Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
My body seized. I felt frozen in place. But slowly, I loosened enough to turn around to see none other than Penn Kensington strolling over to our party.
11
Camden
I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly. My grip tightened on my beer. I had one hour. One hour where I could be out with my friends before I had to take my conference call back in our villa. The last thing I wanted to deal with was Penn Kensington.
Court put his hand on my shoulder. He didn’t have to say anything. We both knew that this wasn’t good. It was ironic really that my closest friend was brothers with the man I despised the most. Of course, up until recently, Court and Penn hadn’t gotten along either. It had been easier for me that way.
“Just let it go,” Court finally said.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t just let it go.
I turned and found Penn striding toward my wife. His wife, Natalie, was nowhere to be seen. Convenient. I didn’t trust him. Not an ounce. And I couldn’t see that I ever would.
“It’s not worth it,” Court continued.
Gavin laughed next to him. “I mean, I would like to see who would win that fight.” Court shot him an exasperated look. Gavin held his hands up. “What? They should get it over with.”
Gavin was our resident instigator. He didn’t take much seriously. Not even the work he did for his family’s oil company, Dorset & King. But he reaped the benefits. I’d begrudgingly learned to like him when he was at Harvard with Court and me. I didn’t mind when he spoke to my baser instincts.
“They should not just get it over with,” Sam said automatically.
He was the newest member of our group. In fact, he hadn’t even been born Upper East Side. He had come from some small town in North Carolina. It was amazing that I even tolerated him. But the first time I’d met him, he’d hustled all three of us at poker. It had been a big enough jackass move, clearing out thirty grand from the lot of us, that I decided he could stay.
I gritted my teeth. Penn had finally reached the girls. He smiled effortlessly, like he had not a care in the world. Katherine was looking up at him. I couldn’t see her face, but I could picture it. I’d seen her stare at Penn Kensington enough to know what she looked like around him.
“Why do you even care so much?” Gavin asked.
“That’s his wife,” Court said.
“And? It’s a contract, right? You and Katherine got, like, an old-fashioned arranged marriage. You can both fuck whoever else you want.”
Sam frowned, always so solemn. “I don’t think it works like that.”
“Yeah, but Fiona…”
“We’re not talking about Fiona,” I growled.
“All right, all right. I was just asking,” Gavin muttered.
“Well, don’t ask,” Court said. “It’s complicated.”
I didn’t know how to explain any of it to Gavin. Let alone myself. I’d wanted Katherine long before I got her to agree to marry me for my money. And I’d hated her relationship with Penn even longer. The way they fed off of each other. Hurt each other. Abused each other. All in the name of love. I didn’t miss the irony, considering my relationship with Katherine now. But it didn’t mean I liked seeing her around Penn either.
Before I questioned what I was doing, I pushed away from the bar and headed toward where Penn stood with my wife. I could feel Court follow behind me, there to intercede if need be.
Penn looked up at my approach, and his mouth turned down in a frown. He did not look pleased to see me. Not one bit.
Katherine and Lark rose to their feet. I saw that they both looked unsettled by my approach. But neither said anything. What would they say? They were crew. The core group of people that Katherine had grown up with—Larkin St. Vincent, Penn Kensington, Lewis Warren, and Archibald Rowe. They were her family as much or more than the people who had raised her. They protected their own.
“Percy,” Penn said with no love lost in his voice.
“Kensington,” I said with the same tone, only harder, rougher.
Katherine cleared her throat. A little cough and a pointed look in my direction. She crossed her arms over her ample chest. My eyes flicked down and then back up at her. “Camden…”
Fuck.
Oh fuck.
The goddamn truce. Why had I suggested that?
When Monica had mentioned it, I’d never thought that Katherine would agree. It had seemed out of the realm of possibility. But now, we were here, and we’d both agreed not to argue or fight for the next week. I’d meant with each other, but if I laid into Penn right here, would it be any different?
No.
I ground my teeth together. I couldn’t say a damn word that I wanted to say. I had to bite my tongue. Even though it was the last thing that I wanted to do. I wanted to tell Penn how much of a self-righteous prick he was and to stay the hell away from my wife, but it wouldn’t even matter. Katherine wouldn’t listen. She and Penn circled each other. It was inevitable.