Page 89 of Filthy Little Pretties

“And that is?”

Caroline locks eyes with me and shrugs.

“She doesn’t love you.”

Twenty minutes later, I’m staring at my partially uneaten food, still hearing Caroline’s words on repeat. She sucked all the air out of the room with that sentence, even if we are outside. I can’t get it out of my head. I know what I feel, and I am absolute in my certainty that she’s feeling the same. She has to.

“Your Uber’s here, Miss McCallister,” Kai’s voice booms from the street with him half hanging out of the limo, garnering our attention.

Caroline smirks as she wipes her hands on her napkin and begins to gather her things. The car pulls to a stop, parking directly in front of us, and Kai ducks back inside, flinging the door open before emerging again to take quick steps across the sidewalk.

“What up?”

Liam and I nod our hellos, both trying to hide our underlying tension, as Caroline stands.

“Everybody good?” he throws out, looking between us.

“Never better,” I answer, placing my fork down and staring back at Liam.

Caroline grabs her purse and turns to walk back around Liam when he looks up at her and back to her plate.

“You aren’t going to eat?”

She waves him off, but he reaches out to stop her. Liam gives me another glare, this one for a different reason, so I push her plate forward, but she shakes her head again.

“I’ll grab something while shopping.”

I’m not surprised at her answer. She and food have a complicated relationship. Even in my anger, I still dusted half my plate, and I’m certain Caroline made a point to rearrange her food rather than eat it. She walks around the back of Liam as Kai grips the railing with one hand and motions with the other for the tiny leftover toasts. “Hook it up. I am hungry. What are you guys doing today?”

I don’t respond, letting Liam answer because my eyes have drifted to the familiar set of legs I see inside the limo.

My voice carries over the outside space, cracking the wind. “Are you getting out?”

Donovan’s fingers tap against her bare knees, which are taunting me through a slit in the dress she’s wearing. Memories of last night fill the crevices of my mind.

“Too chicken?”

I watch her black Doc Marten start to bounce before she scoots toward the exit of the car. So predictably brave.

“She’s here?” Liam questions just as Kai moves from blocking his view.

Donovan ducks out of the car and stands in the black limo entrance, locking sunglassed eyes with me, and lets out a deep breath. Her long dress clings to her body, dipping low in the front, but her cleavage is hidden by an indulgent amount of delicate gold chains. The iron patio gate clangs from behind me, and Caroline walks a few steps taking her place next to Donovan, smirking as she looks back at Liam and me.

“Good luck with that.”

“Are you making new friends?” I question, leaning back into my chair. “Trading us in so soon?”

She moves aside to let Caroline into the limo just as Kai pushes off the railing saying, “And I’m out,” under his breath. His hand taps Donovan’s waist as he moves past her, ducking inside and leaving her alone to face us.

“So what if I am? I didn’t think wewerefriends anymore, right? That’s what you said. I mean, can you blame me?”

Wrong answer.

Liam’s face darts to mine and I stand, but he follows suit, throwing his napkin on the table. Donovan’s chin raises before she takes a step back, cautious about our reaction. She turns to slide into the limo when we both jump the iron restaurant gate, coming to stand over her before she can escape.

“Not so fast,” I growl, as she turns back around and looks up at the both of us. “You know what I meant. Don’t do that.”

The freckles behind her sunglasses peek out, and I want to run my thumb over them.