Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
Audrey
Surprisingly enough, I’d been in New York City for a week and Alexei hadn’t come around once. I was too afraid to ask Carina or Ace where he was because I didn’t want to come off desperate or interested. Carina would sniff out weakness if I even brought it up. And it wasn’t like I was either of those things, I was merely curious . He was usually dead set on trying to annoy me as soon as I got into town. Maybe he was bored with me now that he knew I was never going to leave, that was the only explanation I could come up with. It didn’t make me feel better.
Sometime while I was eating breakfast, or lunch, or dinner, Carina managed to snag my phone and download every single dating app she could find. I knew better. She said dating but I knew she just wanted me to get laid and get the past five years out of my system. Little did she know, I didn’t need to get laid to do that and I didn’t need to date either. But, going on a date didn’t feel like a terrible idea. It actually seemed fun, not because I was ready for anything serious but because I was ready to just be me and find me again. It would be interesting to meet new people and find friends in this massive city too.
This was my third time eating lunch in Central Park. Carina went to work with Ace most days, seeing what he did in the office. I was too afraid to ask what the office actually entailed so I decided to explore the city. I found myself at the same hot dog truck and on the same bench each day. It was nice. It was windy and it wasn’t humid. It was busy and there were people around constantly. Today I brought a book with me. It wasn’t something I was overly interested in but it was nice. It was nice to just be without a timeline or pressing needs to attend to. After staring at the same page for about an hour, I decided my time was probably better spent watching people. There were so many different types. It was scary and fascinating.
“I didn’t enjoy that book much either,” A woman said a few spaces down from me, startling me as I was staring at a man and a woman under a blanket in the middle of the park. It looked like they were doing something… well, it looked like they were having sex. Sex under a blanket in the middle of the park? It was unhinged. I couldn’t wait to tell Carina.
I looked down at the cover of the book I’d picked up on a whim at the bookstore down the road. “It’s not that I’m not enjoying it.”
She grinned, showing off a gap between her front teeth. “You’d just rather watch two people have sex in the middle of the park.”
I pressed my palm to the center of my forehead, my face flaming. “Yes.”
She let out a laugh as she got closer. She held up a book of her own, it was a YA fantasy. I loved those. “I picked this up but I’m not feeling it. It takes a special mindset to get into fantasy world building and I’m just not in it.”
I nodded. I could agree, it was why I hadn’t read fantasy in a while. My headspace was not in the best place.
She brushed her blonde, corkscrew hair behind her ear. “Are you on your lunch break?”
I shook my head. “Still trying to figure out life and jobs and being in the city.”
She ran her hands down her bellbottom jeans and I realized I hadn’t introduced myself. “It’s a bit overwhelming.”
“I’m sorry,” I held my hand out. “I’m Audrey.”
I didn’t know how it was possible but her grin stretched even wider. I knew right then that I liked her and hoped she would be my friend.
Even I sounded lame in my own head.
She took my hand in hers. “Talullah. But you can call me Lu!”
“Well, Lu, where do you work?”
She shoved her book back into her oversized shoulder bag. “Umm, just a little publishing house around the corner.”
I let out a breath. “How cool!”
“Have you applied to any jobs around here?”
And that was the beginning of a new friendship and I’d never been so excited to be in a new place as much as I was then.
Carina was pacing the penthouse when I got back.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I closed the door behind me and toed off my Vans.
She shook her head. “Remember the wedding dress stuff?”
I nodded as I walked to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. There was no way I was going to buy one from the hot dog cart, they were five dollars, and I was dying of thirst by the time I made it to this block. I gulped down the water like I was a dying woman. Carina watched me with big eyes.
“Well, it’s only getting worse. Maybe we should push back the wedding some.”
“I don’t know why you both wanted to move so quickly with it.”
She slumped her shoulders and folded herself over the counter. “Ace assured me money would buy everything.”
I tilted my water bottle toward her. “Money can’t buy time.”
