and looked at her. I would have hoped that if there was anyone who would give me answer as to what Vincent had been up to, it would have been Ophagia, but no, even she didn’t know what was going on.

“I really don’t know what is going on. He has been a little off like you said and he just leaves without telling me where he is going and when he comes back, he almost always never wants to talk about what he has been doing or where he was…” my voice trailed off.

Talking about this was making me sad, mostly because I didn’t know what was going on or how I was supposed to handle myself about everything. I looked at Ophagia and I could tell that she was just as curious as I was. Maybe not as desperate as I was, but curious all the same.

“I think that Vincent is struggling to control the beast in him,” Ophagia said. I looked at her and suddenly all the anger I had been harboring in my heart for Vincent was no longer there.

“What do you mean? How do you know this?” I asked, both surprised at what she said and scared for Vincent’s wellbeing. Ophagia shrugged.

“That’s just what I feel. Like there is an off chance that he is struggling,” she said again. I sat there feeling scared and confused as Ophagia stood up and began heading towards the door. I looked up at her and shook my head.

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

She looked at me over her shoulder and gave me a small nod before she walked off, leaving me to my thoughts. I leaned back in the chair and grabbed a pillow. I held it tightly as I thought of Vincent. Where could he have gone so early in the morning? Was he still annoyed with me after last night? I wished that I could talk to him, if for anything just to know how he was.

I spent the better part of the day binging on ice cream even though I knew that it was a bad idea, given the fact that I was about to go back to acting. I had some stew later that afternoon and took to baking. It always made me feel better when I did. I made a pound cake before I curled up in front of the TV, not really watching it but passing time as I watched reruns of
Mad Men.
As I sat there, all I wanted to do was curl up in Vincent’s arms. To feel his heart beating in perfect rhythm with mine. It was almost eight in the evening when I heard a knock on the door. I got off the couch and walked to the door, hoping that Vincent was on the other side of that door.

But why would he knock on the door of his own house?
I wondered as I walked to the door.

“Miss Darling…I mean Gloria,” I muttered when I opened the door. “What are you doing here?” I had completely forgotten that she was supposed to come over.

“I’m so sorry for coming so late, dear. Things at the office never seem to get done on time,” she said. I stepped aside as I looked at her.

“Please, come in,” I said.

“Thank you, dear,” she said as she walked to the living room.

“Anything to eat, drink? Tea? Coffee?” I asked. I put the kettle on and looked at Gloria, who was getting some papers out of her bag.

“Take your pick dear,” she said with a smile. I smiled and cut a slice out of the pound cake I had made earlier before pouring us two cups of coffee.

“I hope it’s okay that I didn’t make it so strong. I was just about to go to bed,” I said as I carried a tray to the living room.

“Don’t sweat it, dear. I have never been a big fan of caffeine anyway,” Gloria said as I placed her coffee and slice of cake in front of her. I sat down opposite her and slowly sipped on my coffee. “I’m really sorry about this morning. But like I said, the office…” I shook my head before she could finish.

“Don’t worry about it, really.” She took a sip of her coffee and looked at me.

“Still, I should have called. That is the polite thing to do, you know,” she said. I shrugged.

“Actually, the day was kind of busy for me too. I barely had enough time to do anything,” I said as I looked at her. She looked at me and leaned forward.

“Care to talk about it?” she asked. I forced out a laugh and shook my head.

“Actually, I would rather not. It’s just that…” I didn’t know what I was supposed to tell her. I didn’t want to tell her anything that would make me come off as the kind of person who aired her dirty linen out in public. I forced out a laugh again. “It’s just been a long day,” I said as I raised my cup to my lips. “A really long day.”

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about it maybe it’s a good thing I’m here,” she said as she looked at me. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “I come bearing good news,” she said as she put the papers she had taken out of her bag on the table. I leaned forward to look at them and she placed a pen on the papers.

“What’s this?” I asked as I looked at the papers on the table. She picked up the pen and handed it to me.

“Your contract, and you are going to sign it.” I raised an eyebrow and shifted my gaze from her to the papers and then back to her again.

“Wait? Already?” I asked, surprised. She smiled and nodded at me.

“I told you, Gloria Darling is the real deal,” she said almost too proudly.

I picked up the contract and flipped through the pages. I was not really reading it; I was simply fascinated. This was the first time I was looking at a contract. Back when I did the other acting jobs, all I signed were non-disclosures. I looked at the pages and somehow, I just couldn’t help but wonder if I should have been the one signing it. Wasn’t legal representation part of the deal?

“Well, what are you waiting for, dearie?” said Gloria. “Sign the damn papers and let’s get to business already!” She sounded more excited than me, and I was the talent. I looked at her and shrugged.

“I really appreciate what you are doing for me, Gloria but this…everything is moving too fast and…” I never got a chance to finish what I intended to say. She looked at me and leaned forward, shrugging.

“What is there to think about Winnie? You are beautiful, talented and an obvious win for me. Why would you be concerned about things moving fast? I mean, I appreciate your skepticism, but the sooner we get started the better, right?”

I looked at the papers and felt the need to go through the contract. And then there was Vincent. What Ophagia had said to me was still resounding in my head. I could have been here doing all this behind his back, yet he was far from being okay. I felt guilty just thinking about it. I had never wanted to be next to him more than I wanted to be at that moment. I looked at Gloria and shook my head.

“I am grateful for everything you have done, Gloria but I just can’t do this. At least not right now,” I said. I could see that she was clearly agitated but there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t feel right signing the contract on that day.

“Don’t stress over this, dear. I can always come back tomorrow,” Gloria said as she looked at me. I frowned.

“Tomorrow is still a little too soon. The situation I had to deal with is still a major factor with no imminent timeline,” I explained.

I was trying to express myself the best I could without divulging any personal information. The last thing I needed was to read about Vincent’s personal life in the tabloids. I could tell that my answer did not do anything to lighten Gloria’s mood.

“Alright. I will give you some time then but I will be back again, soon.” She leaned back in her chair and took a bite of her pound cake. “And when I do come that time, that contract will need to be signed.”

It sounded more like a threat than a simple statement. I looked at her and she still had a smile on her face as if it just came naturally to her. I couldn’t really tell what she was thinking. Trying to read her was as hard as climbing a mountain in heels.

It seemed like forever before Gloria’s social call ended. I walked her to the door and watched as she drove off before I walked back to the living room and took the contract to my room. I put it away in my closet and then walked up the stairs to Vincent’s room. I changed out of the dress and into one of Vincent’s pajama shirts and climbed into bed, still worried about him. I lay back in bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing he was there with me. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep, but I was trying as much as I could not to fall asleep until Vincent came back. I would have wanted to see him before I slept, but this was not going to happen. I was tired of this. I had literally spent a whole day just worrying about him and it was exhausting.

Maybe I should call the police or something,
I thought, but what if I did? What was I going to say? They were obviously going to ask the usual questions…whether we had an argument or something, and the truth was that we had. Plus, he had not been gone long enough for them to consider launching a search for him anyway. And considering what Gloria had suggested the day before, I would not have blamed the authorities if the assumed that he had taken off with some two-dollar skank. And there was also the fact that Gloria had come over with a contract before I had even got a chance to tell Vincent what I had been up to.

Relax, Winnie. He is okay…he is fine. He is going to come back to you. He always does,
I thought as I drifted off to sleep. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep when the loud ringing of the phone woke me up. I rolled over and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” I said in a groggy voice.

“Hello, Winnie…thank God.” It was Ophagia. She sounded more distraught than I had ever heard her, and considering Ophagia’s cool calm and collected self, I was worried. This almost never happened.