by K. A. Linde
Then I opened the door.
And saw Sam standing in the doorframe in a tailored tuxedo. My mouth went suddenly dry. Cognizant thought fled my brain. I just stared at him.
There was a reason designer clothing was so expensive. It just molded to the body in a way nothing else could. It was the details. The hand-sewn glossy buttons, the shape of those broad shoulders, the silk bow tie. It was everything and nothing. It was the suit that looked so spectacular on him. And also…just Sam. The swipe of his dark hair and easy smile. Something in his eyes that said he’d eat me for dinner and again for breakfast if I was lucky.
“Wow,” he breathed, seemingly unconscious of my blatant ogle.
“Wow is right,” I agreed softly.
“You look beautiful.”
“Oh.” He must have been doing the same thing to me. “Thank you.”
I adjusted the fit of my dark blue silk ballgown. I’d been eating like shit at work, and the gown was just a touch tight on the hips. But it fit like a glove otherwise and made me look like I actually had cleavage. Which was…a total deception.
“You look great too. Tom Ford never does me wrong,” I said with a small smile.
He shook his head. “I still can’t believe you got me this tux. It was like the cost of rent for the month.”
Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that sort of thing. I didn’t dip into my trust fund all that often, but I knew it was a privilege that I didn’t have to worry, even when things got tight. I hadn’t thought twice about helping Sam out for the event.
“Don’t mention it,” I said with a wave of my hand. “It looks too good anyway.”
“You know, I always wondered how celebrities pulled off the staggering confidence and effortless good looks. But I kind of get it in this suit. It changes something.”
I grinned. “I know just what you mean. However, I think you had that before the tux.”
Our eyes met, and for a second, I thought maybe I’d said too much. That it was going to get uncomfortable and he was going to step back. But he didn’t.
I needed to keep reminding myself that he had a girlfriend. I’d met her. She was nice. I didn’t know why she wasn’t here with him tonight, but I wasn’t going to second-guess it. I would enjoy the evening regardless.
“Shall we?” I asked. “The limo should be here soon.”
“Yes. Let’s.”
I grabbed my black clutch and then followed Sam back toward the elevators. We took it down to the first floor. By the time we made it across the foyer, the limo appeared.
The driver came around to open the door for us.
“After you,” Sam said.
I peered into the limo with a smile to see so many of my friends here all at once. That not everyone had disappeared off to the Hamptons. I sank into the seat next to English and Whitley in the back while Sam ducked in and took the seat against the long bench next to Court and Gavin.
“Hey, babe,” English said.
“Hey.”
Whitley winked at me. “You look hot.”
She’d already dyed over her pink ombre so that the whole thing was a medium blonde with highlights that suggested she was going to try to get to English’s platinum color.
I laughed. “Thanks. So do you.”
She brushed her shoulder off. “Obvs. You remember my date, Keri, from Sparks?”
I glanced at the girl sitting next to her and realized I did remember her. She had been the waitress at the bar a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn’t have thought that Whitley would still be talking to her. She was notoriously bad with relationships.
“Hey. Nice to see you again.”
Keri flushed. “You too.”
But it was the beautiful black woman at the very front of the limo who caught my attention. She was in a skintight black dress with legs for days. Her natural hair was in coils, and her eyes were coated in gold. She looked like a celestial goddess.
“Charlie!” I exclaimed.
Gavin shot Charlotte a look. “You go by Charlie?”
She laughed. “By people I’ve known my whole life. Lark, I’ll come give you a hug when we get there.”
“You’d better.”
“How exactly do you know each other?” Gavin asked, slinging an arm around Charlie’s shoulders.
“She’s, like, best friends with my brother,” Charlotte explained. “Lewis Warren.”
“Ah, yes, I’ve heard all about him.”
Charlie frowned. The investigation into Warren Enterprise had been a blow. I doubted she wanted to talk about that.
I turned my attention to English to allow them some privacy. She was giving me a look. I knew that look.
She lowered her voice and asked, “Why did you show up with Sam?”
“We didn’t show up together. He lives in Brooklyn, and I thought it’d be easier than having one more stop.”
“And he couldn’t meet us at Court’s?”
I shrugged. “Guess not.”
“Don’t think that I don’t know your game. Has Bad Lark come back out to play?”
“No,” I insisted. “Seriously…we’re just friends.”
“No guy with eyeballs wants to just be friends with you in that dress. You’re basically wearing lingerie.”
I rolled my eyes. “I am not.”
“Fucking hot lingerie, but still…”
“Then I’ll have no trouble attracting the attention of all the eligible bachelors you took the liberty of inviting.”
English smiled devilishly. “Excellent.”
I couldn’t stop from laughing, but it was soon after we arrived at the venue that I realized that English had been dead serious. She got Court all set up, grabbed drinks, and then ushered me across the room. Far, far away from Sam.
“Okay, so…the first guy is Caleb Hendricks. He’s a professional baseball player. He’s actually making a donation alongside Court tonight. He grew up in LA but moved here about a decade ago to play ball.”
