Cruel Fortune (Cruel 2)

“Is this when I’m supposed to vacate?” Rowe asked.

“Uh…I don’t even know.”

“When Penn Kensington doesn’t know something about women, it is a new day.”

“Ass.”

Rowe smirked and then disappeared, likely to find the model he’d come with. He was only able to stand her presence in increments, as he found her relatively brain dead.

But my eyes were fixed on Natalie. That green dress that popped against her pale skin. The long, flowy silvery-white hair that stood out in the crowd. Those bright red lips that I missed and her blue eyes that said she was about to rip me to pieces.

I straightened at the fire in that look as she appeared before me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked calmly.

For all that fire, the closer she got to me, the more uncertain she looked about whatever mission she was on. But, since I didn’t know what she was going to say, I couldn’t prepare myself. Decide if I should wear my Upper East Side mask that she hated and deal with her or just be me…the guy she’d fallen in love with. Both came with their own problems.

“I can feel your eyes on me all over this club. I want you to stop.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You’re that attuned to my presence that you know when I’m looking at you?”

“Please, stop,” she repeated.

I glanced over her shoulder to see Lewis standing in our line of sight, watching her, watching us. A light flipped in my head, and I stepped forward toward her.

“Ah, that’s what you told him so that you could come see me?” I asked. My voice was low and seductive.

Her eyes flicked to my lips and back up.

“Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“What will he do if I touch you right now?”

“Probably punch you. So, please listen to my words.”

Her eyes searched my face, pupils slightly dilated. Her chest rising and falling at an irregular beat. She clasped her hands together in front of her. Probably to keep them from shaking.

“I can hear what you’re saying. Your body is the one not listening,” I said, taking another step forward.

“All right. Do what you want. I’m going to go. I wanted to tell you that I don’t want this to happen between us at every event. That we could maybe just be normal. But you don’t want to hear it.”

The words broke like shattered glass in my skull. “At…every event?”

She flitted her hand and shrugged. “Yeah, if we’re in the same company again.”

I arched my eyebrows. Anger hit me fresh. She was actually going to continue this fucking charade.

“You know I wanted to talk to you to tell you the truth. But you said no, so I left you alone. You’re the one who walked over here to throw your relationship with my best friend in my face. Now you want to talk about other Upper East Side events you’re going to be at?” I shook my head, trying to keep from boiling over. It didn’t work. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” she demanded.

“Where did the Natalie go who told me that she didn’t want this life, to deal with my friends or a family who hated her? What the fuck, Nat?”

“I’m still the same person,” she said indignantly.

“In a designer dress and heels, on the arm of a Warren. You’re exactly the same. Nothing is different at all,” I said sarcastically.

She winced. As if I’d hit home. She must know that it wasn’t the same. That she was teetering on a precipice. Halfway into the Upper East Side might as well be a hundred percent. There was no in-between. I knew. I’d tried to get away. The only person I knew who had succeeded had to change his name and move across the country without anyone knowing. If Natalie wasn’t careful, that was where she’d be too.

“Fine. It’s different. I was wrong,” she spat. “Is that what you want to hear? I don’t see your crew. Lewis’s family doesn’t hate me. I’ve made friends here. And a designer likes me enough to want me to wear her clothes to appearances. Whatever the fuck that means.”

“If I wanted to hear you say that you were wrong, I would want it to be about us,” I told her earnestly.

I took her hand in mine, and she wrenched back.

“I’m with Lewis now,” she whispered as if it pained her to speak it to me.

“Noticed that.”

“Don’t use that judgmental tone, as if you’re so above it.” Her blue eyes flared with fire. “I’ve heard all about the last year for you.”

“Yeah. Want to hear more about it?” She turned as if she was going to leave, but I reached out to stop her. “Yes, I slept with other people. Because you said that we were never going to be together. You slammed the door shut. And the only way to get back at Katherine for fucking ruining my life was to sleep with her friends until I got bored and realized none of them could ever fill the void that was missing. None of them could make me forget you. So, I packed it up and left society and tried to get out. I’d half-succeeded when you walked back into New York City with your fancy book deal and my best friend on your arm.”