e i g h t e e n
Paparazzi surrounded us the second we pulled up to the banquet hall.
"Keep your head down," Damien ordered sharply, "and whatever you do, don't stop walking."
He didn't exit the limo until he received verbal confirmation from each of us.
"Got it, boss," Quinn piped up from the driver's seat.
Damien nodded his head in approval before his eyes drifted over to me.
I leaned forward in my seat, patting his knee reassuringly. "What he said," I quipped, tipping my head back in Quinn's direction.
Damien rolled his eyes at my comment before he pushed open the door and stepped out into the mass of screaming photographers.
As he held out his right hand for me to grab, he signaled for Quinn to get out of the car with his left.
I carefully stepped out into the unruly atmosphere, watching from the corner of my eye as Quinn did the same.
He passed the limo keys to the valet before he hesitantly grabbed onto my outstretched hand.
Damien steered us through the crowd of people who stood, gathered along the sidewalk, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take our picture. I made sure to keep my head down like he asked so that I could avoid making eye contact with them.
Cameras flashed from every angle, and the bright lights blinded me temporarily.
"Lilac! Lilac! Look over here!"
"Are you and Logan Williams secretly together?!"
"Is this your boyfriend?"
"Tell us about the feud between you and Chelsea Alexander!"
Quinn's hold on my hand tightened after one pap began to speculate that he was my boyfriend. In a desperate attempt to try and calm his nerves, I gave his palm a gentle squeeze.
The questions became even more outrageous as we scurried up the short set of steps that led over to the building.
"Is it true that you're living with Kyle Rodriguez?"
"Does he know about your relationship with his best friend?"
"Is he paying you to keep quiet?"
I whipped my head around to glare at the photographer standing to my left.
"You ignorant little—" A sharp tug on my hand prevented me from finishing the rest of my sentence, and I silently cursed Damien for cutting me off.
He guided us into the venue a few moments later, and his shoulders visibly relaxed when we reached the main ballroom.
I released Quinn's hand with a huff. "Why do you do this for a living?"
He hesitated before responding. "I ask myself that same question every day."
He then let go of my hand to adjust his tie, and I used this time to study my surroundings.
It was almost as if we had stepped into another dimension entirely.
The soft chatter that graced my ears greatly contrasted the screaming mess of paparazzi that we left huddled together outside.
If we weren't standing in the presence of Hollywood's most elite set of families, I would be more concerned, but we were, and that made all the difference.
Women dressed in floor-length gowns conversed with one another from their respective tables while the men stood, talking to each other in small circles around the room.
In light of the occasion, they had on their most expensive tuxedos paired with their equally pricey watches.
"Jesus," Quinn muttered in disbelief.
I followed his line of sight to see that he was now openly staring at an ice sculpture that was sitting off to the side in the far corner of the room.
"Let's go find our table," I stammered, forcing my eyes away from the frozen statue. "And pray that we don't break anything along the way."
Damien chuckled from behind me, saying something to himself in what sounded like French.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Nothing," he smiled innocently. "And your table is right over there."
We turned our heads, following the point of his finger until our eyes landed on the table that he was referring to.
You've got to be kidding me.
Our table was center stage, giving everyone a perfect view of the Rodriguez party.
How wonderful.
I suddenly locked eyes with Kassandra, and I watched a smirk slip onto her face at the sight of us.
We approached her quickly for fear that she might start yelling out to us from across the ballroom.
"Bitch, you look amazing!" she squealed, squeezing my hands excitedly. "Do I have style, or what?!"
"Forget about me!" I screeched, raking my eyes over her figure. "Look at you! It's like sexy and chic had a baby!"
We dove into a complimenting battle, completely shutting out Quinn, who was standing next to us uncomfortably.
"Quinn? Is that you?" Kass finally turned to acknowledge the handsome man standing beside me.
He shot her a small smile, nodding his head in response to her question.
"Damn, you clean up nice," she muttered while eyeing him seductively.
"Down, girl," I teased, shooting her a playful glare. "He's mine tonight."
A deep voice suddenly joined in on our conversation. "Is that so?"
My entire body grew rigid as Kyle walked up behind me, and I tried to focus on something other than the scent of his cologne.
In a desperate attempt to try and defuse the situation, I quickly pulled Quinn into my side and gestured for him to drop his head down to my level.
"Roll with me on this," I whispered so that only he could hear me.
He lifted his head back upright, sending me a curt nod.
Kyle returned his focus to us a split second later, having finished dapping up Damien, who, in turn, took off to the back of the room to join the other security guards.
