I arched an eyebrow at Cole before he realized I was lost in a fantasy. “I bet you’re a great stock boy.” My voice was teasing.
“I’m a fantastic stock boy,” Cole replied proudly.
Seeing Cole and Kate get together made me happy, but also jealous of their happiness. They were a good match, but it hadn’t been easy for them. Between Kate’s stubbornness, Ward’s over-protective nature, and Cole’s tenacity, they were a perfect storm. It all worked out in the end. The two were engaged now, and they had Ward’s full support.
“Have you two set a date for the wedding yet?” I asked, keeping my voice low. Cole was keeping his engagement a secret from Ward. Not because he didn’t want him to know, but because he and Kate didn’t want Emma, Ward’s fiancée and Kate’s best friend, to feel like her day wouldn’t be hers. It was all too much for me.
“I’m hoping for some time in April, but Kate doesn’t think she’ll have enough time to plan.” He shook his head with a bemused expression. “Kate’s got ideas about this wedding. Big ideas.”
“Sounds very expensive.” I couldn’t imagine how that could be a good investment of money. Flowers last, what, maybe a week? And the bride only wears the dress once.
“I’m sure it will be extremely expensive.” Cole didn’t look like he cared. I supposed if he had the money, it didn’t matter.
“Emma managed to plan her wedding pretty quickly,” I argued. How long did it take to plan a wedding? You need some flowers, a dress, a couple of tuxes. I guess food and drink, but Kate’s brother owned a bar. That part would be easy. I shrugged. Weddings weren’t really my thing.
“Emma’s a girlygirl, but she’s actually a lot more lowkey than Kate.” Cole wasn’t wrong. Kate had a flair for the dramatic.
“Well good luck man.”
“Thanks.” Cole looked genuinely excited about the prospect of planning a wedding. “I’m looking forward to it.”
This is why I didn’t hang out with Cole as much anymore. He was too damn happy all the time. He and Ward were both happily in love and it made me feel worse just to see it. And me? What exactly was I even up to? I was sulking and coming up with ill-conceived secret plots to win Victoria back.
“Kate said that she heard from Emma that you were spotted with someone new the other day,” Cole ventured. “I heard there was even some photographic evidence online of you leaving the house with a woman.” I grimaced.
“Do we have to have this conversation?” I was being a real pain-in-the-ass tonight. I knew it was true, but I couldn’t seem to avoid it. “I really don’t know that I’m up to it.”
“I just want you to know that I’m glad you’re moving on from Victoria.”
“What makes you think that I am?”
“Well, Emma knows what Victoria looks like.”
I shook my head. “I think we should talk about something else.”
There was no way in hell that good-natured, honest Cole would approve of my plan to deceive Victoria into jealousy and loving me again. He didn’t like Victoria any better than Ward did, either.
If I was being entirely truthful with myself, which wasn’t something I was great at doing at the best of times, but I was having serious reservations about my plan to win Victoria.
“Alright. How’s your acquisition going? You found a firm that’s interested in buying your app, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. They’re in the middle of the due diligence investigation right now. A team comes down from New York for three or four days at a time and they look at all my stuff. Hopefully they make an offer soon.”
“Then what?”
I blinked. “What do you mean? Then I have a bunch of money.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “I mean, then what are you going to do with all that money?”
“Oh, I don’t know yet. I’d like to go on a vacation. Somewhere relaxing and sunny.”
Maybe I’ll take Victoria somewhere she’s never been before. It could be the start of our second chance.
Cole nodded. “That sounds fun. Kate and I want to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon…”
As I listened to Cole drone on about all the fun things he and Kate wanted to do in Hawaii, I kept trying to picture myself and Victoria in their place. But it wasn’t working. Something just didn’t feel right.
I took another sip of my beer and tried to find that feeling that I used to have for Victoria, the feeling that my heart would burst, and the entire world would grind to a halt if I couldn’t see her, touch her, and love her again. The miserable feeling had been with me for eighteen months, and it had become a weirdly comfortable companion. Now that my cloak of misery had gone missing, I felt raw. I convinced myself that it was Rae’s fault, and she was just distracting me. I just needed to be more committed to my plan. Once Victoria and I were back together again, everything would be right.
