Twenty-One
Annalise
It was strange how quickly my Cordelia alter ego had become the authentic me while my real self, Annalise Stratton, was just someone I now playacted around my parents or out in society. The wig played a big part in that, but an even bigger part... was Jared.
Somehow I was more myself around that man than anyone else in my life, past or present, including my own sisters. I had no idea how that had happened. But it had. I'd done something today with him that I never dreamed of doing at work before.
Smiling, I remembered the noise he'd made, kind of a gasping sound, when I'd first taken him into my mouth, and then the guttural groan that he'd tried to stifle as he came, the way he'd held onto me, not in a demanding way, but like he needed me to help him stand up.
It'd been more than hot and sexy, which I hadn't expected. Not for the first time, I realized I was falling for my formerly beyond-obnoxious co-worker. How it'd happened, I had no idea.
Maybe it was the fact that he made me laugh. Or the fact that he didn't judge me, that he seemed to like me for exactly who I was around him.
"I agree. They're pretty cute when they're like this," Astrid said from my right.
"Hmm? What?"
She tilted her head at me. "The way you're smiling right now. I thought we were on the same page."
"Same page?" I blinked, coming back to reality.
Astrid grinned, her eyes flicking toward our parents who were standing at the front of the room. "Mom and Dad. They're adorable tonight. You seemed to be smiling at them."
I glanced at the happy couple, realizing I'd been lost in my own thoughts about him , not my parents. But it was easier to let her think that than try to explain my little crush on Jared.
"Oh, yeah. They are pretty cute," I said, shifting in my chair as I tried to refocus my attention on my parents who were now holding hands.
"Thirty-five years," Mom said, beaming as she looked out over her kingdom of impeccably dressed guests, all sipping champagne flutes under the chandeliers of the Astoria Club. "I've planned hundreds of parties, and they're all special. But this one is extra special. Because it's ours."
Soft laughter rolled through the room, and she continued, "Most people say the secret to a long, happy marriage is compromise. But personally, I find it definitely helps to have a lawyer on speed dial."
Dad smiled, laying on the charm with his trademark grin that could both win over a jury and a room full of Upper East Siders. Taking the mic from my mom, he adjusted his tie like he was about to deliver closing arguments.
"What can I say?" he said. "Thirty-five years with the most beautiful woman in all of New York, and I'm still pleading my case every day."
Oh, jeez. This anniversary celebration was cheesy as hell.
The room erupted in applause while my mom rolled her eyes and playfully patted his arm. "Oh, please. We both know I'm the one who wins all the arguments."
Dad laughed, looking at her with a tenderness that suddenly made the whole room feel smaller and more intimate. "You do," he said softly. "But truthfully, I'd gladly lose every battle if it means I get to keep winning at life with you."
A collective 'aww' rang out from the room as I groaned, Aria joining in from my other side.
"This is torture," she whispered beside me. "Why do we have to endure one of these parties every five years?"
Releasing a heavy sigh, I glanced at her and then Ethan, who was sitting on her other side, and I shook my head at them both. "I have no fucking idea."
Once they finished, they came and sat down at our family table which had recently expanded to six with the addition of Ethan. And then we did the happy family thing, all of us laughing and talking, doing the society routine that was expected of us.
In some ways, it felt like we were putting on a show. But at the same time, we really were close, so it wasn't a complete farce, although sometimes we seriously got on each other's nerves.
After gushing about how nice it was to have all of us together, my parents went around the table, asking each of us about our work, our personal lives, how everything was going.
While Aria and Astrid had plenty to talk about with their fabulous careers of event planning and fashion design, respectively, I dreaded my turn and performing this odd dance I'd created for myself with my faux persona.
I sort of hemmed and hawed a bit, explaining that my new "consulting" job was going wonderfully, Aria purposely asking me a few questions, a smirk on her face as she played the instigator, despite my kicking her under the table with my heels.
Astrid came to my rescue, returning to the topic of her upcoming fashion show, kind soul taking the heat off me. I smiled at her, grateful beyond words, then turned to Aria and hissed, "So lucky to have one nice sister."
She laughed before pouring me more champagne, filling it to the brim.
Now that we'd moved on from the obligatory conversation about my work, I exhaled a bit and actually enjoyed the rest of the night. The food was incredible, the drinks were plentiful, and for the most part, I did have fun with my sisters, plus all the extended family and friends that were here, as long as I avoided any questions about work.
With a nice buzz by the end of the party, I stepped outside into the fresh night air with my sisters, waiting for our rides home. No sooner had I exited the building than I nearly bumped into a group of tall suited men who were also waiting in the pick-up area.
Our small groups readjusted so we weren't right next to each other, and I let my eyes roam over the men, something about them familiar, one in particular. The way he held himself reminded me of Jared.
Actually, everything about him reminded me of Jared, even though I could only see his back. Except, and this was a big exception, the fit of his clothes. This man's suit was impeccable, tailored perfectly to his frame, everything about it exuding luxury, wealth, and power.
A black SUV pulled up, and they all moved forward, the Jared clone turning at the last minute to meet my eyes, and holy fuck, my heart stopped.
It was Jared!
