“It’s okay, babe. You’ve been through a lot in your life. I shouldn’t have put you through this. I thought you were better and that you could handle being around him.”
Her words take me by surprise. What did she put me through? “It was an accident. I dropped my paddle. You were only picking it up for me.”
After I release her from my grip, she nods down the hall. “You ready to get this party started? I could use a drink and a good steak.” She rubs her flat stomach over her tight dress. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow.”
I laugh at her snarky comment, hooking my arm through hers as we leave the event center together.
Chapter Five
Julian
After I leave Briana alone with Sadie, I find Nash, Harker, and Knox outside the green room. All three of my friends are playing on their cell phones, their eyes pointed down at the screens. Their dates are missing along with mine. From the looks of it, everyone scattered after Briana bolted out of the room as if it were on fire. She ran away so damn fast I thought I did something wrong. Again. Around Briana, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells, too afraid to make a mistake.
Nash leans against the wall, pressing the heel of his Ferragamo oxford against the brick. He glances over at me, and his shaggy black hair falls in front of his dark, haunting eyes. “Where did you run off to?”
“Nowhere,” I lie. “Just wanted to talk to Briana before she left.”
I still have no idea why Briana was so upset about Abby. It’s not like we were ever together. I never had any interest in Abby, despite all of her attempts to steal me away from Briana. I guess in the end Abby won. Briana’s insecurities and Abby’s bitchiness and unwillingness to lose cost us our relationship.
Abby couldn’t stand to see me with Briana, all because she was poor and a threat to her perfect life she wanted with me. That was it. The only reason Abby had inserted herself into our relationship. Once Briana was gone, Abby kept her distance. I told her off, and that was pretty much the end of us speaking for months.
“You ever gonna give up on that girl?” Knox says with an attitude. “She’s a waste of time.”
Like my father, Damon Knox never understood why I would date someone outside of our social circle. He’s a rich snob. That’s what Briana used to call me, and I guess it fits. We’re all loaded, me more than the rest of them.
“She’s hot,” Nash says, peeking up from his phone. He looks like Leonardo DiCaprio at The Oscars with his pretty boy looks, dirty blond hair, and dressed in the same Giorgio Armani suit and black Louboutin’s. “But what’s the big deal with her?”
“Nothing,” I growl.
“You get like this every time we bring her up.” Knox pushes off from the wall and closes the distance between us. He unbuttons his Tom Ford suit jacket and glares at me. “If your dad finds out you’re talking to her again, he’s gonna flip shit. Is she worth losing everything over?”
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion, Knox!”
“Someone needs to bitch slap some sense into you,” he challenges. “Harker won’t say a fucking word. He goes along with whatever you say.”
“No, I don’t,” Harker says with venom in his tone. “I d
o what the fuck I want.”
Knox tilts his head back and laughs. I want to punch this motherfucker in his jaw. That’s usually how we settle our differences. But we’re in a crowded hallway at school.
“The fuck you do,” Knox says to Harker. “You’re so far up Rivers’ ass I don’t know where you start and he ends.”
Harker moves faster than The Flash. Before I can blink, he has Knox pinned against the wall on the opposite side of the hall, shouting in his face. Nash shoves his phone into his pocket. He’s closer to them and pulls Harker off Knox.
“What the fuck is with you assholes? Stop fighting over some chick that won’t last a week.”
“She’ll last,” I spit back.
Nash shoots a wicked look in my direction, his blue irises as hard as steel. “She runs away from you every chance she gets. You could be fucking a model or an heiress, and you paid Sadie to drag the help to the auction with her.”
“Don’t fucking talk about Briana like that.” I reach for his throat, but Harker stops me, gripping my wrist in his hand.
“She’s not that bad,” Harker says to stand up for me. “You guys just never gave her a chance.”
“Rivers almost lost his trust fund over her last time,” Knox shouts. “Years of putting up with his dad’s shit has to count for something. And he almost threw it all away for his Cinderella.”
I point a finger at him, Harker still at my side holding me back. “Don’t fucking push me, Knox. I’ll make your life a living hell if you do anything to get in the way this time.”