"Good evening, sir," Quinn spoke up with a smile. "I hope you don't mind, but Damien said that I could have his seat since he's going to be up working most of the night."
Kyle's eyes snapped over to me as if Quinn had just said that all of this was my fault.
In a way, it kind of was since it was my idea to bring him along, but he didn't need to know that.
I swallowed nervously as his gaze flickered down to the strip of skin that was left widely exposed due to the plunging neckline of my dress.
"Something wrong?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.
He slowly dragged his eyes back up to my face.
"Very," he said, clenching his jaw.
Before any of us could respond to his statement, a man suddenly sauntered across the makeshift stage and tapped the mic three times, calling for everyone's attention.
Kyle swiveled around on his heel and strolled over to take his seat without another word.
Kass and I exchanged a 'what just happened' look before she ushered us over to the table where Kyle, Logan, Justin, and Julianna were seated.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could please have your attention," the announcer spoke loudly into the microphone. "We first and foremost want to thank you all for coming out to show your support tonight, especially since we had to change locations at the last minute."
I shifted my attention away from the host after someone kicked my leg under the table.
What is it with the Rodriguez brothers and footsies?
"Sorry," Justin whispered when he saw my pained expression. "I was trying to get you to notice me."
"Oh, yeah?" I hissed through gritted teeth, clutching my leg tightly. "How's that working out for you so far?"
"Not so good," he gulped, sinking back into his chair. "Suddenly, I don't want your attention anymore."
Julianna shot us a warning look from the far end of the table. "Quiet, you two."
Justin opened his mouth to protest, but she quickly shut him down. "Don't make me say it again."
Logan bit his lip to stop from laughing while Kass discreetly covered her mouth with her hand. Kyle shifted in his seat beside me as he tried to fight back the grin that was threatening to take over his face.
Great.
Even he's amused.
I was torn from my daze when everyone in the room began to clap at something that the announcer had said. I was able to piece together the last bit of his sentence just before the French doors at the back of the room swung open.
"Please give a warm welcome to our celebrity donors of the evening, Sarah and Jacques Rodriguez!"
Everyone turned to look towards the double doors, and a collective cheer broke out amongst the crowd when Sarah and Jacques entered the room, hand in hand.
Sarah smiled and waved at the guests in her general vicinity while Jacques simply nodded his head in the direction of a few powerful-looking men.
Once they made it to our table, Jacques pulled out one of the two chairs situated at the head of the table and helped Sarah settle down in it.
"Mother, you look beautiful as always." Kyle wasted no time complimenting the woman of the hour even though his statement felt somewhat forced.
"Yeah, mom, you look incredible," Justin chimed in, his smile genuine.
Sarah placed a hand over her heart as she gazed lovingly at her children. "Thank you, boys."
She then paused to glance around the table. "Kyle, honey, where's Rebecca?"
My mouth went dry at her question.
I'd completely forgotten that she was even supposed to be here.
No wonder I was having such a good time.
The Queen of Bitchlandia hadn't made her grand entrance yet.
"She's—" Kyle opened his mouth to answer his mother's question, only to get cut off by an overly cheery voice two seconds into his response.
"Right here!"
Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.
Rebecca glided up to our table, making sure to show off her signature pout. "Sarah, darling, I'm so sorry that I'm late! The paps were an absolute pain to get through."
I scoffed at her words.
Damien was able to get us through the crowd safe and sound in less than three minutes.
So unless she stopped to talk to each one of them—which I didn't doubt at all—she was lying out of her ass.
And Sarah ate it right up.
"That's okay, honey!" she cooed, dismissing her apology with the flick of her wrist. "You're here now. That's all that matters."
Rebecca's face brightened as she turned to face Kyle, who was sitting to my right, completely unmoving.
Her cold gaze met my own for the briefest moment before she leaned down and brushed her lips against his in an eye-rollingly slow way.
"Hey, handsome," she purred, threading her fingers through his slicked-back hair. "You didn't call me back last night."
Quinn brought his glass up to his lips. "I wonder why," he muttered sarcastically.
I stifled a laugh after he began to sip on his water like it was tea.
I knew I was right to bring him along.
Rebecca released Kyle from her hold so that she could sit down beside him, and it was then that I noticed what she was wearing.
To be honest, I'm not even sure how I missed it in the first place.
Two tight-ass straps held her entire upper half in place, and for a second, I wondered how she was even able to breathe.
As Rebecca struggled to stuff her unnecessarily long train underneath the table, Sarah took it upon herself to compliment her appearance.
"You look marvelous, darling!" she gushed, turning a blind eye to the icy glare that Kass was shooting her way. "Givenchy really stepped up their game this year."
