Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
If she hadn’t been staring down at her phone, she’d have seen me immediately, but in a moment Granger had shoved me behind the long draperies and for the moment I was hidden.
“Oh—I didn’t know you were in here!”
“Yeah, got bored.”
Goddamn, you’d never guess from the cool, unbothered tone of his voice, or the way he strode lazily over to meet her, that he was hiding his unwilling mistress in this same room.
“Have you seen Sosie?”
“No, I haven’t. Why?”
“She’s left the performance.”
He shrugged.
“OK. Why ask me?”
But I guess Pippa was a fool for love like I was, but she wasn’t that big of a fool.
“Maybe because you’ve always seemed—I don’t know. Protective of her?”
“I’m not going back and forth about this shit,” Granger said sternly. “You don’t need to be jealous of every woman I talk to.”
“Granger, I just want to know if you’re hiding something from me?” Pippa begged.
I heard the clatter of his cellphone as he slid it across a table to her.
“Go through it if you want. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Through the curtain I could see her pounce on it eagerly, and Granger grabbed me by the back of my gown and swung me out the window.
I barely repressed a scream.
I was dangling out the window, clearly visible to anyone at the party, and it was only sheer dumb luck that no one was looking up.
Everyone was still focused on the Sirens, the musicians moving between the tables with their sensual grace.
“I’m sorry, Granger. You wouldn’t let me look at your phone if you had anything to hide. You’ve just seemed—distant lately.”
My toes were almost touching the balcony one floor down, grasping desperately for any purchase there.
Almost. . . not quite. . .
And what if someone from the party looked up?
“Sweetheart, you sound stressed,” Granger said, that damn sweet-talking devil.
“I feel like we need more time with just us,” Pippa whined, but I heard her walk closer to him.
And in that moment he dropped me the last few inches onto the balcony below.
Flinging myself toward the door, I caught my breath as I heard them kiss.
I went downstairs, walked directly to the train station, and bought a ticket out of Oystar Bay.
Or, at least, I attempted to. Max, who I’d known since I was a kid, shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Sosie, I can’t sell you a ticket.”
“Why? Is there something wrong with my card?”
“No, I’m just—not allowed.”
I opened my mouth, and then closed it firmly.
“It’s Granger, isn’t it?” I cried.
“I can’t say,” he repeated.
“Doesn’t anyone in this town wonder why he prevents me from leaving?” I asked bitterly. “No one thinks that’s weird? No one has any curiosity about that?”
“I’m not paid to have questions,” Max said.
And I was forced to turn around and go right back—to Hollingsworth House.
I had been invited to dinner with the Hollingworth family. And it seemed like short of scaling the cliff or hitchhiking there was no way to get out of it.
“So, I heard you broke up with your boyfriend,” Hayden said.
“Who did you hear that from?” I asked.
“Er—Pippa, I think.”
“I just guessed,” she said, tapping her nails on the table.
My heart sunk as I realized she was jealous of the fact that Granger had chosen to sit next to me. That he’d had the whole dinner table and was right next to me.
He was leaning back in his chair and smoking, his legs spread wide, and it could have been a coincidence that his left leg was brushing by mine.
Could have been, but wasn’t.
“Well, did you?”
“Yes,” I said, almost defiantly.
“I am 100% single and available.”
“Well--good. I’d love to ask you out.”
Granger’s baby lay in my belly, a tiny growing bean.
“Why not now?” I said. “Let’s go somewhere now.”
Granger’s chair legs landed on the ground with a thump.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea. Shouldn’t you be practicing? For the performance tomorrow?”
“I know my piece very well,” I said.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Yes,” Pippa said. “I too am wondering why you don’t think it’s a good idea for Hayden to take Sosie out?”
“I just don’t want her being harassed at work,” he said with concern in his voice.
“Oh, you fucker—it’s none of your business—”
I stared down at my steak, trying to compose my face so I wouldn’t laugh out loud at Granger’s hypocrisy.
But even this melt-in-your-mouth steak made me feel ill.
“What’s wrong, Sosie? You aren’t eating your food,” Granger put in.
“I think I must’ve gotten food poisoning,” I said weakly, saliva gathering in my mouth.
“From what?” Pippa said sharply.
“If you had food poisoning, why are you the only one sick?” Granger asked, and I wanted to strangle him.
He was sitting here with that little smirk on his face like it was funny to taunt everybody else with what they didn’t know.
It was like he wanted to get caught. What the hell was wrong with him?
“I don’t know.”
“Well, why else would you be sick?”
Fucking bastard. My face was heating up even more now, and everyone was staring at me. Well, maybe it was time for a counteroffensive.
“I’d love to learn more about the local myths and urban legends,” I said into the silence, watching Granger. “I know there’s so much more local history than what we learned in school.”
