“I don’t see why he would still be holding out. Unless it has something to do with you and Lex.”
I almost fumble the under-eye concealer. “I’m sorry, what does Lex have to do with my annulment?”
Ruby gestures to the closed door that adjoins our rooms. “Seriously, Amie? Pretty convenient that you have a door connecting your rooms to each other. Didn’t Lex book your room?”
“He booked all the rooms.” I’m digging around in my bag, pulling out every single color of eyeliner and brow liner I have, setting them on the table with my back to her.
She grabs my wrist. “What’s going on, Amie?”
I stop avoiding her gaze—well, mostly; I’m looking at her eyelids rather than directly into her eyes. It’s a trick I learned with my parents as a teen. It makes the lies far more convincing. “What do you mean?”
“You and Lex are spending a lot of time together. We’ve all noticed.”
“Well we’ve been planning the engagement party.” I’m far too pitchy.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Leave it to Ruby to just come out and ask the question.
“Why would you think that?” Dammit. Now I sound like I’ve been sucking on helium.
Her mouth drops open. “You totally are.”
“I’m not.” I have no idea why I bother to lie, apart from maybe habit and the compulsion to keep this a secret.
“Don’t even. I know when you’re lying.” She stares at me for a few long seconds before she asks, “How long has this been going on?”
I do what I do best. Avoid. “It’s not really a thing. I mean, it’s just—I don’t—we should keep the focus where it belongs.”
Ruby laughs. “Oh, no. You can pull that on your mother, but you sure as hell can’t pull it on me. How long?” She looks angry and maybe annoyed, and a bit hurt.
This is not the time to get Ruby all worked up, since she’s already most of the way there thanks to the catering issues.
“Oh my god. Oh my god!” Ruby’s expression becomes even more animated, she grabs my arm as if she’s preparing for an epic descent on a roller coaster. “Did you sleep with him in Bora Bora? Is he Hottie Hook-Up?”
A knock at the door delays my response. I rush to get it, grateful for the interruption. I suppose I’m being forced into telling her the truth, which wouldn’t be so much of an issue if I hadn’t been hiding this from her for months now. She’s going to be hurt, and understandably so.
It’s room service with our champagne and orange juice. I’ve never been so thankful for alcohol in my entire life. Ruby’s silent while he shows us the bottle and takes his time pouring. Then she throws money at him and practically pushes him out of the room.
As soon as the door closes she spins around. “You kept this from me the entire time? What’s it been, like four months? Have you been sleeping with each other this whole time?”
I drop onto the bed with a sigh. “It wasn’t intentional. And it wasn’t really supposed to be anything beyond Bora Bora.”
“So what happened? And why keep it from me? I wouldn’t have said anything to anyone.”
“He’s Bane’s brother and Armstrong’s cousin. It’s a complicated situation made more complicated by the fact that I’m still married to Armstrong. I honestly didn’t think he was going to drag this out for so long and Lex and I thought it would be better to keep it between us until the annulment went through to avoid more complications. I couldn’t ask you to keep this from Bane. That’s not fair when he’s your person and Lex is his brother.”
“You’re my person, too.”
I try to reason with her. “I’m your best girl. He’s the rest of your life, it’s not the same.”
She purses her lips. “You’re my other person.”
“I know. And that’s why I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to put you in the middle of your two people. Bane will always be your first priority now, Ruby, as he should be. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to keep something from him.”
Ruby waves her hand around in the air and takes a hefty swig of champagne. “Bane’s been pretty suspicious for a while. I just figured you would’ve told me if you were sleeping together . . . is that what is this? Are you just . . . sleeping together?”
“It was supposed to be a fling. We meant for it to end when I left Bora Bora.”
“But clearly it didn’t. Did you stay in touch when you came home and he went to California?”
I shake my head no. “I was really conflicted. I mean, I was still married, and still am, even if it’s just a signature on a piece of paper that’s tying us together. Then I ran into Lex in a coffee shop and he ended up taking me back to work in his car . . . but I didn’t see him again for weeks. Not until after you got engaged—”
“Did you two get it on at the engagement planning dinner?”
I shake my head. “No, we were just talking—well and kissing, but it was mostly talking . . . later though—”
“I knew it!” Her smile drops. “That was almost two months ago.”
“I really didn’t think I would still be waiting for the annulment to go through. And I wasn’t sure exactly where it was going between us.”
“So where is it going?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. We’re covert dating for now.”
I can feel Ruby’s eyes on me. It’s not good. She knows me better than anyone else in this world. Better than my family. She’s been instrumental in almost every fabrication or lie I’ve concocted to get me out of trouble. This time there doesn’t seem to be a good out. “Do you have feelings for Lex? Like feeling feelings.”
We spend a lot of time together, just as much clothed as unclothed, and while we talk, Lex never mentions the future, because right now we’re stuck in the present. “I think so.”
“You think you have feelings for him?”
“For a while I wasn’t sure if I could trust them or not. Look at the man I married. He seemed perfect. Or I wanted him to be. I ticked all the right boxes with him and look at how horribly that turned out. Sometimes I worry that I’m projecting an ideal onto Lex like I did with Armstrong. Like I’ve made him into this savior and it’s all going to fall apart on me as soon as the marriage is annulled.”
I do know with absolute certainty that Armstrong was never right for me. I’d just made so many bad boyfriend choices before him—ones that had nearly caused scandals for my family. As a teenager I made bad choices as a means to force my parents to deal with me together instead of separately. Besides, it wasn’t like I ever wanted to get serious with any of those bad choices.
“How’s the sex?” Ruby asks.
“What?”
“The sex, how is it?”
I’m not sure why the sudden shift in topic, but my reply comes without hesitation. “Beyond amazing.”
Her eyebrow lifts. “Lots of orgasms?”
“Countless.”
“So it’s safe to say you’re not projecting the ideal of awesome sex.”
“Phenomenal sex isn’t going to make Armstrong sign the annulment papers. Until I’m free of him, this needs to stay under the radar.”