Not caring to hear the rest of their conversation, I leaned in and whispered to Quinn, "How many people do you think she tripped on her way over here?"
"I'm betting ten," he responded immediately.
His reply must've been a tad bit too loud because Jacques choked on his water after Quinn told me his guess.
When he turned to look at us, I thought that he was going to be wildly upset since Rebecca is Kyle's . . . companion, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
"Can I place a bet?" he asked after he regained his composure.
We nodded eagerly.
"Counting the people outside?" he pondered aloud. "I'm thinking, fifteen."
The three of us exchanged a knowing look before we all burst out laughing.
A few pretentious-looking people twisted around in their chairs to see what all of the fuss was about, and this only made us laugh harder.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rebecca scowling at us as if our very existence put a bad taste in her mouth.
"Babe, who's this?" she asked while gesturing towards Quinn.
"This is my driver's son, Quinn," Kyle supplied bitterly. "He's filling in for his dad temporarily."
Jacques's laughter came to a halt at the mention of Quinn's father. "How is your old man doing, by the way?"
Quinn let out a shaky breath. "His shoulder is healing up nicely, but he's got a long journey ahead of him in terms of recovery. The doctor said that he's looking at three to four months minimum."
"He'll pull through," Jacques reassured him. "I'm sure of it. If you all need anything, I'm only a phone call away."
A waiter with a platter full of drinks approached our table before Quinn could respond. "Good evening, everyone. Would you all like some champagne?"
Kass jumped at the offer. "Yes, please."
A small frown graced Sarah's lips at her daughter's eagerness.
"Could you also bring us a bottle of wine? Preferably a Pinot Noir."
The waiter whose nametag read, Roberto, sent her a weak smile before he distributed our drinks and scurried off to the kitchen.
He made sure to leave behind a basket of rolls for us to snack on while we waited for our food, and to my disappointment, he left the basket on the furthest side of the table.
"Could you pass me the rolls?" I asked Kyle hesitantly.
He grabbed the basket from its spot on the table and passed it to me reluctantly. His fingers accidentally brushed against mine as he handed me the bread, and I tried my best to ignore the tingles that shot up my arm the second his skin touched mine.
"Thanks," I muttered while reaching out to grab the small container of butter that was sitting near my plate.
While we waited for our dinner to arrive, a lineup of charity organizers passed the time by giving short but detailed presentations about their particular organization.
A charity auction was going to be held immediately after dessert, followed by a social hour where guests could talk to some of the different charities that were here.
A live jazz band took the place of the organizers on stage when the waiters finally began to pass out the food.
Since Jacques's side of the family comes from a highly religious background, he made sure to bless the food before we could even think about digging in.
The familiar melody of 'Take Five' filled my ears as I draped my napkin across my lap and began cutting into my baked chicken.
It didn't surprise me that Rebecca managed to talk pretty much the entire time that we were eating and that her stories mostly pertained to her career in fashion design.
The only person who stayed actively engaged in a conversation with her was Sarah, and that's mostly because she was the only one making an effort.
The rest of us were too busy talking about the most recent trailer that Warner Brothers released on their YouTube channel to promote the new Joker movie.
"We have to get a special screening of it," Logan insisted after he swallowed a piece of his chicken. "You're friends with Rooney, right Kass?"
I nearly choked on my drink when Kass shot him an 'are you stupid' look.
"Of course I am," she scoffed, letting it be known that she was highly offended by his question. "Her vegan clothing line is to die for."
"I heard that it's hella expensive," Justin mused over the mouth of his wine glass.
"Like you can't afford it," Kass clapped back, rolling her eyes at her brother's comment.
"You could buy out the entire store and still have enough money left over to purchase another house in Bali," Kyle joined in on their conversation from his spot beside me.
Jacques shook his head in disappointment. "I know for a fact that I raised you all to be modest." He paused to look at each of them. "What happened?"
Justin cocked his thumb towards Kass before he flipped it around towards Kyle. "She ranked number one on Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women's list, and he got an ego."
"He has a point," Julianna spoke up from the other end of the table. "Especially about my darling nephew."
We all chuckled at her remark, except for Sarah and Rebecca, who were still heavily immersed in their conversation about New York Fashion Week.
Dinner carried on like this for another thirty-five minutes, and before I knew it, the waiters were swapping our dinner food out for dessert.
The charity auction began after everyone finished eating their dessert, and the starting bids were worth more than my paycheck doubled.
The urge to pee hit me after the fourth item went up for grabs at a starting price of $500,000.
I quickly exited the room with Kass before it went up even higher.
