Daniel and Vanessa joined our assemblage, effectively ending our little tête-à-tête and sending me catapulting into the deep, dark bottomless pit in which I found myself trapped.
“Patrick,” my aunt sang in her motherly tone. She practically glided over to me and wrapped her arms around me for a hug. “Such a sight for sore eyes.”
“Aunt Vanessa.” I smiled broadly when she pulled back. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“Where else would I be? You know how your uncle is about these things,” she said as she looked up at Daniel adoringly.
“Patrick,” he greeted me, adding a nod and a friendly clap on the shoulder before shooting a glance toward Julie. “I hope you’re behaving yourself tonight.”
Yeah, they knew about the fuckery that had gone down between us, but they were big on taking the high road. I nodded with an innocent smile. “Absolutely.”
Julie wrapped her arm around mine and leaned into my side. “Patrick and I were just about to reminisce about the good old days.” The bitch was laying it on thick, even calling me by my middle name as if she was part of my family, which she goddamn wasn’t.
“Wonder what’s taking the girls so long?” Mason spoke up, doing his best to change the subject.
Fuck.
If Delaine came out and caught sight of Julie hanging all over me … I shuddered at the thought of the outcome. Especially if the way she’d reacted to Fernanda was any indication. We’d be lucky if the entire building wasn’t left in a pile of rubble and ash by the time she was done going all fire-breathing Godzilla on the place.
That was about the time Delaine emerged from the bathroom with Lexi and Polly. Instigators by nature, those two, which didn’t bode well for me.
They were laughing at first, until they looked up. Judging by the ferocious expression on Delaine’s face, I had every reason to panic. So I did, but inwardly, because to show weakness would only make matters worse. I could do nothing but watch and wait as Lexi and Polly left Delaine’s side and continued on their path, giving Julie the evil eye the whole way, but my million-dollar baby didn’t follow. Instead she …
Oh, hell, no!
Lanie
I set my eyes on my target: Noah Patrick. My mind was focused, my determination was set, and my girls were looking perky and round. He was mine and I wasn’t about to let that whore sink her talons into him. Julie had had her chance, and she’d blown it. It was time she realized what she’d given up, and I hoped Noah wouldn’t be stupid enough to go back down that road again.
“Lanie, wait!” Polly said in a hurried whisper as she ran up from behind and pulled me back. “Daniel is there.”
“So?”
“Julie is Everett’s daughter, as in Dr. Everett Frost.” She bobbed her head and rolled her hands, encouraging me to get the point. “Julie’s father is one of Daniel’s closest colleagues, not to mention a longtime family friend. You can’t just barge in, grab Everett’s daughter by her hair, and beat the shit out of her right in front of Daniel.”
“Polly, give me a little credit,” I said with my hands on my hips. “I wasn’t going to beat her up unless she forced my hand. Or fist.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right,” Lexi said, completely disgruntled. “Daddy will have an absolute fit. And you don’t want to make a scene in front of everyone who works with Patrick. As entertaining as that might be, it wouldn’t look good for him and would probably only turn out in David Stone’s favor. Bastard’s been itching to find a way to force Patrick out of the company ever since they inherited it from their fathers. Even though everyone knows Patrick’s the one who does all the work.”
“Besides, that dress is far too expensive to ruin for the likes of Julie Frost,” Polly tacked on.
“You know what you should do? Kill her with kindness,” Lexi suggested, and then a wicked smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. “And it probably wouldn’t hurt if you copped a feel or two of Patrick in the process. You know, just to remind him who he belongs to.”
“That was the plan, Lexi. But, from the looks of it, Noah seems to be quite okay with the woman copping a feel at the moment.” I was going to kill him as soon as I was done with Julie. I mean, how embarrassing was that? I was his date and he was letting her hang all over him like they were about to throw down some triple-X action right in front of everyone. It was a disgusting display, and it was clear the chick was good to go. Noah was embarrassing himself just as much by letting it continue.
But then the thought occurred to me that while Julie might be acting the part of the whore, I was the one playing it in real life. And I really had no claims on him. Noah wasn’t mine. We had only been playing house, or Penthouse or whatever, but it wasn’t real all the same. That wasn’t the case with Julie.
He’d been in love with her once upon a time, and maybe he still was to some extent. Maybe she was more his type. Or maybe, having come from money herself and being way more familiar with Noah’s lifestyle, she was just able to pull off the façade much better than me. My family only ever lived from paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes we’d had to stretch that more than was comfortable. We weren’t cut from the same cloth, Noah and I, and I would always feel that difference. I was merely a hired hand, or body, as far as he was concerned. Maybe Noah and I weren’t in a committed relationship in the traditional sense, but he’d come with me, and I was a real person with real feelings, and he was making me look and feel like quite the fool.
Polly stepped in front of me and grabbed both of my shoulders, giving me a little shake so that I would look at her and away from the free porn show happening across the room. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was how I saw it. “Lanie, I know Noah. He’s getting absolutely no enjoyment right now. He’s merely keeping up appearances for appearances’ sake. He’s probably doing everything he can to keep his dinner down at this very moment. So go easy on him and give him the benefit of the doubt. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” I lied. I wasn’t going to make a scene, but I sure was going to make my presence known—with dignity and class. And if Noah had a problem with that, then it was his problem to solve. All my brain was processing was that Julie’s hands were all over my man, and Noah was doing nothing to stop it. In fact, he was smiling, looking damn gorgeous, and seeming to be enjoying himself a little too much. And that in no way sat well with me.