“What do I have in common with a baseball player?” I asked with wide eyes.
“He has a nice butt. Who cares?”
“English…”
“Look, this is just for fun. There are no strings and none of your parents’ stipulations attached. Just talk to him and get to know him. It’s all low stakes.”
I sighed and then nodded. “Fine. I’ll meet Caleb.”
English pulled me over, introduced us, and then slithered away like the snake she was.
I halfheartedly smiled up at him before taking a sip of my champagne. “So, you play baseball?”
“Yeah. Are you a fan?”
I laughed and then shook my head. “Not really. I don’t have time for sports with my job, and mostly, we had northeastern prep school sports, growing up on the Upper East.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so you grew up here?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Wait, Lark…St. Vincent?”
I frowned at the way he’d said my last name. Like there were dollar signs attached. “Uh…yeah.”
“Like St. Vincent’s Resorts?”
“Yes,” I ground out. “That’s my parents’ company. But I don’t work for them. I run the mayor’s reelection.”
He crinkled his nose. “Eh. I’ve never really liked her. She seems kind of like a stuck-up bitch, don’t you think?”
I froze in place. Yeah, we could mark him off the list.
“I probably wouldn’t be working for her if I agreed with your assessment.”
“Hey, no hard feelings.”
“No, of course not.” I glanced around and saw my lifeline. Katherine was striding into the building for the event. “Excuse me. I just saw a friend.”
“Oh, uh…okay. Did you want me to…”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks.”
Then, I hurried away from him as fast as humanly possible. Between the dollar signs at my name and calling Leslie a bitch, there was no way he could recover from that. No matter if he had a nice ass in baseba
ll pants or not.
“Thank god you’re here,” I said to Katherine as soon as I reached her.
She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. She looked stunning, but there was something else underneath. Like she had on more makeup than normal to hide the circles under her eyes. She must not have been sleeping. Plus, she looked thinner than usual. Thinner for her was not good. Katherine self-medicated with food…lack of food.
“Larkin,” she said, kissing my cheeks as if we were in Paris and not stuck in the city all summer. “You look like you’re flourishing.”
“How have you been?”
“Wonderful, of course.” Katherine shrugged. She didn’t have to say what she was really thinking. Penn and Natalie staying in Paris for the summer made it easier for her to stay on top of her social life. But her falling-out with Camden was making her fall back into all of her dirty habits. If there were a separate entity that was Bad Katherine…she was coming out this summer.
“Of course,” I said softly. “I’ve missed you. Sucks not having the crew all together.”
Katherine glanced around at our fledgling, new group. “Looks like you’ve found a sort of replacement.”
I laughed. “Nothing replaces the crew.”
She frowned. “Maybe it should.”
I didn’t even know what to say to that. We’d been together through it all. I’d never wanted something different. But it was true that things were different. And this new group might just help make that okay.
“Oh god,” Katherine said under her breath, barely audible.
“What?” I asked and then saw why she’d said it.
Camden had arrived. And on his arm was Fiona Berkshire.
“I cannot believe that he would show up with her,” I ground out.
Katherine just tilted her head up higher. She was the queen. Nothing bothered her. Except I knew it was all a lie.
Camden approached then. He released Fiona and pulled Katherine toward him. He pressed a possessive kiss to her lips. “My beautiful wife.”
“Hello, Camden.”
I didn’t know how she kept the break from her voice.
“Hi, Katherine,” Fiona said with a knowing smile.
Katherine said nothing to her. Didn’t even acknowledge her. It might as well have been the wind.
“I hope your bed has been as warm as mine,” Camden said like a taunt.
Katherine’s expression never wavered. “I would expect yours to be frigid. All things considered.”
Then, she glanced at Fiona. Just once. Just briefly.
A challenge.
Damn. She was good. I was ready to punch them both for acting like this. But still…I could recognize good game when I saw it.
“Hey!” Fiona gasped.
“Come. We should be photographed together,” Camden said. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think anything was wrong with the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side.”
I wanted her to say no. But if I knew anything about her, it was that appearances mattered more than reality.
“Tell your pet to heel,” Katherine said.
A strange look crossed Camden’s features. It wasn’t anger. It was hunger. Like a predator trapping its prey. And then he took her arm in his hand and guided her away from Fiona, who promptly pouted.
I whirled away from her as quickly as possible to avoid having to have an uncomfortable conversation. As far as I was concerned, Fiona had gotten everything that was coming to her.
“Hey, it didn’t work out with Caleb?” English said, materializing as if out of thin air.
I shook my head. “He called Leslie a bitch.”
English’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah, that wasn’t in his profile. Guy number two?”
My eyes flicked to Sam, who was laughing with Court and Gavin. It’d be so much easier to just see him. But then again, it would also be slow torture as well.
“All right, one more guy,” I agreed.
“Excellent. This is Danny Park. He owns a pharmaceutical company. Every year, he donates millions of dollars to help the poor combat medical expenses. He’s, like, the opposite of every greedy Big Pharma company you can probably name off the top of your head. Also, he went to Brown. So, yay!”
