Page 71 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)

“Uh-oh,” Nathan said. “If we’re going to get into it, I feel sure that I need more wine. Who else?” Gabrielle waved her hand in the air, and he headed to the bar.

“OK, go,” she said as soon as he took off. “Details.”

“Uh…details about what?”

She made a beckoning motion with her hand. “Come on. You’re not that slow. Nathan. Girlfriend? Status? Details? Let’s go, because that isfine.”

“Girlfriend, yes, last time we talked,” I admitted, because the Girl Code was a thing, too. “But he’s not acting like it tonight, is he?”

“Honey,” she said, “if that meant one single thing, the world would be awholedifferent place.”

“Mm,” I agreed. “Satisfactorily rich parents, though. His dad’s some—I don’t know. Tycoon, though you won’t hear him say much about that. His mom’s Yasmine. You know—80s supermodel? Egyptian, wasn’t that it?”

She widened her eyes and said, “Hmm. Ithoughthe was some mix of gorgeous. OK. On the girlfriend…I’m going to the ladies’ room. When I get back, you’ve got my details. And you’ve got my back on this, right?”

“Right.” She’d had mine, after all.

“So,” I said to Nathan when he came back with his and Gabrielle’s drinks. “Time to tell me why you weren’t your usual chipmunk-cheerful self when I showed up tonight.”

“Aw, man,” he complained, “you could tell? Here I’m going out of my way to be charming, now that I have a reason to live again.”

“Uh-huh,” I said. “Do I detect the shakeup of a breakup?”

“A few weeks in, and we’re all marketing-speak?”

“Nice try. Tell me about it.”

“I hate married people,” he complained, surprising me so much, I laughed out loud. “When did you get all adult like that?”

“I always have been, haven’t you noticed? And I’m not married. I’m engaged.”

“Same thing. Are you and little sister living with him? Because rumor has it that we have a car and driver doing the honors, and that it’s not a car service, it’s Scary Sam the Bodyguard Man.”

I hesitated, then said, “Yes. And don’t spread it around.”

“Hey. Did I tell when you started sleeping with him?”

“No, because you didn’tknowwhen I started sleeping with him.” He looked like he was about to point out that he could have made a pretty good guess, and I hurried on to say, “Which is not what we’re talking about. We’re discussingyourlove life, not mine.”

“One word,” he said, losing a little of the chirpiness. “Over.”

“Was this…” I felt my way cautiously. Nathan and I had always been casual, always fun. I wasn’t sure how far to push. “Was this more serious, then? I didn’t get the impression you did that.”

“Well, I’m not doing it anymore,” he said. “Because it sucks. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

He started to say something, then stopped. “Go on,” I urged. Nathan had been a friend to me when I’d needed one. Time for me to step up.

“Is a man like you-know-who what every woman really wants?” he asked. “I knowyoudo, obviously. Is that actually the dream, though? Mr. Grimly Dangerous, where you don’t know what he’s going to do next, but it’s so exciting, because you can’t read him, and he takes what he wants? Sounds like nothing but a horror show to me, but, hey, I’m a guy.”

I was stuck. And at that moment, Gabrielle came back.

“What?” she asked at the expression on my face.

“Nothing,” I said, taking another sip of water.

“Am I drinking this?” she asked, looking between her wine glass, me, and Nathan. “Or am I leaving, because things just got awkward?”