“Now, that’s very interesting, young lady,” Chamberlain said, wiping his lips with a linen napkin. “There are many fascinating legends here, some of them even set around Hollingworth House.”
“What are they?” I said.
Granger was too slick to outwardly move a muscle, or even bat an eye, but at this I felt his fingers over my thigh, biting down angrily on it.
“Some say a pirate ship sunk near here—long ago. Back in the 18th century. They say the pirate ship was full of gold dubloons and jewels. A necklace with blood-red rubies as big as a man’s fist. They say some of that treasure washed up on shore, and the townspeople were able to hide it, but the ghosts of the dead pirates still roamed about, trying to find the treasure that was stolen.
So the townspeople were forced to hide their ill-gotten gains further and further away, and in deeper and deeper places, to keep them safe from the bloody depredations of pirates! ”
At the last word, he thumped on the table, making me jump, and everyone laughed heartily.
Was that what Granger was searching for?
Everyone at the table began to laugh and chatter about the story, swapping other stories about pirates and buried treasure.
“Well, if that necklace is real, it would look amazing around my neck,” Pippa said after a few minutes. “But I have something else to say.”
I shifted to face her, my stomach a ball of nerves and anxiety. Granger’s foot brushed mine, and I had to suppress a shattered squeak.
There was something fucking wrong with him.
“I found a positive pregnancy test in my bathroom,” Pippa continued, her eyes on Granger. “I always take a bunch at once, but I don’t remember seeing this one.”
“Oh, so congratulations are in order?” Chamberlain said.
“No,” Pippa replied, and her voice was hard and brittle. “I took seven more tests after that and they were all negative.”
“Maybe next month,” Hayden said. “I’m sure it’ll happen next month.”
Granger said nothing.
Hope and suspicion seemed to war in Pippa’s face, but for once it didn’t seem like Granger was in any hurry to reassure her.
“Is there anyone else those tests could have belonged to?”
My face seemed to heat.
Granger’s fingers were still clamped onto my thigh. Could anyone see how flushed my face was. Should I say something? Were they all looking at me? Why wouldn’t he say a damn thing to rescue me?
“Definitely not Sosie,” Hayden said. “Yet.”
I could feel tension rise in the air, and I wondered if anyone else could taste the danger.
“You’re drunk,” Granger said coldly.
“I am not—”
“OK, girl talk,” Pippa chirped. Her voice sounded brittle, artificial. “You boys get out of here.”
Oh fuck. Was she going to demand my birth control methods? I cringed.
“That’s our cue,” Chamberlain stood up. “Come on.”
As the older man left, he tapped my shoulder with one finger.
“Young lady, if you are interested in my grandson, I’m sure we could have a conversation about further opportunities for you. There’s an interesting chamber orchestra one of my associates is pulling together that could use a flute player.”
“I’ll—I’ll think about it,” I said.
But the idea of staying under the thumb of the Hollingsworth family just to have a hope of a career in music—I couldn’t stand it.
Granger got up and left with them, leaving my thigh throbbing with heat.
“No kiss for me?” Pippa asked.
“Of course, baby.”
She gripped his shirt as he bent over, so close I could see the pulse of his throat, hear the sound of her holding him tight, her mouth sloppy, eager on his.
When they had left, Pippa smiled at me.
“There’s a lot I can do for you too, Sosie. If you’re willing to do a few things for me.”
“Ok,” I said neutrally. “What things?”
I’d done this dance before. Back when we were friends Pippa had all these promises for how she could use her connections for me, help me with my musical career.
But when Granger came to town, all that melted away.
“I’d really love to see you with Hayden,” she said brightly.
“Why do you care so much?”
“He wants it.”
“All right. And I don’t. So give it a rest.”
“Why not? He’s handsome, rich, he has connections.”
“Maybe I just don’t want a musical career in Oystar Bay if I have to fuck him to get it,” I snapped.
She glared at me.
“How about this? Stay away from my husband.”
Anger pulsed in my veins.
“What are you implying?”
“There’s no need to sit next to him. There’s no need to ever be seen talking to him.”
I pushed my chair out and got up. Knowledge of the baby in my belly seemed to swell out of me.
“I’ve never chased your husband. If he’s sitting next to me, that’s not my doing. So maybe think about that.”
“Sosie, I’m not done with you yet.”
“I’m done, though. Goodbye.”
She stood up, too, so fast the chair was knocked over.
“And if you don’t do what I say—I’m afraid I could make things more difficult for you. So why don’t you just do what I suggest? You always did before.”
“Did you suggest things that were good for you? Or me?” I shot at her.
“Isn’t it the same thing?”
“No. No it isn’t. I know you want to reconnect and go back to being friends again, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“I recommend reconsidering, Sosie. I really do.”