For a beat, we were held in each other's spell, but then he quickly turned away and disappeared into the vehicle, shutting the door firmly behind him.
Wait, had that been Jared?
"Was that Max Sterling?" Astrid asked. "And the Gotham Global Media guys?"
Not only had that man been fucking Jared or at least a Jared doppelganger, but he'd been hanging out with the same guys Jared seemed to know at our karaoke night a while back—Gabriel, Xavier, and Landon of Gotham Global.
"I—I need to sit down."
Her brows creased together, Astrid led me to a seating area, Aria and Ethan rushing over, the group of them crowding over me as I plopped down into a chair and took a shaky breath.
"What happened?" Aria asked. "Are you okay?"
"I think... I think..."
Flashes from the last few months bombarded my brain, odd things Jared had said in the beginning, that his mom had supposedly helped him get the job, the fact that he got us into Venus' gala, his fucking goddamn penthouse, his penthouse, not his mom's, not his grandma's, and all the elegant, expensive furnishings.
I let my face fall into my hands, not caring about my makeup or hair or anything else but what a damn fool I was. "Oh, my fucking God. I can't even believe this."
"Believe what?" Astrid said, her voice filled with worry.
Looking up, I faced them all and their concerned, questioning expressions. "Jared... Jared is Max Sterling. At least I think. I'm pretty sure. I mean..."
Aria reacted first, squinting her eyes at me. "Wait, what? Jared, the annoying guy at work, is really Max Sterling?"
I groaned again, remembering what had just happened a few short hours ago. "I gave Max Sterling a blow job."
Shocked gasps all around.
"Uh," Ethan said, "I'm going to go check on our ride."
Reaching up, I grabbed his arm. "No. Wait. I need your help."
His eyes went wide. Sometimes the girl talk that my sisters and I engaged in was too much for Ethan. "You need my help?"
"Yes. Can you find out for sure if Max Sterling and Jared Jensen are the same person?"
He looked relieved. "That I can do."
Getting out his phone, he wandered away while my sisters gawked at me, Aria recovering first to grab a nearby chair and bring it over. "I need to sit too. This is just..."
"Insane? Wild? A fucking circus?" I filled in. "A betrayal of the utmost degree. A twisted power play. A total mind fuck. A... a..." I couldn't think of anything else to say, sheer shock twisting through me that Jared could do this to me. "I mean, what a fucking coward. How dare he let it get this far and not tell me. When this turned sexual, he should have fucking told me."
"When on earth did it turn sexual?" Aria asked beside me. "And why the hell didn't you tell us? I had no idea things had changed between the two of you." Aria turned to Astrid. "Did you know?"
"No. I'm just as clueless."
Two pairs of eyes watched me, and I knew I had to confess, so I told them all about the retreat, how close we'd become, how things had taken a turn in the hot tub, and even what had happened in the storage room today.
And when I was done, they both stared at me, mouths agape until Aria finally spoke. "Well, they do say that there's a thin line between love and hate."
"It's not love," I argued. "It never was, and it's certainly not now. It's all hate. One-thousand percent hate."
"I'm so sorry," Astrid said. "We don't know for sure yet if they're the same person, though. Jared really could just share an uncanny resemblance with Max Sterling."
"Then why did he look at me like that then? He stared at me, like he knew who I was too."
"Maybe he recognized you right at the same exact moment," Aria said. "I mean, if Jared is really Max, and you're mad at him for not telling you the truth, you did the exact same thing to him too."
I glared at her, and she at least had the common sense to look sheepish.
"Maybe we can talk about that later. Once the shock has worn off," Astrid said, doing her best to smooth things over.
"Yes. Maybe later," I agreed. Because I had a perfectly good reason to be doing what I was doing, unlike fucking Max. "Why the hell would he do this anyway?"
Aria shrugged. "Could be that he just wanted to do the whole undercover billionaire boss thing. You know? See how everything really is in all of his holdings."
"That has to be it. And then he fell in love," Astrid chimed in, a dreamy look splashed across her face. "With you. And couldn't bear to leave and go back to his real life."
"Oh, and I'm sure you never hesitated to tell him how much you hate billionaires," Aria said with a laugh that she quickly smothered. "Poor man was scared shitless to tell you."
" Fuck ."
Every single damn thing I'd ever said to the man came rushing into the forefront of my brain. Every negative thing about extreme wealth.Every complaint about Max Sterling. And the absolute worst, every vulnerable word I'd confessed to him about myself.
It wouldn't be so bad if it was anyone other than Max Sterling. But something about him had always set me off, the way he was so blasé around me and looked at my sisters and me like he was superior.
"Well, he should be scared shitless. I hate that man. And I hate him even more now."
"But hear me out," Astrid said. "What if the man you got to know as Jared is really what he's like? What if his billionaire persona isn't the real him?"
"I highly doubt that. A tiger doesn't change its stripes."
Ethan appeared, a strange look on his face that made my heart sink even further.
"It's him, isn't it?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yes. Jared and Max are one and the same."
I let my head fall back against the chair and released a sigh of epic proportions.
This. This was why I didn't do relationships or love or even fun in general. Because it always led to disaster. And this was potentially the biggest disaster I'd ever experienced in my life.