7. Katie
— ? —
Katie
“To Sophie finally leaving.”
“To Mason’s snoring no longer shaking the walls.”
“To having my penthouse back.”
Henry clinks his glass against mine, and we both drink. The whiskey burns in the best way, warming me from the inside out.
We’re at some upscale bar downtown, the kind with leather booths and mood lighting and cocktails. Henry brought me here to celebrate his friends finally flying back to London after four days of chaos.
Spending four days sharing his bed and pretending our tangled morning limbs are an accident is exhausting enough without enduring Sophie’s knowing looks, James’s teasing, and a heart that refuses to behave.
“I think Sophie suspects something,” I say.
“Sophie suspects everything. It’s her default setting.”
“She pulled me aside before they left. Asked if I was ‘being careful.’”
“Careful how?”
“She didn’t specify. Just gave me this look, like she could see straight through my skull.”
Henry laughs softly. “That’s Sophie. She’s been trying to psychoanalyze me since university. Convinced I have ‘unresolved attachment issues.’”
“Do you?”
“Probably.” He takes another sip. “Don’t we all?”
The bar is crowded for a Wednesday night. Music pulses through hidden speakers, something jazzy and low. People laugh and flirt and pretend their lives aren’t complicated.
I’m about to say something witty when I see them.
A sudden numbness locks up my entire body.
Kyle and Erin in a booth in the corner with her hand on his arm and his mouth at her ear. They’re on a date.
An actual, public, not-even-trying-to-hide-it date.
“Katie.” Henry’s voice is sharp. “Don’t.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m observing.”
“Don’t give them the satisfaction.”
But I can’t look away.
Kyle orders something, probably her drink, because Erin just sits there looking pretty while he handles everything. She laughs at something he says, throwing her head back, showing off her throat like she’s posing for a magazine.
I know that laugh.
Her current forced chuckle is identical to the one she deployed against every boyfriend I ever brought home, the teachers she manipulated for better grades, and our parents whenever she wanted something from them.
Everything about her is fake. And Kyle is eating it up like he doesn’t know he’s being played.
“They look happy,” I hear myself say.
“They look desperate.”
“Same thing, in their case.”
Henry’s hand finds mine under the table and squeezes.
“You’re better than both of them combined. You know that, right?”
Before I can respond, a shadow falls over our booth.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
I look up. Some guy in his thirties, clearly drunk, clearly thinking he’s God’s gift to women. He’s got that sloppy smile that probably works on girls who’ve had too many margaritas.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
“No thanks.”
“Come on. Just one drink. Your friend won’t mind. He’s surrounded by prettier girls anyway.”
“I said no.”
He doesn’t move. He stands there, swaying slightly, looking at me like I’m a challenge he needs to conquer.
“Playing hard to get? I like that.”
Henry stands. I don’t know how he moves so fast, but suddenly he’s beside me, his arm sliding around my waist, his body positioning itself between me and the drunk guy like a shield.
“She’s with me.”
“Easy, man. Just being friendly.”
“She said no. Twice.” Henry’s voice drops to something dangerous. “Walk away.”
“Or what?”
Henry doesn’t answer. He stares at the guy with those cold eyes, and something in his expression makes the drunk stumble backward.
“Whatever, man. She’s not that hot anyway.”
He disappears into the crowd.
Henry stays standing for another moment, jaw tight, watching him go. Then he slides back into the booth, but closer this time. His thigh presses against mine. His arm stays draped across the back of the seat behind me.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.”
“I can handle drunk idiots.”
“I know you can.” He finally looks at me, and there’s something fierce in his eyes. “But you shouldn’t have to. Not when I’m right here.”
My breath catches. We’re so close.
“Henry...”
“I know.” His voice is rough. “I know what this is supposed to be.”
“Do you?”
“Fake. Revenge. A mutually beneficial arrangement.”
“Right.”
“So why does it feel like something else?”
The unspoken question creates a heavy tension between us. I don’t know how to respond. Maybe I know the answer and I’m just too afraid to say it out loud.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I blurt out.
Smooth, Katie, really smooth.
Henry’s lips twitch. “I’ll be here.”
I slide out of the booth and weave through the crowd, my heart pounding against my ribs.
What am I doing? What are WE doing?
This was supposed to be simple. Make Kyle jealous and get my dignity back. Move on with my life, probably somewhere far away.
It wasn’t supposed to involve waking up in Henry’s arms every morning and feeling disappointed when he let go.
The bathroom hallway is dark, a relief from the noise of the bar. I’m almost to the door when I hear voices.
Familiar voices.
“I feel like I’m the one stuck with the loser.”
Erin.
And I freeze.
“I’m not a loser.” Kyle’s defensive voice, slurring. “I gave you what you wanted.”
“It’s not ENOUGH, Kyle!”
I press myself against the wall, heart racing. They must be around the corner, near the back exit. Close enough that I can hear every word.
“Katie is out there with a REAL millionaire,” Erin hisses, “and I’m stuck with whatever the fuck THIS is!”