From the hallway, I could hear people shouting out their bids from one end of the banquet hall to the other. Among the mixture of voices, I was able to pinpoint Jacques's as he called out an offer price that had me tripping over my heels.
Judging by the lack of offers that went up after his, I could tell that he had beaten everybody else out.
Kassandra and I entered the bathroom in a daze, heading straight for the sink to touch up our hair and makeup. As she applied a fresh layer of lipstick to her lips, I began to recall the disagreement that we had in Dior the other day.
"Didn't you say that black was a funeral color?" I asked while glaring at her in the mirror.
She capped her lipstick with a shrug. "It is. But given the fact that I hardly ever wear it, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to give the people what they've been wanting."
"I highly doubt that anyone wanted to see your ass tonight, Kass," I laughed.
She covered her butt, which was on full display due to the sheer material of her dress, and let out a horrified gasp.
"Of course they wanted to see my ass!" she yelled defensively. "Who wouldn't?"
"Hmm, let's see," I hummed, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. "Your mom, your dad, your two very overprotective brothers, me . . ."
She flipped me off. "Hater."
I stuck my tongue out at her before I pushed away from the sink and entered the middle stall.
We took our time leaving the bathroom since we weren't in any rush to get back to the table.
When we came to a stop in front of the frosted French doors, I took notice of a tall figure standing in front of a large window that overlooked the backyard of the venue.
I squinted my eyes to try to make out who it was. "Isn't that Logan?"
The hallways were dimly lit, making it hard to see anything that was more than four feet away from me.
Kassandra grabbed the door handle and yanked it down quickly. "Yeah, but he looks like he's on the phone, so why don't we just go back inside and—Lilac, get your ass back over here now!"
I ignored Kass's whisper-shouts as I walked towards Logan.
Since he was standing with his back facing me, he didn't notice that I was standing behind him until I tapped him on his shoulder.
He spun around on his heel to shoo me away, but he stopped short when he saw that it was me.
He then flashed me a smile that made me weak in the knees.
God, he was gorgeous.
He held up his finger to indicate that he would be a second.
"Yeah, Gordon?" He shoved his hand into his pocket, speaking timidly into the speaker. "I'm going to have to call you back."
My mouth fell open as I quickly put two and two together.
"Mmm, yeah, fuck you too," he chuckled after Gordon finished cussing him out. "See you at the studio on Monday."
"Please tell me that you didn't just hang up on Gordon Ramsay so that you could talk to me," I begged after he ended the call without saying goodbye.
Logan pocketed his phone, his lips curving up into a smirk. "I didn't just hang up on Gordon Ramsay so that I could talk to you."
My hands flew to my hips at his tone. "You're lying."
He leaned up against the window, letting loose a defeated sigh. "Okay, fine. I did hang up on him so that I could talk to you."
I shook my head at him. "You're crazy."
"And you're elusive," he shot, catching me off guard. "You've barely spoken to me since Sunday, and every time I try and call you, you're somehow magically busy doing something else."
The weight of his words hit me like a ton of bricks.
Where was this coming from?
"Okay," I said slowly. "I wasn't lying when I told you that I was busy taking care of some things—"
"Things like what?" he asked coolly. "Hiding the fact that you got into an argument with my ex?"
I stared up at him in disbelief. "She was trying to get me fired from my job, and you wanted me to what? Sit back and take it?"
"You didn't even want the position to begin with!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration. "And you wouldn't have even gotten it if Kyle wasn't so fascinated by you and your wild-ass attitude!"
My hands trembled at my sides as I slowly took a step away from him. "Why don't you go ahead and call Gordon back?"
Logan ran a shaky hand through his hair before he reached out to try to stop me. "Lilac, wait—"
I held up my hand, warning him to stay put. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but I'm not interested in sticking around to find out."
He inhaled sharply. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? It wasn't my intention to come at you like that. I'm just exasperated. Not with you, of course, but rather, your situation."
"Ironic, isn't it?" I suddenly asked, my voice devoid of any emotion. "That the job I swore up and down I didn't want, I'm now fighting for my life to keep."
Logan opened his mouth to respond, but I quickly cut him off.
"At first, I didn't get it, but now I do.
This job is my only way out, Logan. And you, of all people, should know that, especially after I confided in you about Kyle.
So I'm sorry if you feel that I've been avoiding you, but I've been a bit preoccupied trying to make sure that I don't lose both my job and my home. "
A deafening wave of silence settled over the room in the wake of my confession, and I instantly turned to walk away the second I began to feel suffocated by it.