“So, are you bringing a date to the wedding?” Cole finally asked.
I nodded. “Yes. I am.”
“Great!” He looked even happier than usual. “I’m really looking forward to meeting this mystery woman. She must really be something.”
24
Rae
It was a nice wedding, as weddings go. I might be a born romantic about almost everything else, and I’m all for marriage, but for some reason I’ve never been huge on the concept of weddings. They seem expensive and unnecessary to me. Ward and Emma looked happy though, and that’s all that mattered.
“I’m going to go grab a drink,” I told Lucas as we were sitting at dinner. It was the first thing I’d said to him in hours. We’d barely spoken at all since I’d gotten into town on Saturday afternoon.
He nodded distractedly.
This wasn’t going well.
The deal was going to close on Monday. If I could just make it through this weekend, my obligation to Lucas would be over. I would never have to see him again, and I never planned to. But first, I would have to survive this wedding.
I’d already survived the afternoon. Lucas had been adamant from the start about creating visual evidence of our relationship, and it seemed that the approaching Monday deadline had kicked him into overdrive. We took hundreds of posed, cute, couple-type pictures at locations around Austin. I don’t mind being photographed, but this afternoon I smiled so much that my cheeks ached. Lucas could put together months of fake dates with the pictures he’d taken.
All the while, Lucas and I hardly spoke a word to each other beyond what was necessary to take the pictures. I knew why I had nothing to say. Every time I so much as looked at Lucas, I was filled with a sick, tight guilty feeling. Why he wasn’t trying to talk to me was a mystery, but I wasn’t going to question it. I might be half in love with him, but I’d never been anything other than a means to an end for him.
Perhaps he’d decided that he hated me. If he did, I would deserve it for making out with him and then lying to him. He’d hate me soon, I had no doubt of that. As soon as we acquired and destroyed his company, he’d never want to look at me again. I tried to tell myself that he would at least have the money, but I knew that Lucas wouldn’t consider that fair compensation for the destruction of his technology. He chose Azure Group because of our reputation for developing our portfolio companies, not gutting them. Unfortunately, we did plenty of both, but we only advertised one.
“Excuse me,” a voice to my left asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned to see a smiling man rapidly approaching me across the mostly empty dance floor. “I’m Ian. Would you like to dance?”
Fuck no.
I shook my head and forced myself to be polite. I even smiled. “Oh, no thanks. I was just on my way to—”
“Aww come on, Red,” the guy begged, and it was then that I realized he was drunk. Very drunk. As in, he smelled like he’d fallen into a barrel of tequila. His blood was probably flammable.
“Leave her alone Ian,” another man said, grabbing the first by the elbow. “No dancing for you. Water for you. Lots of water.” My rescuer gave me an
apologetic look and a rueful smile. “Sorry. Forgive my idiot brother. He’s had a few too many.”
I shrugged. “No worries. It’s a party. I appreciate the rescue.” I turned to go.
“No problem. Maybe once I get him settled, I could get a dance? I’m Ryan by the way.” My rescuer asked. Ryan was fairly ok looking, about my age, and smiling. He seemed normal and well mannered. I wasn’t super attracted to him—I really wasn’t a fan of his facial hair, but he wasn’t hideous. Ordinarily I’d say no to the dance, but at least flirt with him for a minute. But this wasn’t a normal situation. I had a role to play.
“I’m Rae, but I can’t take you up on the invitation. I’m sorry. My boyfriend wouldn’t like it.” I nodded in Lucas’ direction. Ryan followed my gaze. Unexpectedly, he grinned.
“Oh, you’re Lucas’ new girlfriend? It’s great to meet you Rae.” He shook my hand. Ryan must be one of the mutual friends I was here to meet. Next to us, his drunk brother Ian swayed on his feet.
