“Where you grew up?” Annie added. She sounded like she wanted to call him on his bullshit but didn’t.
“Yep,” he said amicably. He held his hand out to Peter. “You must be Peter. I’m Chester. I heard we should get fucked up together.”
Peter startled at Chester’s overbearing personality. Then he actually smiled and shook his hand. Not the sad thing he’d done to me. “Uh…yeah, sure.”
While the girls crowded together to get drinks, Hollin clapped Jordan on the back and grabbed Peter and Chester, leading them over to the darts at the back of the bar. Annie shared a look with Jen, and then when they got their drinks, the girls headed over to the darts as well, leaving us alone.
“Drink?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “I apparently make bad decisions when I’m drunk.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Bad decisions?”
“Well, I make decisions I wouldn’t normally make when sober.”
I frowned. I didn’t like that.
She saw my assessment and flushed, looking down. “I’d rather make them while sober, I mean.”
Okay. That I could work with.
We probably shouldn’t have tumbled into bed for the first time while we were drunk, but neither of us had thought it was going to happen until it did. I’d wanted it to happen, but I hadn’t been certain she did. Then the sex had been phenomenal and…
I needed to think about other things.
Casual. Fun. Keep it light.
“Well, I have another proposition, if you’re interested.”
Her gaze met mine. “Another one?”
“I know we’re supposed to go to the gala. Our second fake date,” I told her. “But my dad is actually coming into town next weekend, and I could use a date for that.”
She furrowed her brows. “You’re going out to dinner with your dad? I thought things were…”
“Bad,” I finished for her. “They are. I don’t want to go any more than you wanted to attend graduation.”
“Then why…”
“Jordan said that if I went and it went poorly—which it will—he’d leave me be. I wouldn’t get cajoled or ambushed into any more of this bullshit.”
“That’s an incentive,” she said softly. “And you want me to go?”
“Jordan and Annie are going. I’d really rather not go alone.” I shot her my most charming smile and pinned her with the puppy-dog eyes. She looked hesitant, so I threw in, “I’ll accept it as an apology for Cado.”
Jennifer burst into laughter. “You would.”
I reached out and touched her elbow. She didn’t stiffen, but her eyes widened slightly as I drew her a step closer.
“So, what do you say?”
“I, uh…have a portrait session with Campbell on Saturday, but I’m free after that. So, I can return the favor. Fake date in front of your dad.”
A fake date. Well, I’d walked right into that one. She didn’t need to know it was a real one…not until she was ready to hear it.
“Perfect.” I released her elbow. “Now, are you sure about that drink? I bet I can get them to make you a Dreamsicle.”
She blushed again. “I can’t believe you called me that in front of everyone.”
“What?” My voice dipped low. “No one knows that’s what you taste like.”
“That’s what you taste like,” she said muttered. Then her smile dropped. “Oh no…”
I whipped around, following her gaze to the front door…where Ashleigh Sinclair stood in all of her glory.
19
Jennifer
Oh no was an understatement.
A more accurate response to seeing Julian’s ex-girlfriend right now was…fuck.
Because the last person I wanted to deal with, let alone compare myself to, was the bombshell that walked into the room. Piper, Blaire, and Annie had done their best with me. I was wearing this kick-ass dress that Blaire had sworn a designer had sent her from Montreal but that—quote—“looked better with my complexion.” Piper had a knack with a curling wand, and after Blaire had finished with my face, I had been half-certain that it wasn’t actually me looking back at me in the mirror. I was a lip gloss and mascara kind of girl. This was daunting.
Now, I was a little glad for the proverbial body armor when Ashleigh walked in. She wore a cherry-red bustier dress that matched her fire-engine lipstick. Her hair was down in these supermodel waves that was her signature. She had a sun-kissed tan that made me look pasty as hell since the sun hated me. Not to mention, the four-inch heels and the glowing self-confidence that I also lacked. It was a tough act to follow.
“Just ignore her,” Julian said. He turned back around, as if her presence meant nothing to him.
Sometimes, I wished that Lubbock wasn’t so small. What were the chances she’d show up at the same bar as us?
“Do you think that will work?” I asked.
She hadn’t exactly walked away the last time we ran into her at Wright Vineyard.
“No,” he said under his breath.
“I’ll take that drink now.”
He laughed softly and flagged down the bartender.
Before the drink ever made it into my hand, Ashleigh and her band of minions traipsed right over to us. I was desperately wishing for Annie at my side right now. Annie wouldn’t take Ashleigh’s shit. If only I had that level of confidence. But seeing Ashleigh tower over me only made me want to run. Instead, I shot straight past fight or flight to freeze, where I stood in front of her like an idiot, deer in headlights.
“What a coincidence,” Ashleigh crooned like it wasn’t a coincidence at all.
Julian took a breath next to me and then faced her. All the humor and charm he’d been laying on all evening evaporated. “Ashleigh.”
“Hey, baby.”
His jaw tightened. “What are you doing here?”
“Just out with the girls.” She twirled her fingers at the three girls behind her—a brunette, redhead, and black-haired girl. As if she’d picked them all out so that her blonde would stand out.
“Well, have fun,” he said dismissively.
He turned toward me, sliding his arm across the bar. He wasn’t quite touching me, but the insinuation was clear. We were together. Even though we weren’t.
Which meant that the full fury on her face was only there for me. Julian wasn’t looking at her. He must have felt her anger like a brand. How could he not? But it wasn’t about him anymore; it was about me.
“And who’s this?” she purred.
Oh, she hated his dismissal. Hated it.
Julian didn’t respond, but I was locked in on Ashleigh. Her eyes searing through me.
“Is this the girl you were in pictures with in Austin?” she asked.
Julian sighed. “How would you even know that? I blocked you on social.”
“Tiff showed me.” She gestured to the redheaded minion.
“Of course she did,” he muttered. “Yes, this is Jennifer. You met her at the opening last month.”
Ashleigh’s eyes rounded when she put two and two together. She’d cared so little about me at the vineyard that she’d actually forgotten my existence. She was now realizing that her calculations had been misguided, and all the gears in her brain were clicking over to incorporate me into her hatred.