“Brown, huh,” I said in surprise. “Normally, these types went to one of the big three Ivy’s. Okay…Danny.”
English made the introduction again, but this time, I tried to be more open-minded. Danny was cuter than Caleb. He looked like the lead from Crazy Rich Asians, if only he had the British accent.
It wasn’t until I realized that I was on my third drink with Danny that I was feeling a bit tipsy. I’d even given him my number. What the hell? It was so unlike me. I had no time to date. Giving out my number made no sense.
“I’ll get us another round. Champagne still?” Danny asked with his award-winning smile.
“Yes. That’d be great.”
He stepped away to grab a drink from a passing waiter, and then suddenly, Court Kensington was there.
I jolted in surprise. “Hey, Court!”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Um…just talking to Danny. Do you know Danny Park?”
“No,” Court said, “I don’t. Why are you talking to him?”
My brows furrowed. “English introduced us.”
“What I mean is…are you purposely trying to make him jealous?”
This time, my eyebrows rose to the ceiling. “Make who jealous?”
He stared into my eyes with all the Upper East Side flooding through him. “Seriously, Lark?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re one of us. You have to realize what you’re doing. I’ve seen you take down my brother,” he said evenly. “This is classic Lark behavior. Talk to multiple guys, laugh and flirt and smile, flip your hair, overtly give out your number. It’s textbook.”
My good mood deflated. “Wait…you think that I’m trying to make someone jealous? On purpose?”
His eyes bored into mine, and I froze as I realized what he was saying. Ice water sloshed down my back as it all came together. He was saying…Sam was jealous of me talking to Caleb and then Danny.
“You know about me and Sam,” I whispered.
He arched an eyebrow. “It was obvious the first time I saw you two together.”
“And you think I’m making him jealous?”
“Insanely,” he said just as Danny returned.
“Here you go, Lark,” he said, passing me another glass of champagne.
Court raised an eyebrow. “Do what you will with that information.”
Then he promptly disappeared.
“What was that about?”
I took a sip of my drink and shook my head in confusion. “I have no idea.”
Why would Sam be jealous?
Unless…he’d told Court something he hadn’t told me.
20
Lark
I found the first excuse I could to get away from Danny. He seemed like a nice guy, but Court had ruined some of the charm. As if I’d been under a spell, and now, I was back to reality.
The organizer of the charity event tapped on the microphone. She spoke about the intercity sports charity that the donations from the event would benefit. It included more than a dozen sports with boys and girls ranging from three to eighteen. And how they were hoping that the older kids would get off of the streets and into scholarship sports, thanks to the money donated today.
Court and English were standing off to the side, waiting for his moment to walk onstage. But I meandered toward the rest of my friends. Gavin, Charlotte, Whitley, Keri, and Sam were standing in front of the stage. Katherine and Camden had just stepped up to the side. I watched Camden nod at Court, and Court grinned at his oldest friend. Their friendship still confused me, but I had the crew, so…maybe it was the same in its own way.
Finally, I stepped up to Sam’s side. He glanced sideways at me. His expression was unreadable. For once, I had
no clue what was going on up there. Was he jealous? Why was he jealous? What had he told Court that made him reveal that he was jealous? And why had it made me want to immediately abandon a perfectly nice guy to find out?
“Make a new friend?” Sam asked, tossing back the rest of his drink.
“Yeah, actually, I did. English has this insane idea that I’ll have time to date on the campaign. So, she’s making it her mission to try to set me up,” I told him, carefully watching him. “Isn’t that crazy?”
“Crazy that you’re being set up or that you’d have time?”
“Both.”
He seemed to contemplate that. “We don’t have time. That’s for sure. Not for anyone who isn’t working on the campaign.”
My heart pounded at the way he’d said it. As if…he meant I wouldn’t have time for anyone but him.
“That’s true,” I agreed slowly.
“But not crazy that she’d set you up.” He brushed a stray lock of my hair out of my face. “I can’t even believe you’re single.”
I swallowed. “Bad luck, I guess.”
“Is that what you’d call it?”
I had no answer to that. Because it wasn’t what I’d call it. I didn’t like any of the guys my parents threw my way. I didn’t want to date someone on the campaign for convenience. And I didn’t know how to meet people that didn’t involve a dating app, which was so risky. I had no way of trusting those people, and it made me uncomfortable. The few times I’d even made a profile, I’d had to lie about who I was, which, from experience, was not a great way to start out.
Luckily, I didn’t have to respond because Court was walking onto the stage with Caleb and some other guy that I’d never seen before. English pushed a giant check into a volunteer’s hand, and it was handed off to one of the charity organizers.
“We’d just like to thank all three of these gentleman for being so generous with their donations to our recreation departments. Caleb Hendricks has given a quarter million dollars to help our youth baseball program. Jessi Ramirez has donated another quarter million dollars to assist in our youth soccer program. And the wonderful Court Kensington has been so kind to give a full million dollars to help with our lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, sailing, and crew programs. Court, would you like to say a few words?”