Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“I love that.”
“So,” Lark jumped in, “do you have holiday plans?”
I shook my head. “Nothing but work. You?”
“I was thinking… maybe we could all get away for a week. Go to one of my parents’ resorts in the Caribbean.”
“You would go to a St. Vincent’s Resort?” I asked, flabbergasted.
Lark’s relationship with her parents was shoddy at best. They’d relented on her job and Sam, but I couldn’t imagine her relenting on the company.
“Okay. I might have said that I’d have time to go down there and check things out. It’s a brand-new resort, and they want eyes on the ground before it officially opens. But you know… I could probably swing us all suites,” she said with a laugh. “Since you know… I own part of it.”
“I’m in,” Court said at once. He slung an arm around my waist. “She’s in, too. We need to get away.”
I laughed. “All right. Christmas at a St. Vincent’s Resort it is. Who else is coming?”
“Well, I’ve invited Penn and Natalie, but I think they’re going to her parents’ for Christmas. Gavin and Whitley and Robert are for sure in.” Lark glanced over at Katherine, who raised her eyebrow. “Are you and Camden free? I know it’s so close to your anniversary. I didn’t know if you’d have plans.”
Katherine looked to Camden, who had just entered the conversation.
He just stared back at her. “Do we have plans, Katherine?”
She swallowed and went pale, averting her gaze. “We could meet you after our anniversary.”
Lark grinned broadly. “That’d be great!”
But I was still frowning with interest at Katherine’s response. Why the hell had she gotten so pale? What was going to happen over their anniversary? Sometimes, I just did not get them at all.
I shook it off and decided Katherine and Camden might always remain a mystery.
“Dance with me?” I asked Court.
He pulled me close on the dance floor, and I leaned back against him. We danced and danced and danced some more. I was glad that we’d left the house. Even though I would have just as much enjoyed staying in. But I loved our friend group. It felt so real. So… personal. Like we’d entered a new phase of our friendship. No longer just the start of something, but that something had solidified.
We stepped back off of the dance floor, and I checked my phone reflexively. I’d started looking at it all the time after Taylor. And to my surprise, I’d missed a text from Winnie.
Holy shit! Look at what just came out about Margery!
I clicked the link, and my eyes widened in shock. Court read over my shoulder as it was revealed that Margery had been part of some ring that put young girls with old male directors. Video footage had been leaked of her involvement, and already, three of her highest-billed clients had left. One of them being Josh Hutch.
I gaped. “Holy fucking shit!”
Court swore, “What the fuck?”
“How could anyone even get this footage? This is insane. It’s going to close the whole agency around the scandal.”
Court glanced up and away, toward Camden, and then back. “He wouldn’t.”
“He? He who?”
He shook his head. “It was Camden.”
I raised an eyebrow in question. “What was Camden?”
“He found and released the footage.”
“But… how?”
“He owns one of the biggest hotel chains in the world. You have a Percy Tower in LA, right?”
I nodded slowly, realizing what he was insinuating. “But… but why would Camden do something like that? He hardly even knows Margery.”
“He found out that Margery had me followed and then released the pictures of me and Jane.”
My mouth dropped open. “Fuck! Of course she did.”
“And if Camden knew that… that she’d hurt me and hurt you… he’d stop at nothing.”
“But he doesn’t even seem to care. He doesn’t even talk to me. Actually, he’s really kind of scary when I’ve been alone with him.”
“I don’t know. Camden is a man of action, not words. He protects his own. I’ve seen it before.”
My head spun. “Wow. Should I… should I thank him?”
Court laughed. “If he wanted credit, I think he would have told us he did it.”
“But this is going to solve all my problems. He made it so that she’s going to have no way of coming after my business with Winnie.”
“Exactly,” Court said. “Victory enough.”
I shook my head, deeply confused. Camden Percy was both utterly terrifying and somehow incredible. Or maybe just incredibly powerful… which maybe made him more terrifying. As long as you stayed on his good side, everything would be fine.
“Don’t worry about it,” Court said, rubbing away the furrow in my brow. “Go dance with your girls. Enjoy the evening.”
I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him full on the mouth. “You’re the best train wreck to ever cross my path.”
He laughed. “You’re the best fixer I could have ever asked for.”