“Apparently not. So it’s either letting Emeline have the pick of my wedding dress or I go back to that boutique and tell her to go ahead, it’ll just take a few months.”
“What was rushing you both to begin with?” I leaned on the island opposite of her. The smell of baking bread wrapped around us and I knew immediately that Georgie was hard at work in the butler’s kitchen making dinner. If I wasn’t in a predicament with Carina, I would have danced down the short hall to Georgie to sing her praises. But we were in serious mode here.
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know, something about being heir and his father pushing for him to get married and have kids.”
My brows pulled together. “What? I didn’t think you would be having kids so soon.” And there was absolutely nothing wrong with that, if that was what she wanted to do but I’d known Carina my entire life, this didn’t seem like her.
“No,” She shook her head. “We aren’t going to start having kids right away. He’s just appeasing his father on the timeline of marriage so we can have a little less pressure on us from him.”
“Okayyyy,” I dragged out. “So get your dream dress, push the wedding back, and do it the way the both of you want to.”
Even though I wouldn’t say it out loud, I had a feeling Ace’s parents were controlling more than Carina let on. I hadn’t forgotten the reasoning for the quick wedding from when she announced her engagement, Ace is just sooo in love. Now it was him being heir. I tried to keep my thoughts and face neutral, but I didn’t like it. I hoped he was marrying her for all of the right reasons. I hoped he was truly in love with her like I thought he was.
She pinched her lips together and nodded. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Oh no, here we go. I was going to be kicked out, or told I couldn’t stay here very long or something equally awful.
“Grandmother and Nana wanted to take us to dinner.”
I blew out the breath I’d been holding. “That’s it?”
Her eyebrows almost hit her hairline. “I mean, I think that’s pretty rough.”
I flicked my wrist. “The grannies are harmless.”
Even I knew my words were definitely far from the truth. But how bad could it be?
Three days later and we found out just how bad it could be. Neither of us knew what we could possibly expect so we both wore conservative dresses with high necklines and sensible shoes. The sensible shoes part was spot on. For two grannies, they sure loved to walk everywhere and experience the night air as Nana said. I was also beginning to think the cane Grandmother hauled around with her was either for show or for a weapon.
The restaurant they chose was nothing I could have ever expected and based on Carina’s eyes and how wide they were… it wasn’t something she would have expected either. We thought they would have chosen a nice, quiet place with an expensive wine selection.
Nope.
They chose a restaurant with banana hammocks .
Damn banana hammocks.
I’d never come so close to men in thongs before in my entire life. Our waiter had a banana hammock. I couldn’t look at anything else. I couldn’t tell you what his hair color was or if he was even attractive because the moment he came to our table with that massive thing, I couldn’t see anything else. I was a horrible person, obviously.
The grannies grinned as they ordered cocktail after cocktail. All Carina and I could do was sit straight-backed in our chairs and hope we didn’t come face-to-face with one of them. Touching was heavily encouraged because the moment Nana smacked a bare ass, I about ran out of the place.
Grandmother hiccuped. “Ace wouldn’t have ever approved of this so we had to be careful.”
You could only get into this restaurant/club if you were invited. The grannies had multiple grand invitations by what they were saying. The door to get in was extremely discrete and the bouncer waiting outside of it… terrifying. I would have never come here on my own but there were many others seated around us that felt the complete opposite.
Nana nodded and smacked another man as he went by. He yelped and jumped a little, but seemed to be enjoying it. What kind of alternate reality had we found ourselves in? “We lost our tail a long time ago.”
Carina laid her forehead on the table. He sent a tail on us? I didn’t know what was so funny about it but I found myself doubled over but instead of in embarrassment, it was amusement. This entire thing was incredible. After she said that, I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. Most of the eye candy was not interested in us, which was fine by me. They seemed more focused on the older women.
Sugar mommas.
Nana sat up from her lounging position and eyed us both. “This is a bit boring. Why don’t we go have some fun?”
Carina lifted her head from the table and shot me a look. I grinned. This was the best night ever.