“Baby, come on...”
“Don’t BABY me! You told me you were going to be somebody! You told me your dad’s company was going to take off! And now what? You’re working the same dead-end job while your uncle is worth more than your whole family combined!”
“It’s not my fault Henry...”
“I don’t want to hear about Henry! I want to know why I gave up everything and THIS is what I got!”
“You didn’t give up anything. You wanted this. You wanted ME.”
“I wanted what you PROMISED!” Erin’s voice cracks. “I left my boyfriend for you!”
“You said he was broke anyway.”
“You know what I mean! I burned my whole life down, Kyle! People think I’m a homewrecker! My own mother barely looks at me anymore!”
“Your mother still talks to you. She adores you.”
“Because she thinks I’m going to end up with money!
Because she thinks you’re going to be SOMEONE!
An heir to a company that will take off to the moon but it’s sinking in sludge instead.
” A bitter laugh. “But Katie’s the one living in a penthouse while I’m sleeping in your shitty apartment with the broken air conditioning! ”
“The landlord said he’d fix it...”
“I don’t CARE about the landlord! I have to call an Uber home because you’re too drunk to drive while she’s being chauffeured around in a FERRARI!”
“It’s not a Ferrari. It’s a Porsche. It’s a 911 Carrera T... or was that Carrera S? Hmmm.”
“WHO THE FUCK CARES! THAT’S NOT THE POINT!”
I press my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
“She was supposed to be destroyed,” Erin continues, her voice shaking with rage. “She was supposed to be alone and miserable and begging for scraps. And instead she’s out there living her BEST LIFE with the richest man in the city!”
“Henry’s not the richest...”
“SHUT UP, Kyle!”
Then, quieter, “I gave up everything for you. Everything. And now I have to watch my sister, my boring, pathetic, INFERIOR sister, win. Do you have any idea how that feels?”
“Baby...”
“Don’t touch me. I need air.”
Footsteps and a door slamming.
More footsteps, stumbling, and then Kyle’s voice muttering something about “crazy women” as he heads back toward the bar.
I stay frozen against the wall, barely breathing.
Then a smile spreads across my face.
I slip back to our booth, sliding in next to Henry like nothing happened.
He looks at me and frowns.
“You’re smiling.”
“Am I?”
“You look like you just won the lottery.”
“Better.” I lean in close, my lips nearly brushing his ear. “I just heard Erin and Kyle fighting in the back hallway.”
“Fighting about what?”
“About how miserable they are. About how I’m living in a penthouse while she’s stuck in his shitty apartment with broken air conditioning. About how everyone thinks she’s a homewrecker and her life is ruined.”
Henry pulls back to look at me. “Seriously?”
“She said, and I quote, ‘I gave up everything for you and now I have to watch my boring, pathetic, inferior sister WIN.’”
His eyebrows rise. “She called you inferior?”
“She’s been calling me inferior my whole life. But this time?” I grin. “This time she sounded like she was choking on it.”
Henry’s face transforms. That rare, genuine smile that makes him look ten years younger.
“The revenge is working.”
“The revenge is WORKING.”
He signals for the check, still smiling.
“Let’s go home. I think this calls for the good champagne.”
We walk out of the bar together, his hand on the small of my back. I don’t look at Kyle as we pass. Don’t need to, their misery will keep.
The car is waiting outside. Henry opens my door like a gentleman, and I slide into the leather seat feeling lighter than I have in months.
He gets in on the other side, and suddenly we’re close again. The driver pulls away from the curb.
“You know what the best part was?” I say.
“Tell me.”
“She said she left her boyfriend for Kyle. Like SHE was the victim. Like SHE made some noble sacrifice.”
“The delusion is impressive.”
“It really is. She’s managed to convince herself that stealing my husband was actually a hardship for HER.”
Henry shakes his head slowly. “They deserve each other.”
“They really do.”
We’re quiet for a moment, but it’s comfortable. Then Henry’s hand settles on my thigh.
Casual, almost accidental. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Even as my breath hitches and my brain screams at me to say something, pull his hand away, and remind us both that this is all supposed to be an act, I remain entirely frozen.
Because his palm is warm through the fabric of my dress, and his thumb is tracing small circles against my skin, and I don’t want him to stop.
“Katie.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad they’re miserable.”
“Me too.”
“But that’s not why I’m smiling right now.”
I turn to look at him. His intense eyes are dark in the dim light of the car.
“Why are you smiling?”
His hand slides higher an inch. It makes my heart stutter.
“Because you’re here. With me.” His voice drops low. “And I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
I should say something smart. Something that maintains the careful distance we’ve been pretending exists.
Instead, I put my hand over his and hold it in place.
“Neither do I.”
The car glides through the night, and I realize I’m still smiling. It’s not about Kyle and Erin and their pathetic fight in a bar hallway.
It’s about the fact that somewhere along the way, fake started feeling very, very real. And I’m not sure I want to go back.