Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
I pulled on a pair of my own black heels—Halley’s were too high—and walked out into the living room where Victoria was opening a second bottle of wine.
“Hope that’s all right,” she said when I saw her, sounding like she didn’t care one way or another. “You look…” her gaze narrowed as she took me in from head to toe. “Are those Mix No. 6?” she asked patronizingly when her eyes reached my shoes.
I glanced down at them. “I’m not sure. I got them from DSW.”
“Of course you did.” Victoria popped the cork and poured us both generous glasses of wine. “Well good job on the dress, okay?”
Strangely, her attitude only added to my confidence. She was wearing heeled sandals with gladiator-style straps that wound their way all the way up her calves to just below her knees, where she’d tied them off so tightly that they made white indentations in her skin and her calves bulged between them, looking almost quilted. The straps themselves were covered in small silver studs that made the shoes look like they should be classified as weapons. There was a line of matching studs on the back of the heel that reminded me of a brontosaurus. She’d covered her face in makeup that was two shades paler than her own skin, and strangest of all, she’d smeared the foundation over her eyebrows so at first glance, it looked like she didn’t have any.
If she didn’t think I looked good, well, that was all right with me.
When we got to the opening of what, confusingly, was a restaurant even though it was set up like a club for this special opening evening, I didn’t even feel self-conscious. Anyone who looked at us would skip right over me and stare at her. That would leave me free to peruse the available men in peace. I didn’t have much hope of finding a nice, normal guy in this crowd, but stranger things had happened.
And being with Victoria had other advantages. She seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go. She navigated us through the line quickly, got us up to the bar in minutes, and even managed to procure one of the small cocktail tables. Despite her outcast status at work, she seemed to know people here, and before long, she’d collected a group around us. I quickly got the vibe that these weren’t people I’d necessarily become friends with. They all seemed to have a similar mentality to Victoria. Even when they were talking to you, their eyes searched past you for someone more interesting. They deigned to speak to me at all because, like Victoria, I worked at The Walker Agency. I quickly discovered that working there was a type of currency in this world. It got me onto the lowest rung of importance. I had a feeling that if they knew I was friends with Halley Walker, I’d climb halfway up in one leap. Instinctively, I knew I’d never let them find out. I didn’t want these strange, beautiful social vampires to think I had anything they wanted.
For a while, it didn’t matter that I didn’t really like who I was with. The novelty of being out was enough. Then I treated it like a fascinating anthropological study in which I got to observe the mannerisms of social climbing society up close and personal. When even that got boring, I started to search for the man I’d come here for. Someone nice, who wasn’t buying into this either. I spotted a few possibilities, but either they were attached to someone or just something was missing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.
After two hours of this, my feet hurt, and I was two drinks in too deep. I wasn’t drunk exactly, but I wasn’t entirely steady. I hated that feeling.
“I’m going to get water,” I told Victoria. She glanced at me without comprehension, her mouth still moving a mile a minute as she gossiped with one of the other girls. Without bothering to repeat myself, I slipped away. Even with the alcohol buzzing in my bloodstream, I was starting to feel a little down. I didn’t want to be at this fancy opening with these fascinating people. I wanted to be in my old sorority house with my friends. And I didn’t want to be looking for nice boys like the kind I’d fallen for in Ohio.
I wanted Con.
The alcohol loosened the tight clamp my brain had put on the thought, and it sprung open so suddenly I didn’t have a chance to stuff it back down. I wanted him, and it didn’t matter that he was Halley’s dad or my boss. The desire was completely independent from reason, rational, and reality.
And then suddenly, he was there.
11
CON
The last place I wanted to be was at the opening of a restaurant I’d never eat at surrounded by people I’d never eat with. But Garrett had to go because he was on babysitting duty for a high-profile client who was on his last chance, and somehow, he swindled me into coming with him.