Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
“YOU DON’T HAVE to be nervous. There’s nothing to be nervous of. It’s food with Carolyn, a dinner party, no big deal, easy breezy. Don’t psyche yourself out.”
On the phone, her gorgeous friend just couldn’t identify with gnawing anxiety.
“Rox, you’re never nervous.”
“I’m nervous, I… I’m not the best example of how to live your life, honey.
Anyone who models themselves on me will end up in hot water.
I guess the mantra should really be, ‘what wouldn’t Roxie do?
’ Though, hmm, there’s not a lot on that list.” Her friend hummed for a pondering second, then snapped back with renewed zeal.
“Talk to Bastian. If you really don’t want to go… ”
Except she’d agreed already. “I can’t just randomly call him.”
Showering, getting ready, had been autopilot. She’d had momentum and now it was time to leave, the butterflies started.
“He’s your guy,” Roxie said. “That’s what they’re for. You can randomly call him any time. There doesn’t need to be a reason.”
“He’s not… really my guy.”
“He gave you a car. How much more does a guy need to do?”
“It’s on loan. Not permanent. Driving in LA isn’t fun. It’s more stop than start. We don’t need cars. You don’t have a car.”
“I have a fleet of them and a hoard of drivers. I’m happy to send someone over to yours right now if—”
“No. I’ve taken too many liberties already.”
“Liberties? If I need a car, I take one from my BFF’s boyfriend—husband. That’s taking liberties. Or it would be if we cared about that shit in our group.”
“Bastian’s just too… kind. But I’m giving it back. Today. Now.”
At his place the past Sunday, Bastian escorted her to the car in the driveway and gave her a rundown of the controls.
The seat hugged her whole body, the sleek dash almost glittered.
In his kitchen, she’d worried about monopolizing his time.
For some reason, monopolizing his car didn’t worry her.
Not to the same extent. She’d been too excited about taking something so powerful for a spin.
In a testament to not losing her senses altogether, she’d looked him in the eye and asked if he was sure.
Bastian was a bachelor and probably prized the sports car as much as another man would value his child.
He must’ve spent a lot of time saving for it, or he had a massive line of credit that would take three lifetimes to pay off.
“Consider it a trade for your phone number.” Those were his words after her third request for confirmation. “Those digits mean more to me than this hunk of metal.”
Sunday and Monday were gone. Tuesday had rushed up on her. This was the night of his mother’s dinner party.
“And how will you get home?” Roxie asked. “Are you spending the night with Bastian again?”
Roxie didn’t do judgment, she’d never seen it, never heard it.
And right then, Roxie was the only one beyond her and Bastian, who knew the full truth.
Zairn didn’t count with secrets, that’s what Roxie said.
He was a vault of silence… or maybe didn’t care enough to listen, she’d forgive him for that.
Being in it, her head rattled. Sometimes she couldn’t keep up.
“We didn’t talk about it.” They’d have work tomorrow. “Depends how late it goes, I guess.”
“Bastian will have a plan. Men like him always have a plan.” Would be nice if he looped her in. “If you want to go home with him, go home with him.”
“My parents are back tonight.”
At some point.
“Which means…?”
More people to hear her lies. “Are you close to your parents?” she asked.
“I love them, but we don’t talk every day. Z might, I don’t know. It’s hard to keep track of him.”
Yet Roxie wasn’t at all fazed or concerned.
“You’re really lucky to have found each other.”
“If you want us to come tonight, we’ll come.”
“No, you have more important things to do.”
And it wasn’t her place to invite extra guests to a dinner party. There were only so many chairs and so much food.
“But if you’d feel better with—”
“Bastian will be there. I’ll be fine.”
Pathetic as it was, she’d been excited to see him again since the moment they last parted.
Somehow, God only knew how, but she’d resisted getting in touch with him.
Her impulse control wasn’t always the best and already she brimmed with things to tell him.
Crazy, right? She’d forget them all the minute they saw each other.
Her brain would evaporate all rational thought and she’d just gawk.
More than likely, it wasn’t her brain but Bastian’s proximity that did the evaporating.