“She’s not. Vicky’s not here.” Ian was slurring pretty badly. He blinked around himself in confusion. A few too many? This guy had clearly gone well beyond that. He was trashed.
“Sorry,” Ryan repeated, looking doubly ashamed that Ian had brought up Victoria. I shrugged, but Ryan was still apologizing. “I need to get him out of here before he embarrasses me. He’s clearly already embarrassed himself.”
I smiled politely. “See you around.” I didn’t get four feet before I was stopped again.
“You’re not Victoria,” Ian slurred at me, using the bizarre speed of drunkenness to dart out of Ryan’s grasp and grab my arm. “You’re way prettier than her. Not nearly as mean, either. Do you sing?”
“Oh no I don’t sing,” I said, trying to buy time until Ryan could recapture Ian.
“You don’t sing, and you don’t dance? That’s no fun.”
“I guess I’m not fun.” I shrugged. Arguing with a drunk was never productive.
“Why won’t you dance with me, Red?” Ian asked again, arching up an eyebrow at me. “I promise I don’t bite.” Ian was good looking, but slurring drunk is never a good look. Ryan was suddenly blocked by a few people wanting to speak with him. I was trapped with the drunk.
Ok enough of this bullshit. My name isn’t Red.
Apparently, I needed to go full New Yorker on this idiot. Not as mean as Victoria? If properly motivated, I had no doubt that I could be way meaner than Victoria ever thought about being. I drew myself up to my full height and put on my patented anti-catcall tone of voice.
“Listen up oxygen thief,” I told him, “I can explain it, but I can’t understand it for you. I do not want to dance with you. Now, you are going to stop touching me right now, or I’m going to kick you in the shins so hard your grandchildren will have bruises.”
His eyes widened, his hand disappeared, and he quickly followed suit while apologizing profusely. In fact, several other men who had been near me also vanished. When I tried, I was almost too good at sending men running for the hills in fear. I was disturbingly good at being man repellant. It was no wonder I was single.
I shook my head in bemusement and went back to my table. I no longer wanted a drink.
When I returned to my table, Lucas introduced me to his friend Cole and his girlfriend Kate. They were both phenomenally attractive, as well as extraordinarily tall. I blinked at them in amazement. They were like a pair of pretty giants.
“It’s really nice to meet you Rae,” Cole told me, shaking my hand awkwardly around Lucas’ back. His hand totally swallowed mine up. “It’s not every woman who can put up with Lucas.”
I smiled sweetly. “Aww. He’s not that bad.”
Cole smirked. “Sure, he is,” he replied. “But luckily for you, you only have to pretend to like him.” His voice was teasing.
I blinked. Lucas told them about our agreement? My gaze darted from Cole to Kate to Lucas, who nodded. This wasn’t our arrangement. He wasn’t supposed to tell people.
“Oh, um, yes.” Feeling exposed and uncomfortable, I smiled politely. Now that my cover had been blown, I had no idea what to say to Cole. What do you talk about with the friends of your fake boyfriend? I certainly had no idea. So, I didn’t say anything. My food, which had been lovely, no longer interested me either. I pushed the remains of my chicken around my plate to give myself something to do. An awkward silence descended on our table. I was sure Lucas and his friends were all staring at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up.
“Do you like Austin much Rae?” Kate asked after a few minutes. “I imagine it seems boring to you compared to New York.”
I looked up at her in surprise. While I’d been staring at my plate full of cold, uneaten chicken, Lucas and Cole had disappeared. It was just Kate and I at the table now. She looked at me curiously. Her accent said she’d grown up in Texas.
“Actually, I like it here a lot. The people are nice, the weather is pretty, and the food is really good. I grew up in New York so it’s probably less exotic to me than it would be to someone who moved there.”
Kate’s beautiful face was wistful. She had incredible sapphire blue eyes. “It must have been an exciting place to grow up.”
I bit my lip, suddenly transported to my childhood. I was sitting in my third-grade class during 9-11 and feeling the shock waves through the ground. “A bit too exciting sometimes but yeah.” I paused. “Growing up in New York makes you feel like you live in the center of the world.”
