Second Hearts (The Wishes Series) (29 page)

“Watch it!” Kinsey scolded.

“Excuse me,” I muttered, leaning down to pick up the shopping bag she’d dropped.

“Oh, Charli,” she said, abandoning the choler. “I didn’t realise it was you.”

I handed her her bag. “What difference would it have made? Once a rude bitch, always a rude bitch.”

Kinsey actually seemed offended by the venom I was directing her way. For some irksome reason, I apologised.

“It’s fine. I’m glad I ran in to you, actually.” Her chirpy tone grated on me. “I had coffee with Adam this morning.”

“See? I do let him out to play occasionally.”

Kinsey pursed her glossy lips to form a tight, false smile. “We miss him, you know.”

“I don’t stop Adam from doing anything. If you haven’t seen him enough of him lately, talk to him about it.”

Already tired of the conversation, I began walking away. Unfortunately, she walked with me. “We’re having a get-together tonight. You should both come.”

“I’d rather eat broken glass,” I told her.

Kinsey grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. I shrugged free, frowning to let her know she’d overstepped the mark.

“Look, don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re forcing Adam to choose. He’s obviously happy with you, he married you.” She pulled a face, suggesting it was the most ludicrous move he’d ever made. “But he has friends who miss having him around. I know you think we don’t like you –”

“You
don’t
like me.”

Kinsey sighed, buying herself more time to string the appropriate words together in her head. “Please come tonight,” she urged. “Adam will appreciate the effort we’re all making.”

“I’ll mention it to him.” It was the most I could promise. Bente had already pointed out my selfish behaviour, but changing my ways was harder than anticipated.

“Great,” said Kinsey. “It’s nothing fancy. Just a few drinks and pizza.”

“I’ll mention it to Adam,” I repeated, refusing to commit to more than that. I started walking again. Although she didn’t follow, Kinsey called out, forcing me to turn around.

“If you don’t show up, I’ll assume you didn’t tell him. That will mean only some of us are making an effort to call a truce, Charli. That might not look good for you.”

I should have known her moment of civility would be fleeting.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told her, walking away for the last time.

***

As expected, Adam wasted no time in quizzing me about my day. I’d barely made my way in the door and was kicking my shoes off when the questions began.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Mom said you left Nellie’s with a headache.”

It wasn’t surprising that she’d spoken to him already. I just had to figure out
what
she’d told him.

“I’m okay now.”

“Well, you look okay. How did lunch go?”

What was I supposed to tell him? Would it have been fair to tell him that his mother was a horrid, two-faced schemer who was doing her level best to oust me from his life? No, probably not. Would he appreciate knowing that she’d gone to the extent of doing a background check on me, or that we were now juicy bathroom conversation because of it? Absolutely not. Telling him anything at all would have been just plain cruel.

“It was fine.”

“I’m happy you sorted it out,” he murmured, sweeping the back of his hand down my cheek.

“Me too,” I lied.

Adam followed me as I walked through to the kitchen. He picked up the stack of mail off the counter, thumbing through it until he found the envelope he was looking for. “I have something for you,” he said, waving the envelope at me.

I snatched it from him. “Sounds ominous.”

“It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

I tore it open without reading it. Inside was a black credit card in the name of Charlotte Décarie.

“Thank you,” I said sarcastically. “It’s just what I’ve always wanted.”

He’d inadvertently just made trying to convince his mother that I wasn’t a gold digger impossible. Why would she ever believe it? I had shiny, probably limitless credit card with my name on it – well, Charlotte Décarie’s name on it.

I wasn’t even sure who Charlotte Décarie was. All I knew was that she’d almost done away with Charli Blake.

My scorn should have been obvious but he stepped toward me, snaking his arms around my waist. “You’re so pretty when you’re being disgusted by Décarie money,” he teased.

If I were brutally honest, I’d have to admit to being disgusted by much more than the Décarie money. As far as I was concerned, the only good thing to come out of that family was him – and possibly Ryan, on a good day.

I pulled open a drawer and dropped the card inside, bumping it closed with my hip.

Adam looked surprised. “You’ll need it, Charli.”

“I know where it is, if I do. Can we change the subject, please?”

Adam didn’t skip a beat, shifting the conversation to our plans for the evening.

“I’ll cook you dinner and we’ll have a quiet night in.” His cheeky expression implied a different agenda.

“How about we go out?” I suggested.

His perfect grin was wide and bright. I might as well have been offering him a trip to the moon – or parole. That realisation made me cringe a little.

“Where would you like to go, Mademoiselle?”

“Well, I ran in to Kinsey today,” I mentioned, speaking as if I’d only just remembered it.

He frowned. “So did I. I ended up having coffee with her and Parker between classes.”

“I know. They’re having a get-together tonight and asked if we’d like to go. Nothing fancy, just drinks and pizza.”

“They never mentioned it to me.”

“Maybe it was a last-minute thing.”

“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced. “Do you want to go?”

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t think of a reason not to. I’d been keeping him to myself for far too long.

24. Losing Numbers

One of the things I loved most about living in New York was that we walked just about everywhere. We bundled up in our thickest coats and ventured into the cold night.

We’d walked quite a distance before Adam asked me where we were going.

“Did Kinsey say they were going to be at her apartment or Parker’s?” he asked, blowing a warm breath into his clenched fist.

“She didn’t say.” I’d wrongly assumed they lived together.

He took his phone out. “We should probably find out where we’re going. I’ll ask Parker.”

I bounced around on the spot, trying to keep warm. “Walk and text, Adam. It’s freezing.”

