Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

In all honesty, I didn’t want her to. Things with Natalie were so natural. And that had nothing to do with the bet. I didn’t have to be anyone but myself with her, and we enjoyed each other’s company. Not to mention, the sex was incredible. Katherine was destined to lose this thing.

“Are you afraid you’ll lose?” she scoffed.

“Hardly. I know I’ll win,” I said confidently. The competitive side of my personality reared its ugly head. I wished that I could control that part of my character, but things like this just set me off. “But I’m giving you a chance to get out of marrying Camden. I’m giving you an out.”

Katherine leaned forward until we were mere inches apart and smiled provocatively. “You should know me better than that by now.”

“I do. But I thought I’d offer.”

“No need. I’m still going to win,” she said confidently.

I leaned back and downed my bourbon. “Lark was right. We shouldn’t have done this.”

“Fine. Then you back out of the bet,” she said hotly.

“You know I’m not going to.”

“Jesus, Penn, do you actually like her or something?” Katherine asked, fury in her voice. “You seem almost upset that we won’t back out. Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Penn Kensington?”

“You like her. You just said you did.”

“Of course I like her. She’s gawky and strange. She has silver hair. She speaks her mind. She’s not afraid to be whoever the hell she is. She’s hardly competition, Penn!” Katherine said in exasperation. “Who would ever look at her when we’re in a room together?”

I would.

I didn’t say it, but the urge to nearly ripped through me.

There was a difference between upsetting her and pulling the pin on the grenade yourself.

“But you…why would you like her?” Katherine asked with an eye roll. “She’s nothing and no one. She’s not special in any way. She’s like a cute small-town girl who stumbled on a gold mine.”

“That’s an interesting theory,” I said dryly. “Considering that your fiancé hit on her, Lewis finds her fascinating, and I’m fucking her. There’s clearly something special about her.”

Katherine narrowed her eyes. And I knew that look. It was a possessive, dangerous look that said I’d said the wrong thing. Maybe I’d kicked a hornet’s nest, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.

“I’m going to head back. Are you coming with?” I asked.

She downed the rest of her martini, dropped two hundred-dollar bills on the bar, and then swept out of the private lounge in front of me. I chuckled under my breath and followed behind her.

The opener had just finished by the time we made it back to our seats. Lewis and Natalie were grinning like fools and laughing at whatever the other had said. It almost looked like they hadn’t missed the two of us. I would have much preferred to be out here than dealing with Katherine’s scheming. She was one of my closest friends, but she never knew when enough was enough.

“Hey!” Natalie said, whirling around. She had a half-finished beer in her hand, and her blue eyes were wide and excited. “You made it back!”

“Sorry about that,” I said. “We ended up in the lounge.”

“Lewis warned me. It’s no big. We just had the most amazing time. The opener was hilarious. I only knew one of her songs, but we’re downloading the rest and listening to it the entire way back to the beach house.”

“Oh god, what fresh level of hell have I entered?”

She and Lewis both burst into laughter.

“You were right,” Natalie said, clutching her stomach. “Look at his face.”

“Classic,” Lewis said.

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“Lewis said that you’d go crazy if I suggested us listening to this music in your car.”

“Hopefully, this is a joke because this music does not belong in the Audi.”

Natalie giggled. A flush heated her cheeks from the beer and the show. She looked so unbelievably beautiful in that moment. I didn’t know if it was just because she was so relaxed and so jovial or if it was the aftereffect of dealing with Katherine who was so uptight. But I wanted her right here. I wanted more of that carefree joy in my life. I wanted her for all the reasons that Katherine thought Natalie wasn’t special. For all the reasons Katherine was wrong.

I wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her tight against my chest. Her beer sloshed and nearly spilled over, but she’d forgotten it as she looked up at me. She seemed surprised and happy. As if she had been wondering where exactly we were around my friends. And truthfully, I hadn’t figured it out until that moment.

I didn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thought. Or that she wanted this to be casual. Or that we were just supposed to be fucking.