When I realized that Logan had no intention of stopping me, I willed the tears that were pooling along my waterline to stay put.
Sergio would kill me if I ruined his work.
The auction was over by the time I made it back to my seat, and I instinctively lowered my head to avoid Kassandra's questioning stare.
She had left me to my own devices after she realized that I wasn't going to leave Logan alone and was now highly confused at my change of mood.
Wouldn't she like to know?
The distinct sensation of someone tapping my wrist repeatedly dragged me out of my thoughts.
"Are you okay?" Quinn asked me softly. He scanned my face with his eyes, taking in my grim expression.
When I didn't respond, he asked, "What's wrong?"
With a random burst of energy, Justin suddenly jumped up from his seat, and the sound of his chair scraping against the floor distracted me momentarily.
"Nothing," I finally answered back. "I'm just tired, that's all."
When I saw that he didn't believe me, I quickly threw the question back at him. "What's going on with you, though? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something that happened to me earlier this week since I'm too afraid to talk to Kyle about it—"
"Lilac!" Justin bounded over to our side of the table, and his presence cut into the rest of Quinn's sentence. "Come dance with me!"
He pulled me up from my chair before I could protest. "You can talk to Quinnie later."
I shot Quinn an apologetic look before I was whisked onto the dance floor by an over-enthused Justin.
He led me through the small crowd of couples that were slow dancing around us before he placed his hand on my waist and tugged my body closer to his.
As we began to sway to the beat of the song playing over the loudspeakers, I tried to focus on something other than my conversation with Logan, but I couldn't. His words echoed in my mind every time I closed my eyes, and I could almost feel his heated stare from across the room.
I pulled away from Justin's warm embrace. "I'm not in the mood to dance with you right now."
He quickly grabbed my left hand with his right and said, "That's okay! You can dance with somebody else then!"
Before I could even think to ask him what he meant by that, he twirled me around and let go of my hand so that we were no longer connected. I wasn't a stranger to dancing in heels—thank God—but the force of his spin sent me flying back into someone's chest.
I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
"Son of a bitch!" I swore loud enough for Justin to hear me.
A few couples stopped what they were doing to gape at me, but their horrified stares rolled right off my back.
You couldn't pay me to give a damn about their opinion.
"Well, hello, to you too," Kyle spoke up from behind me.
He used his grip on my biceps to turn me around, and I tried to swallow down my irritation.
We had been set up.
"Sorry," I apologized half-heartedly. "I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about your brother."
His lips twitched in amusement. "I figured."
The melodic voices belonging to Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey filled the air as the DJ switched over to their cover of 'Endless Love' by Lionel Richie.
Kyle's fingers lingered on my skin for a minute before he let go of me entirely. "Are you okay?"
I took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to swear for a second time. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Because you look like you want to punch someone," he deadpanned.
I bit my lip to try and prevent my tough-girl act from falling through the cracks. "No, I don't."
He took my chin between his index finger and his thumb and gently tilted my head up until we were making direct eye contact.
"What the hell did Logan say to you?"
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and watched as his gaze darkened significantly. "Don't worry about it."
I gasped softly when he tightened his hold on my chin, pulling my face closer to his chest.
"Something wrong?" he smirked, throwing the phrase I used on him earlier right back in my face.
I let go of his wrist and slid my hand around the back of his neck so that I could thread my fingers through his hair. "Very."
Rebecca might be annoying, but she sure was fun to mock. "Where's your date, handsome? Don't tell me she ditched you already?"
Kyle dropped his hands down to my waist while I looped my other arm around his neck. "It seems as though her only assignment for tonight was to kiss the mayor's ass, so, yes, consider me ditched."
I shot him a faux pout. "Let me guess? Daddy's orders?"
He gave my waist a gentle squeeze. "You know it."
Just when I thought that I'd successfully managed to distract him from the topic at hand, he spoke up again.
"Our conversation from before is far from over," he warned, crushing what little hope I had left.
I should've known that he wasn't going to drop it. He's Logan's best friend for Christ's sake.
But if he wanted to know what happened between us so bad, he was going to have to ask Logan himself.
I closed my eyes and began to sway to the sound of Mariah Carey's voice, forcing Kyle to move along with me.
"I know," I told him softly.
He didn't say anything else after that since he probably figured that we would pick this up in the morning.
If only he knew how wrong he was.
I hid my face in the crook of his neck, grinning to myself.
As time went on, everything around me seemed to melt away as he held me flush against his body.
It felt as though we were trapped in our own little bubble, and nothing else—hell, no one else—could pop it.
And for the briefest moment, I allowed myself to enjoy it.