“You’d better.”
“How exactly do you know each other?” Gavin asked, slinging an arm around Charlie’s shoulders.
“She’s, like, best friends with my brother,” Charlotte explained. “Lewis Warren.”
“Ah, yes, I’ve heard all about him.”
Charlie frowned. The investigation into Warren Enterprise had been a blow. I doubted she wanted to talk about that.
I turned my attention to English to allow them some privacy. She was giving me a look. I knew that look.
She lowered her voice and asked, “Why did you show up with Sam?”
“We didn’t show up together. He lives in Brooklyn, and I thought it’d be easier than having one more stop.”
“And he couldn’t meet us at Court’s?”
I shrugged. “Guess not.”
“Don’t think that I don’t know your game. Has Bad Lark come back out to play?”
“No,” I insisted. “Seriously…we’re just friends.”
“No guy with eyeballs wants to just be friends with you in that dress. You’re basically wearing lingerie.”
I rolled my eyes. “I am not.”
“Fucking hot lingerie, but still…”
“Then I’ll have no trouble attracting the attention of all the eligible bachelors you took the liberty of inviting.”
English smiled devilishly. “Excellent.”
I couldn’t stop from laughing, but it was soon after we arrived at the venue that I realized that English had been dead serious. She got Court all set up, grabbed drinks, and then ushered me across the room. Far, far away from Sam.
“Okay, so…the first guy is Caleb Hendricks. He’s a professional baseball player. He’s actually making a donation alongside Court tonight. He grew up in LA but moved here about a decade ago to play ball.”
“What do I have in common with a baseball player?” I asked with wide eyes.
“He has a nice butt. Who cares?”
“English…”
“Look, this is just for fun. There are no strings and none of your parents’ stipulations attached. Just talk to him and get to know him. It’s all low stakes.”
I sighed and then nodded. “Fine. I’ll meet Caleb.”
English pulled me over, introduced us, and then slithered away like the snake she was.
I halfheartedly smiled up at him before taking a sip of my champagne. “So, you play baseball?”
“Yeah. Are you a fan?”
I laughed and then shook my head. “Not really. I don’t have time for sports with my job, and mostly, we had northeastern prep school sports, growing up on the Upper East.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so you grew up here?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Wait, Lark…St. Vincent?”
I frowned at the way he’d said my last name. Like there were dollar signs attached. “Uh…yeah.”
“Like St. Vincent’s Resorts?”
“Yes,” I ground out. “That’s my parents’ company. But I don’t work for them. I run the mayor’s reelection.”
He crinkled his nose. “Eh. I’ve never really liked her. She seems kind of like a stuck-up bitch, don’t you think?”
I froze in place. Yeah, we could mark him off the list.
“I probably wouldn’t be working for her if I agreed with your assessment.”
“Hey, no hard feelings.”
“No, of course not.” I glanced around and saw my lifeline. Katherine was striding into the building for the event. “Excuse me. I just saw a friend.”
“Oh, uh…okay. Did you want me to…”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks.”
Then, I hurried away from him as fast as humanly possible. Between the dollar signs at my name and calling Leslie a bitch, there was no way he could recover from that. No matter if he had a nice ass in baseball pants or not.
“Thank god you’re here,” I said to Katherine as soon as I reached her.
She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. She looked stunning, but there was something else underneath. Like she had on more makeup than normal to hide the circles under her eyes. She must not have been sleeping. Plus, she looked thinner than usual. Thinner for her was not good. Katherine self-medicated with food…lack of food.
“Larkin,” she said, kissing my cheeks as if we were in Paris and not stuck in the city all summer. “You look like you’re flourishing.”
“How have you been?”
“Wonderful, of course.” Katherine shrugged. She didn’t have to say what she was really thinking. Penn and Natalie staying in Paris for the summer made it easier for her to stay on top of her social life. But her falling-out with Camden was making her fall back into all of her dirty habits. If there were a separate entity that was Bad Katherine…she was coming out this summer.
“Of course,” I said softly. “I’ve missed you. Sucks not having the crew all together.”
Katherine glanced around at our fledgling, new group. “Looks like you’ve found a sort of replacement.”
I laughed. “Nothing replaces the crew.”
She frowned. “Maybe it should.”
I didn’t even know what to say to that. We’d been together through it all. I’d never wanted something different. But it was true that things were different. And this new group might just help make that okay.
“Oh god,” Katherine said under her breath, barely audible.
“What?” I asked and then saw why she’d said it.
Camden had arrived. And on his arm was Fiona Berkshire.
“I cannot believe that he would show up with her,” I ground out.
Katherine just tilted her head up higher. She was the queen. Nothing bothered her. Except I knew it was all a lie.
Camden approached then. He released Fiona and pulled Katherine toward him. He pressed a possessive kiss to her lips. “My beautiful wife.”
“Hello, Camden.”
I didn’t know how she kept the break from her voice.
“Hi, Katherine,” Fiona said with a knowing smile.
Katherine said nothing to her. Didn’t even acknowledge her. It might as well have been the wind.
“I hope your bed has been as warm as mine,” Camden said like a taunt.
Katherine’s expression never wavered. “I would expect yours to be frigid. All things considered.”
Then, she glanced at Fiona. Just once. Just briefly.
A challenge.
Damn. She was good. I was ready to punch them both for acting like this. But still…I could recognize good game when I saw it.
“Hey!” Fiona gasped.
“Come. We should be photographed together,” Camden said. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think anything was wrong with the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side.”
I wanted her to say no. But if I knew anything about her, it was that appearances mattered more than reality.
“Tell your pet to heel,” Katherine said.
A strange look crossed Camden’s features. It wasn’t anger. It was hunger. Like a predator trapping its prey. And then he took her arm in his hand and guided her away from Fiona, who promptly pouted.