We continued walking again until his phone beeped with a reply.

“Oh, Charlotte,” said Adam gravely, slowing his walk as he read the message.

“What’s wrong?” I grabbed his arm, forcing him to a stop.

He reached for my hand, probably to stop me bouncing around. “What did Kinsey say their plans were?”

“Drinks and pizza.”

Bafflingly, his wry grin broadened. “They’re having
drinks at Pieza
,” he corrected. “It’s a club not far from here.”

Emphatically, I shook my head. “No. That’s not what she said.”

“Shall we just go home?”

“Can’t we just go to Pieza?”

“We’re a little too casual,” he explained, looking down at his faded jeans and well-worn coat. “It’s a pretty upmarket club.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care. We should go. Will we get in dressed like this?”

He shook his head but the smiled remained. “I think I can get us in. You realise we’re way underdressed though, right?”

I really didn’t care. I hadn’t misheard Kinsey. She’d made a point of telling me it was nothing fancy. If she was playing games in hope of embarrassing me, it wasn’t going to work. I would have felt more out of place in a dress and heels than jeans and boots, regardless of how everyone else was dressed.

True to his word, Adam got us in. All he had to do was sweet-talk the woman bouncer at the door. She unhooked the velvet rope and ushered us in, shamelessly winking at Adam as he passed.

I hated the whole atmosphere of Club Pieza.

The loud music pulsed through me. Overhead strobe lights worked the crowd. The tight grip Adam had on my hand did little to save me. Bodies thumped and jerked into both of us as we manoeuvred our way through the club in search of his purple circle teammates.

Finding them took no time at all. They were upstairs in the VIP section, hidden away at a private table.

“Hey!” greeted Parker as soon as he saw us. Adam dropped my hand to receive the back thumping hug that guys are so fond of. Parker toned it down for me, kissing my cheek as if he knew me. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Didn’t you think we would?” asked Adam, glancing at Kinsey.

“We weren’t sure,” she said. “Charli was a little non-committal. Still, it’s nice to see you dressed up for us.” She looked me up and down.

“Drinks and pizza, Kins?” asked Adam.

Her expression was the guiltiest I’d ever seen, confirming what I knew. Kinsey had tried setting me up. At least Adam knew it too.

I decided very early in the evening that if I couldn’t beat them, the only option I had was to join them. Kinsey, Sera and Jeremy shuffled along the narrow booth seat making way for me to sit down. Adam remained standing, talking to Parker.

The loud music made it hard to hear each other speak. Snide whispers were impossible to catch, which was probably a godsend. I got the impression there was a lot of it going on.

“Charli, would you like something to drink?” asked Jeremy, pointing to the copious bottles of wine on the table. “Champagne maybe?”

What was it with these people and champagne? Where I came from, champagne was for special occasions. Then again, so was wearing mascara, but I’d found myself doing that a lot lately. Maybe I was turning into one of them. I shuddered at the thought and quickly declined his offer, settling for a beer instead, to Kinsey’s disgust.

Small talk was exactly that – only smaller. Jeremy tried hard, asking me every polite question he could think of. Unfortunately, my answers were as short as his questions, so conversation soon dried up. The lull didn’t last long. Kinsey jumped right in, asking me all sorts of things that I would never have considered answering if not for the two beers I’d consumed.

“Is that everything?” I asked wearily. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“Just one more thing,” said Kinsey, leaning in close. “Adam belongs to one of the wealthiest families in Manhattan. Why are you wearing an eighty dollar wedding ring?”

I glanced down at my hand, wiggling my fingers. “Is that all its worth? He told me he paid a hundred for it.”

Kinsey burst into a fit of patronising giggles. Jeremy tried shushing her to no avail.

Perhaps sensing a drop in the level of good manners, Adam reached for my hand, pulling me to my feet. “Are you done playing?” he asked, leaning down so I’d hear him. “We can go if you want to.”

I felt utter relief. Parker walked over, interrupting by handing us both another drink. “I’ve got to tell you,” he began, “I’m still trying to come to terms with the news that you sneaked off and got married.”

“Don’t take it personally.” Adam grinned at me. “We had to do it quickly, before Charli changed her mind.”

Parker stared at me strangely – like he was trying to see further than my eyes. “Adam, how can you be so sure she’s the one?”

“Look at her. How could she not be the one?”

Parker smiled. “I’m happy for you, man.” He patted Adam on the back.

At that point I wasn’t sure how I felt about Parker. He was charming in his way, but something about him made me distrust him. He pulled me aside a short while later and I used it as an opportunity to figure him out a little more. We stood side by side, leaning against the railing, looking at the crowded dance floor below.

“Do you dance, Charlotte?” Parker asked, leaning in much too close.

“It’s Charli, and no. I definitely don’t dance.”

“Me neither. But I thought it would be polite to ask.”

“Well, you’re nothing if not polite.”

He twisted his body to look at me. I kept my eyes on the floor below, focusing on an extremely drunk girl jiggling around in a tight sequined dress. I couldn’t help smiling. Her butt looked like two pigs fighting in a sparkly sack.

“Do you see this whole marriage thing as a long-term deal, Charli?” he asked.

“Why not?” I asked, faking apathy. “Adam’s a great choice for a first husband.”

He smirked. “Adam and Whitney were together for a long time. It was amazing how quickly he dropped her in favour of you. He never used to be fickle.”

“To be honest, Parker, I could care less about Whitney – or the rest of his friends for that matter.”

“Ouch,” he muttered. “We’re just trying to be friendly.”