9. Liv
CHAPTER NINE
LIV
I n a crowd of tall, fit, well-dressed men gorgeous enough to belong on the big screen, none should stand out, yet he does. I could say that’s because I have intimate knowledge of what’s under the suit, but one glance shows Sebastian’s there too, and he doesn’t capture my attention the way Callum does.
I make myself turn back to my half-sister, who just asked something. “Sorry?”
“I said, have you tried the gallery before?”
“Oh. Um, no, actually. I’ve only visited the national museum. But it’s gorgeous.”
“We should eat at the restaurant here one day. It’s delicious.” She smiles. “If you want to, of course.”
“Yeah, sounds great. Tell me when?”
“Feel free to name drop me,” Bella offers. “They’ll squeeze in a table even if it’s full. Actually, text me, too, and I’ll crash your date. I freaking love the new chocolate cake.”
“I love whenever I don’t have to feed myself,” I admit.
I used to cook and I’m not terrible at it, but I’m not fond of it either. Now, outside of the dinners covered by my meal plan, I’ve developed an unhealthy relationship with various takeout apps and the taco truck across the road from the dorm.
Grace inhales sharply. “I love to cook!”
“Good to know we weren’t actually cloned after all.”
The gallery launch is a private event, by invitation only—Grace brought me as her plus one since all of her friends have their own invites—and I can already tell the art isn’t the star of the show: it’s basically a posh party with an open bar.
Smartly dressed servers hand us glasses of bubbly, appearing to top them up before they ever get empty. I’m not even sure how many glasses I’ve drunk, but I’m on the tipsy side, which isn’t good.
I can’t help it, my eyes drift toward his corner a fair few times. He’s stopped watching me now, acting like I’m not there.
I don’t like it one bit.
I note that the crowd in the large gallery hall was somewhat segregated at the start—us girls under twenty-five around Belladona, the proper adults together around the bar, and the guys; Callum’s friends. While he’s the one I can’t help watching, the attention’s mostly monopolized by another man, a little taller than him, and with an easy smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
There were also a few older people—past fifty—but they soon left.
As the evening draws on and the champagne flows, we mix and match a little; some of the guys come closer to us, a few girls venture to their side.
I stay firmly planted by Grace, and Callum remains on his wall like his back is glued to it.
But Sebastian does make his way to us.
Bella’s being hugged by a gorgeous dark-haired man everyone knows—her other half, Prince Nicolai.
Sebastian kisses her cheeks first, but then, he tilts his chin towards me. “Liv. It’s been a while.”
I hope I don’t blush too obviously. I’m surprised he remembers my name, honestly. I was just a pair of tits and a couple of holes to him. “Sebastian.”
“How’s RUA treating you? I hear we’re both freshmen, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”
No surprise. The campus is pretty vast.
“I love it,” I say. “What do you study?”
“Political science. You?”
“A bit of this and that. I don’t know what to focus on yet.”
It makes me sound so flighty, but he nods like it’s perfectly okay. “There’s a career advisor if you need it, you know. Once you get a feel for what you like, their job is to talk you through your options and tell you how to get there.”
Bella elbows him gently. “And how would you know that? Weren’t you born destined for the House of Lords?”
“ Ouch .” He rubs his side for show. “And I know that because I have a billion cousins, including some who needed to work shit out.”
“That’s pretty great. I’ll have to reach out to the office in a few months.” I smile.
“So what classes are you taking in the meantime?”
“Mostly general education stuff. English, Italian for my second language, and math, natural sciences, but I also enrolled in the dance program.”
Bella whistles. “The dance program is pretty serious at RUA, isn’t it? I have a friend in there, and she dances part time at the Royal Ballet as part of her course.”
“Oh, I’m not specializing in performing arts like an actual professional would. I only take eight hours per week.” I shrug. “I’ve been doing ballet since I was seven, so it’s mostly because I’m used to it.”
“Ballet. Nice.” Sebastian winks, the cad. “You must be flexible.”
I try not to think of the times when I proved to him how much I was, and fail miserably, as the heat rising around my face attests.
“Maybe you know Tricks,” Bella says. “Patricia. She’s a friend?—”
I can’t believe it. “Seriously? She’s my best friend.”
“No!”
“I’ve been friends with her since grade school. In fact, I dance because her mom took pity on me when I kept showing up to watch her. She’s our teacher. I couldn’t afford the classes, but she let me join anyway.”
As soon as I say it, I regret it, expecting looks of pity or scorn from that crowd. But everyone’s just focused on the coincidence.
“Small world!” Grace marvels. “Jinx is in our class at RAA.”
I’d forgotten Jinx was still in high school. She might be the smarty pants out of her sister and her, but Tricks’s performing arts course has different requirements; she graduated this year, at the same time as with me.
Both of them got scholarships at the Royal Academy of Anderia; Jinx for her brains, Tricks for her talent.
“I’m surprised we didn’t meet before,” Grace ponders. “Tricks comes to most parties…”
I snort. “I’m not. I don’t go out much.”
Not for lack of trying on her part, but I’m not a social butterfly. I’m fine tonight, but if I’d been invited ahead of time, I likely would have found an excuse to cancel.
“Serious, huh? All work and no play makes Liv a dull girl,” Sebastian drawls, before flashing those dimples. “Well, maybe not.”
He’s blatantly flirting with me, and I don’t know what to do with it. Ignore him? Flirt back? The dynamic is weird for someone who already came inside me four or five times.
Not to mention his friend across the room.
“Well, you must come to my birthday next week,” one of the girls tell me. “Say you will, pretty please?”
I nod to Astrid, fully aware that it’s likely one of those things I will cancel last second. The petite Asian beauty grins like agreeing alone is a present.
Why is everyone so damn nice?
“I need to pee,” says Grace, which apparently launches a veritable exodus to the bathroom.
Was every girl holding it in, waiting for someone to crack first?
I can’t talk. I remember the existence of my bladder at that exact moment, and follow the herd like a well-trained sheep.