“You really like Austin? When I moved here it was like coming to the big city—I’m from a suburb of Dallas. But I bet Austin seems like a small town to you.”
I shrugged. “I like it here. It’s not too small, you know. I’ve been thinking about moving for a while. At first, I was thinking about Seattle or Denver, but maybe Austin would be better.” Although it would mean leaving Azure Group, I was becoming increasingly restless there anyway. The idea of destroying Lucas’ company had made me seriously reevaluate what I was doing with my life. There had to be something better out there.
“I love New York, but I don’t think I could live there,” Kate confessed. “I like to see the sky. And there are too many people there for me. Plus, I’m afraid of heights and all the buildings are much too tall.”
I grinned at her. “It doesn’t seem like it would be a good fit for you. New York definitely has its drawbacks.”
“Rats?” She asked, looking around carefully as if one might be attending the wedding as an uninvited guest.
“Are you asking about the rodent or the human variety? Because we have plenty of both. I’ve dated a whole bunch of the latter.”
“Me too. They’re a menace.” We exchanged a smile. “Have you ever seen pizza rat in New York?” she asked. I laughed.
“I see pizza rat or one of his family members almost every single day.” I thought about the rat traps currently sitting on the floor of my apartment and shuddered. “I’m waging a war against one of pizza rat’s second cousins and his twenty kids right now in my kitchen.”
She shivered dramatically and giggled. “Gross.”
“So gross,” I agreed. “They say there are as many rats as people in New York. There are almost more rats in New York than there are people in Australia.”
We both cringed and then giggled.
“Well when you put it that way, Austin does sound pretty good.” Kate smiled. “We do have a lot of bats here though. They’re sort-of like rats, I guess. But with wings.”
“Oh Jesus, that actually sounds worse. Denver, here I come!” I imagined a winged pizza rat awkwardly trying to fly around with his slice of pepperoni. No thanks.
Kate shook her head. “No way. Bats are the best. They eat bugs.”
“So, what you’re saying is that Austin has a lot of bugs and flying rats?” I countered with a smirk. “You’re really selling it to me here.”
She smirked back at me. I sensed a kindred spirit. “You’re a tough customer Rae. I like you, but if you ever want to buy som
e lingerie, let me recommend any other store in town but mine.”
Before long, Kate and I were laughing uproariously and getting along great. She was funny. And she knew a surprising and impressive amount of bat trivia. Everything was looking up until I remembered that Kate wasn’t really my friend any more than Lucas was my boyfriend. My smile fell off my face.
I was really getting sick of all the lies.
25
Lucas
Cole corned me near the bar. “Follow me dumbass, we need to talk.”
I blinked. This was not like him at all. Of my old college trio, Cole was the most even keeled. Reasonable, charismatic, athletic, and smart, Cole lived the life I’d wanted at eighteen. Although I’d wanted to hate for being healthy and normal, Cole was just too damn likeable to detest. Along with our third friend Ward, whose nuptials we were now celebrating, we ended up being friends and roommates all throughout college.
“Huh?” I managed, but I was already being dragged out of the room, down the hallway, and into the bar’s tiny office. Cole was enormous—even taller than Ward at six-four—so I had little choice but to go along with him.
Cole closed the door to the office and crossed his arms in front of his chest. I was now trapped in the office with him. Unless I wanted to tackle a retired NFL player (and I didn’t want to mess up my nicest suit), I was apparently going to have to hear him out.
I sat down behind Ward’s desk to give myself some semblance of a power position. “You wanted to talk? Go ahead. Talk.” I made sure my voice was as snide as humanely possible.
“You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re doing, do you?” Cole asked. Since I’d taken the good chair, he had to take the one facing the desk. It was too small for him. It was like an adult sitting in a kindergartener’s chair. He looked like he was going to crush it.
“Is this about Victoria?” I had enough doubts of my own without listening to Cole bash my ex-girlfriend. Just like Ward, Cole made no secret of his dislike of her.
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