Ready in her shimmering golden dress, she dug heels out the bottom of her closet. Noise rose from beyond her room, people moving around, voices.
“Keep my number handy,” Roxie said. “If you need to get out of there or someone to talk to…”
“Thank you, Roxie.” Feet in shoes, she took one last look in her full-length mirror. “I better get going.”
“Call if you need anything.”
They hung up and she tucked her phone into her clutch, then the purse under her arm to make her departure.
Running down the stairs, her mother and father were just inside the front door with the rest of the household crowded around them. Their arrival couldn’t delay her, she might hold up dinner being served. Wouldn’t that be mortifying?
“You’re back,” Harper said, coming to a halt on the bottom stair. “How was your trip?”
“There’s a new Porsche in the driveway,” her father, Davis, said.
No hello or hug, just an abrupt question. Though it did sound more like a statement.
“We told him it was yours,” Adara said. “He doesn’t believe us.”
“Maybe she stole it,” Charissa said though no one responded.
The poor woman spent a lot of time talking to herself. Adara cared more for her friend than Damon did his girlfriend. She knew it; she’d been there. Damon could charm a woman and be attentive when it suited him. Soon as he had the commitment, he’d go cold in a heartbeat.
“Or it’s payment for services,” Damon grumbled.
Trust him to come out with a hackle-raising comment.
“It isn’t mine,” Harper said to her father. “A friend let me borrow it. I’ll be returning it.”
Maybe she was supposed to have returned it already. Bastian wasn’t so clear on that.
“Which friend?” her father demanded.
“Her boyfriend,” Adara said with a roll of her eyes. “We told you, Daddy.”
Their family wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy, but this had to be a record. Her parents hadn’t even taken their jackets off and already the whole gang were picking her life apart.
“Boyfriend?” Davis asked his eldest daughter then switched to his younger one: her. “Hunt… you were serious about that?”
The question wasn’t really meant for her, even though she was standing right there. She knew how their father worked as well as Adara, which was why her sister was the one to address his incredulity.
“He was at our engagement party,” Adara said. “He didn’t stay long, but we told you he was there.”
“You’re in a relationship with Bastian Hunt?” Davis said, cutting through the melee of people around him to get to her at the bottom of the stairs.
Had she ever been singled out by her father? No. Hmm. She didn’t like it. The weird look in his eye made her uneasy. It was almost like this information pushed her up in his estimations. Why? One guess was good as another.
She wasn’t completely haggard and hadn’t quite reached spinsterhood yet. In her opinion anyway. Had her father feared he’d be left with her in his house forever? Was Bastian that much of a reprieve? Great vote of confidence from the patriarch.
What was she missing? Why was every face… something?
“He’s a friend,” Harper said. Everyone was watching her. Adara’s smile was the widest. Carnell looked happy too, though that could just be because he was next to the fiancée he adored. Both Damon and Charissa were frowning, and her mother looked like she was ready to cry. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal,” her father said. “I’m so proud of you.”
When he pulled her down the last stair and into his arms, she almost blacked out. Her father wasn’t a hugger. She couldn’t remember him ever even touching her let alone hugging her. How did she…? She was an awkward hugger at the best of times. It might help if she knew the root of this happiness.
“Proud?” Damon said. “She said they were using each other for sex!”
“She was kidding,” Adara said, hitting Damon’s arm.
Had her father heard Damon? No idea. He pushed her away from his embrace and turned his back to consult with Damon.
“If he could push his business our way…”
“That’s a lot of business, Davis,” Damon said. “Could we handle it?”
“For that amount of money? I say we’d damn well find a way.”
What was she watching unfold? The men were in some kind of zone.
“He might have internal—”
“No, it’ll be contracted out,” Davis said, “and what better way to ensure bidding success?”
“Than to pimp out your daughter?” Adara said. “She’s happy, Daddy, shouldn’t that be our first priority?”
“Yes, yes,” Davis said, reaching back to pat Harper while looking at Adara. “But a billionaire, Adara! A billionaire in the family… Luck’s smiling on us after all!”