Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

I extracted myself from the party and headed down to the library. No wonder I hadn’t seen any of my friends floating around. They must have been holed up in here the entire time. Not that I was particularly looking forward to this conversation. But I knew what was coming.

And I entered at my own risk.

Katherine was lying out on the chaise by the window with her long, lean legs bare as her dress fell off the side. She looked arranged, like a portrait. Lewis had his nose buried in a book he’d probably grabbed off of one of the shelves. Rowe was seated behind the desk, staring intensely at the computer. It was Lark who looked up first from her spot near the entrance.

“Hey, you made it,” she said.

“I’ve been here awhile. I just didn’t know you were all back here.”

“I’m sorry about…not being able to help, you know?”

I held up my hand. “Not your fault. Don’t even worry about it. How are you and Thomas?”

She chewed on her lip. “Well, he couldn’t make it today. He got called into the office. I was going to head over after this. I think things will be okay.”

“Good.”

“Can we move on to the main course?” Katherine trilled from her seat. She lifted her arms overhead, stretching her body out long and invitingly.

Lewis snapped his book shut and looked up at me. We hadn’t spoken since that day. I hadn’t told Natalie about the bet, and I could hardly look at him, knowing he had feelings for her, too.

“So, where is she?” Lewis asked testily.

“She’s not here,” I said.

Katherine’s laugh started out as a titter, small and breathy, and then turned into an almost maniacal cackle. “She isn’t even…here?”

“No, she left. She’s on a plane right now back to Charleston.”

Lark frowned. “Oh Penn, I’m so sorry. I know how you feel about her.”

“Well, that settles it, doesn’t it?” Katherine said. She tilted her head to the ceiling, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I win.”

“She fell for me. That was the bet,” I spat.

“No, the bet was that you bring her here, and then we get an impartial judge to say whether or not she really fell for you.” Katherine kicked both of her feet off of the chaise and stood. “She’s not here. No one can judge. You. Lose.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. She was right. Damn it. Natalie had to be here for me to win. “But you told her about the bet. That was against the rules.”

“Actually, there weren’t any rules. If you wanted them, you should have stipulated,” she purred.

“And didn’t you tell her anyway?” Lewis asked.

“No,” I said through gritted teeth. “There was so much going on, and she’d just lost everything. I didn’t want to break this to her too. She was already leaving to go home. I’m going to tell her, just…not the day she lost her livelihood.”

“Pathetic,” Lewis grumbled. He stuffed the book he’d been reading back into its place. “You couldn’t even do that right.”

“Look, that’s none of your fucking business.”

“What is going on with you two?” Lark asked.

“Do you want to tell them, Lewis?”

Lewis glared at me. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, I’m intrigued,” Katherine said. “Did you two get into a little spat?”

I was prepared to spill his secret. But as I looked at his pleading eyes, at my very best friend, the guy that I’d grown up with my entire life, I couldn’t do that to him. Even if he could do it to me.

“No,” I yielded. “He just gave me some good advice that I didn’t take. He’s right to be pissed at me.”

Lewis’s eyes widened, as if he couldn’t believe I hadn’t ratted out his feelings for Natalie. But even I wasn’t cruel enough to spill that to the likes of Katherine.

“Truthfully, I’m a little disappointed in you, Penn,” Katherine said. She glided unhurriedly in my direction. “I was expecting a harder challenge. I thought you’d show me the dark Upper East Side of your nature. That bad boy underneath that you keep trying to push away with stuffy lectures about right and wrong.”

“That Penn is dead,” I told her.

“Everyone in this room knows that’s a lie. You’re still there. Hiding down deep. I’ll claw it out of you.” She trailed her finger down my chest. “All night tonight.”

I swatted her hand away. “Enough.”

“You guys,” Lark said, glancing anxiously between us. “Maybe we should drop the whole thing. It was stupid anyway.”

“It didn’t happen how either of you expected,” Lewis chimed in. “And all it does is hurt the group.”

Everyone jumped in at once to argue their point of all of this. If only we had been this thoughtful two months ago in the pool.

“The bet was set,” Katherine yelled over everyone. “If you’d won, I would have married Camden. No complaints from me.”