"Wait for what?"
"You're not as sly as you think. I've seen you with women you were ahem before. It's always obvious."
It is?
"You look at them like you're picturing them naked. Which would be gross if I didn't know you were already getting naked."
"Who was this?"
"Did you already forget their names?" She shakes her head sad.
"I want to hear your observations."
"Okay, but if I'm right, you tell me about Vanessa…"
"If you're right."
She holds out her hand.
We shake.
Opal taps her chin with her finger, thinking carefully. "The last time, we were at some event. My shoes were killing me. Those silver heels. I picked them because my dress was short and I wanted to show them off. And this woman came up to us to say hello, as if she was a colleague. But the way she looked at me was five-alarm jealousy. She thought I was your date."
"You were my date."
"You know what I mean. She thought we were… it's gross. I can't even say it." She sticks her tongue out yuck. "She had this non-nonsense look to her. A slick-straight ponytail, a navy suit, loafers. She was the event planner or something. Katy. Katrina. Kathleen. Something with a K."
Accurate.
Opal first-pumps. "I knew it. Katy, right?"
"Katy."
"How long were you two…"
"Friends with benefits."
"Is that what you called it?"
"Yes." It's not entirely accurate. We weren't really friends. But I don't want to explain that to my sister. "Six months."
"A long time. What happened?"
"She met someone."
"Ooh. That's gotta hurt."
"No."
"Really?" Curiosity spreads over her expression. "I know Liam loves to go off on you being an unfeeling robot."
"An alien from another planet studying humans."
"Yeah, whatever. But he's just being an asshole. I know better. You have feelings. You just hide them behind that ten ton safe." She motions to my expression. "That. The poker face. You're good, but not as good as you think." She draws a circle around my face. "Is it about Vanessa?"
Maybe. I try to stay present, especially with my family. "Katy invited me to her wedding."
"When?"
"A few months ago," I say.
"You didn't take me?" She folds her arms. "You know I love weddings!"
"It was twenty-one plus."
"Okay, fine. It was twenty-one plus. What happened?"
"She thanked me for teaching her what love wasn't."
"Shit, really?"
I nod.
"That's a lot."
"It was fair. I enjoyed our time together, but it wasn't romantic. I didn't realize it then, but she was trying. Even though I'd been clear about the terms. She was trying to find more, and I wasn't interested."
"And you were sad about that?"
"Surprised, but not sad."
"You still look… something. Is it about Vanessa?"
Maybe it is.
"She'll be there tomorrow. That's big. Coming to dinner with the family. With Liam."
"Preston, Harrison, and Lee are coming too."
"Not to dinner."
True.
"You must like her to subject her to Liam. Or hate her. One of them."
"I like her."
She squeals in that teenage girl way. "What about Katy's wedding? Did you take her?"
"No. We weren't seeing each other yet."
"You're seeing her?"
"That's the easiest way of putting it."
"Dating?"
"No."
"Sex?"
"Yes, sex."
"So it's a recent start." She motions to the marks on my neck. "It must be recent. Or she recently let loose. Or you recently stopped trying to hide it."
I take a long sip. Try my best shrug.
It's not good. I don't have Liam's casual ability to not care.
Mine is sterner. As Vanessa says, above it all. A tone I don't like to take with my sister.
"Yeah, recent," she says. "How recent?"
"My sex life isn't your business."
"Uh-huh. You, Bri, and Danielle try to help me with masturbation tools. Like your generation invented the practice. If the three of you can take turns offering to buy me vibrators or find me classy videos, where I can trust all the performers are working consensually—"
"Danielle?"
She nods of course. "I swear. She probably thinks I'm on fire when I look at her pictures. They're hot, yes, but she's my brother's fiancée. It's weird."
"It is."
"You look at her pictures?"
"I looked into her." At the same time Adam did. Because the man who tried to destroy our family was obsessed with her. That's why Adam found her. That's why he convinced her to marry him.
I'm not sure if it was charm, money, love, some combination of the three.
They're happy.
He's functioning.
Maybe I should have more concern for her welfare. Maybe I should be more skeptical.
I can't.
I need my brother to be okay.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure he's okay.
"Like hiring a private eye?" she asks. "Or just using your secret software?"
"Our software is cyber security. It's the opposite."
"Yeah, but you work with that company that digs up information all the time. You're natural allies. The harder they work, the more you can charge. And the better you do, the more they can charge."
"Shrewd."
"I am a Pierce."
"You really are."
She smiles, won over for a moment. Then she shakes her head. Remembers her mission. "Did you hire a PI?"