I whirled away from her as quickly as possible to avoid having to have an uncomfortable conversation. As far as I was concerned, Fiona had gotten everything that was coming to her.
“Hey, it didn’t work out with Caleb?” English said, materializing as if out of thin air.
I shook my head. “He called Leslie a bitch.”
English’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah, that wasn’t in his profile. Guy number two?”
My eyes flicked to Sam, who was laughing with Court and Gavin. It’d be so much easier to just see him. But then again, it would also be slow torture as well.
“All right, one more guy,” I agreed.
“Excellent. This is Danny Park. He owns a pharmaceutical company. Every year, he donates millions of dollars to help the poor combat medical expenses. He’s, like, the opposite of every greedy Big Pharma company you can probably name off the top of your head. Also, he went to Brown. So, yay!”
“Brown, huh,” I said in surprise. “Normally, these types went to one of the big three Ivy’s. Okay…Danny.”
English made the introduction again, but this time, I tried to be more open-minded. Danny was cuter than Caleb. He looked like the lead from Crazy Rich Asians, if only he had the British accent.
It wasn’t until I realized that I was on my third drink with Danny that I was feeling a bit tipsy. I’d even given him my number. What the hell? It was so unlike me. I had no time to date. Giving out my number made no sense.
“I’ll get us another round. Champagne still?” Danny asked with his award-winning smile.
“Yes. That’d be great.”
He stepped away to grab a drink from a passing waiter, and then suddenly, Court Kensington was there.
I jolted in surprise. “Hey, Court!”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Um…just talking to Danny. Do you know Danny Park?”
“No,” Court said, “I don’t. Why are you talking to him?”
My brows furrowed. “English introduced us.”
“What I mean is…are you purposely trying to make him jealous?”
This time, my eyebrows rose to the ceiling. “Make who jealous?”
He stared into my eyes with all the Upper East Side flooding through him. “Seriously, Lark?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re one of us. You have to realize what you’re doing. I’ve seen you take down my brother,” he said evenly. “This is classic Lark behavior. Talk to multiple guys, laugh and flirt and smile, flip your hair, overtly give out your number. It’s textbook.”
My good mood deflated. “Wait…you think that I’m trying to make someone jealous? On purpose?”
His eyes bored into mine, and I froze as I realized what he was saying. Ice water sloshed down my back as it all came together. He was saying…Sam was jealous of me talking to Caleb and then Danny.
“You know about me and Sam,” I whispered.
He arched an eyebrow. “It was obvious the first time I saw you two together.”
“And you think I’m making him jealous?”
“Insanely,” he said just as Danny returned.
“Here you go, Lark,” he said, passing me another glass of champagne.
Court raised an eyebrow. “Do what you will with that information.”
Then he promptly disappeared.
“What was that about?”
I took a sip of my drink and shook my head in confusion. “I have no idea.”
Why would Sam be jealous?
Unless…he’d told Court something he hadn’t told me.
20
Lark
I found the first excuse I could to get away from Danny. He seemed like a nice guy, but Court had ruined some of the charm. As if I’d been under a spell, and now, I was back to reality.
The organizer of the charity event tapped on the microphone. She spoke about the intercity sports charity that the donations from the event would benefit. It included more than a dozen sports with boys and girls ranging from three to eighteen. And how they were hoping that the older kids would get off of the streets and into scholarship sports, thanks to the money donated today.
Court and English were standing off to the side, waiting for his moment to walk onstage. But I meandered toward the rest of my friends. Gavin, Charlotte, Whitley, Keri, and Sam were standing in front of the stage. Katherine and Camden had just stepped up to the side. I watched Camden nod at Court, and Court grinned at his oldest friend. Their friendship still confused me, but I had the crew, so…maybe it was the same in its own way.
Finally, I stepped up to Sam’s side. He glanced sideways at me. His expression was unreadable. For once, I had no clue what was going on up there. Was he jealous? Why was he jealous? What had he told Court that made him reveal that he was jealous? And why had it made me want to immediately abandon a perfectly nice guy to find out?
“Make a new friend?” Sam asked, tossing back the rest of his drink.
“Yeah, actually, I did. English has this insane idea that I’ll have time to date on the campaign. So, she’s making it her mission to try to set me up,” I told him, carefully watching him. “Isn’t that crazy?”
“Crazy that you’re being set up or that you’d have time?”
“Both.”
He seemed to contemplate that. “We don’t have time. That’s for sure. Not for anyone who isn’t working on the campaign.”
My heart pounded at the way he’d said it. As if…he meant I wouldn’t have time for anyone but him.
“That’s true,” I agreed slowly.
“But not crazy that she’d set you up.” He brushed a stray lock of my hair out of my face. “I can’t even believe you’re single.”
I swallowed. “Bad luck, I guess.”
“Is that what you’d call it?”
I had no answer to that. Because it wasn’t what I’d call it. I didn’t like any of the guys my parents threw my way. I didn’t want to date someone on the campaign for convenience. And I didn’t know how to meet people that didn’t involve a dating app, which was so risky. I had no way of trusting those people, and it made me uncomfortable. The few times I’d even made a profile, I’d had to lie about who I was, which, from experience, was not a great way to start out.
Luckily, I didn’t have to respond because Court was walking onto the stage with Caleb and some other guy that I’d never seen before. English pushed a giant check into a volunteer’s hand, and it was handed off to one of the charity organizers.
“We’d just like to thank all three of these gentleman for being so generous with their donations to our recreation departments. Caleb Hendricks has given a quarter million dollars to help our youth baseball program. Jessi Ramirez has donated another quarter million dollars to assist in our youth soccer program. And the wonderful Court Kensington has been so kind to give a full million dollars to help with our lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, sailing, and crew programs. Court, would you like to say a few words?”
My eyes widened. Court had given a million dollars? Holy shit. English must have really talked him into this. I didn’t think he’d ever donated before in his life.