“Where’s Betsy? She still only listening to Taylor Swift?”
Betsy is Miles’s rescue dog and when he got her, that was all she would listen to. It calmed her down or something. I don’t know. But it’s still fun to tease him about.
“She’s also with London’s parents. And yes, she’s still a diehard Swiftie.”
“Aria? That’s the one who is with Wes?” Royce asks, adjusting the overnight bag in his hand. “We met her last year when we came up from New York for a visit, right?”
“Yep,” I confirm. “It’s going to be a crew of doctors, nurses, lawyers, artists, and who knows whoever else. Aria likes to throw her dinner parties right.”
I’m assuming Brecken will be there though I haven’t asked, and Aria didn’t say. She mentioned our usual group, but she didn’t say him. I’m hoping he won’t be there. I still feel bad about how I left things with him, even if it was a necessary evil. It was the right thing to do. Spending time alone with him is dangerous for my body and my heart.
“As long as you guys don’t do your medical talk at the table that you all think is perfectly acceptable dinner conversation but makes the rest of the world physically ill.”
I laugh at Miles’s pained expression. “Don’t worry. We’ve gotten very good at curbing the disgusting medical talk. Aria can’t tolerate it either.”
“Fantastic,” Royce drawls. “Which rooms are ours? God, I forgot how fucking huge your place is.”
I roll my eyes at him, though my house is huge—especially for one person. I point to the stairs. “I made up two of the guest rooms on the second floor. Just don’t use the purple bedroom with all the posters on the walls. That one belongs to my niece, Stella.”
“Your nice? Which of your brothers does she belong to again?” Miles questions.
“Landon. She’s Landon’s. None of my other brothers have kids yet. And no picking on the people with large families.”
He grins. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Though six kids seems crazy.”
“Tell me about it. Now go freshen up.” I point again, this time as an order. “We’ll leave in about an hour or so.”
“Perfect,” London says. “I’m already starving.”
“You’re always starving now,” Savannah teases, the two sisters going back and forth as they make their way upstairs to find their bedrooms.
An hour and then some later we arrive at Aria’s. With my stomach in my chest and my heart in my throat, we enter to chatter and hugs, cheek kisses and welcomes. There are at least a dozen others here, mingling about with smiles on their faces and drinks in their hands. It’s a Wednesday night, but you’d never know it. Aria never does anything conventionally and throwing a weekend soiree on a weeknight is just how she rolls.
My eyes cast about the room, my breath escaping me in nervous pants. Even so, I feel ridiculous for being this nervous to see him. What am I expecting he’ll do? Yell? Possibly. I know I pissed him off. Flirt? That’s a given with him.
I also have a feeling I’m not the only female he’d do that with given the opportunity. He’s a rake. A charmer. A womanizer.
Isn’t that what Aria said?
Isn’t that what I’ve seen and experienced firsthand?
I’m nothing special to him, and the sooner I start to heed that message, the better off I’ll be. Still, my heart thunders uncomfortably as I spot him across the first floor, hanging in the entry between the kitchen and the hall talking with none other than Oliver.
Oliver catches my eye and throws me a mischievous smirk.
Bastard. I never should have told him anything about Brecken. I doubt he would have recognized him and it’s not like I ever got his name that night.
“Holy… isn’t that? Yes, it is. Talking to Oliver. Rina, that’s the—”
“Shhh,” I hiss at Savannah, shoving her hand down as she starts to point at him. Grabbing her arm, I pull both her and London to the side and into the formal living room. “How on earth did you recognize him? That was three years ago.”
“I have a crazy memory for faces.” She turns that finger on me, a smile all over her face and effusing her features with glee. “You didn’t tell me about him. You thought you could get away with hiding that? Girl, you must be crazy.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember him.”
She cackles at that. “The hottest sex of your life? Yeah, right, I wouldn’t remember him. What is he even doing here?”
“Ugh.”
“What? Who are we talking about?”
“The hot as a sweaty dick guy talking to Oliver.”
I scrunch up my nose. “Gross. Really?”
“Yeah, really. He’s the one who asked Rina out in front of the entire bar that New Year’s Eve you were shacked up with Miles.”
“Oh, that’s him!” London’s eyes pop out of her head. “I want to see.” London makes for the door and I haul her back just as she starts looking. “But I didn’t get a good look yet,” she whines. “Just his profile.”
“You can’t do that. He’ll see you and I’m trying not to have him see me.”
She snorts. “Good luck with that. He was talking to your brother and this isn’t exactly a big party. Why don’t you want him to see you?”
I gnaw on my lip.
“Dish it, sister,” Savannah orders with a look that says I’m not going anywhere until I do.
I go through everything that’s happened because they’re the only ones I can tell.
And when I’m done, mercifully, neither laughs at my predicament. In fact, Savannah’s only retort is, “I don’t know what to say.”
“Yeah. I mean, on the one hand, I kinda get Aria’s POV.”
“POV?” I question.
London rolls her violet eyes. “Point of view. Sorry. Author lingo. But I mean, if Sav or Charlie ever tried dating one of my best friends, I’d be worried. Especially if said sister had a history of causing rifts in my friendships. It’s like, how do you choose? Your sibling or your friend? It’s awful.”
“I don’t want to date Brecken. I don’t want to date anyone. That’s not the issue here.”
Both London and Savannah purse their lips but hold their tongues. They know what happened to me only because London was there for it. She graduated from Columbia the same year as Harrison. In fact, they were friends at one point.
Until he turned into a crazy, obsessed stalker.
Eventually when I befriended Savannah, it came up. Their other sister, Charlie, and I were never that close. It’s always been the three of us even though these women are all older than me.
They’re the only ones who know the whole story. And because of that, they haven’t pressed me the way my brothers—who don’t think I should let what happened be a romantic deterrent—and my friends do about ‘getting back out there’. I haven’t told them yet about Harrison’s father trying to hunt me down. I’m not sure if I will or if I won’t.
But my dating life is more complex than what Harrison did to me. For better or worse, I’m a Fritz. A billionaire and that’s just my trust fund. Yes, I’m a nurse and that’s what most people see me as, but once they learn who my family is, it changes the dynamic. Trust me, I’ve seen it in men’s eyes before once they learn my last name. So, no thanks.