Page 25 of From West, With Regret (NYC Billionaires #2)
SIXTEEN
LONDON
“I’m Stephanie, and I’ll be your personal bartender tonight!
” the woman in a skimpy black cocktail dress shouts over the music.
She turns to the side and gestures to the table set up in the corner of our VIP section.
“If you need anything at all, please let me know. I can make you any drink you’d like. ”
“Oh!” Julianna claps gleefully. “Let’s start with a bottle of champagne.”
Stephanie is quick to disappear to her drinks table, moving fast to get working on Julianna’s request.
“Are we celebrating something other than it just being our first girls’ night?” Selene asks. Her blonde hair is weaved into a beautiful Dutch braid, resting over her shoulder. She’s wearing the slinky number Julianna set aside for her yesterday, and she looks absolutely stunning. As do all of us.
“Are you kidding, Selene?” Julianna runs her hands down the front of her dress, glancing around the club before settling her bright eyes on the three of us standing in front of her.
“We have a shit ton to celebrate. Charleigh’s wedding plans will finally begin, I finished up a remodel for a massive client out in Paris, London landed a massive job drawing I don’t even know how many sketches for West’s bars. ”
I can’t deny the way my heart jumps at the mention of West’s name.
I haven’t stopped thinking about him since, well, since we first met.
But the frequency of my thoughts has increased, especially since he’s now had his fingers buried deep inside me.
I’m trying to slow it down, forcing myself not to text or call him until I’m required to see him again on Monday.
Julianna continues her praise on our groups accomplishments, when she lifts her arm and points directly at my sister. “And to my girl Selene, for finally, finally finishing the first draft of her very first book like the badass she is.”
“Hell, yeah!” Charleigh shouts, clapping enthusiastically.
Julianna and I join her before I lean to my right and give my sister a tight squeeze.
I release Selene as Stephanie returns with four champagne flutes resting on top of her black serving tray. Each one is filled with a beige-colored, fizzy liquid.
The four of us take a glass and clink them together in a toast. After I take a drink, I sit in the booth beside Selene, with Julianna on the other side of me.
Club Verona is the hottest new spot here in the city.
According to Julianna, that is. I wouldn’t know otherwise.
It’s massive, with multiple levels, and several different bar stations.
Julianna reserved an exclusive VIP section for the four of us, complete with our own personal bartender. AKA Stephanie.
Red curtains line the outer walls of our cornered section, with an opening overlooking the dance floor below.
I adjust the bottom of the dress Julianna let me borrow as I cross one leg over the other. She was right; this dress fits me like a dream, and it screams London. Although it’s probably the slinkiest dress I’ve ever worn, I’ve never felt more confident and comfortable in something than I do now.
It’s like the pseudo family I’ve had around me has brought out the true me. The one afraid to come out of her shell.
“If Stephanie keeps bringing these over, Asher might have to come and carry me out of here.” Charleigh laughs, setting her glass on the small, square table in front of us.
“Watch,” Julianna cuts in. “If he does, he’ll probably bring Holt and West to help drag us out of here.”
“Probably,” Charleigh agrees.
A groan makes its way out of my throat, and I scoff against my glass. Just what I need. West carrying me out of here. I’m certain if West were to touch me again, my body would burst into flames. Admittedly, it would be a good way to go.
Silence.
I look over the group. I’ve caught their full attention by my sudden outburst. All eyes are on me.
“What was that groan about?” Julianna’s mouth splits into a gleeful grin.
“Nothing.” I sigh.
If I’m going to have this conversation, I need more champagne at a faster pace. Thinking and talking about West not only makes my pussy clench with need, but it makes my heart race too. An intoxicating combination I can’t decide what to do with.
“Oh, this isn’t nothing,” Charleigh chimes in, flipping her long hair over her shoulder and leaning forward. She crosses her arms over her crossed legs.
Another groan vibrates up my throat as I twist in my seat to steal the bottle of champagne Stephanie left on the bar cart behind me.
Our personal bartender stares at me in horror as I pour myself another glass.
If she’s worried our table won’t leave her a massive tip, she must not know that half the people at this table make an obscene amount of money .
I open my mouth wide and guzzle down my entire glass. The bubbles fizz and sting their way down my throat.
“So, what?” Selene asks beside me. “You don’t want to see West?”
“It isn’t that.”
This time, our personal bartender is already cracking open another bottle of champagne, rushing to refill my glass. I give her a smile of appreciation.
“Oh, wait.” Julianna crosses her legs, her tan skin shimmering under the club’s lights as she smooths a hand over her knee. She drapes her other arm across the back of the leather booth. “I know what this is. You’re in the denial stage.”
I scoff, laughing off her comment.
“It’s true.” She gestures toward Charleigh, then me. “Little Charleigh here was the same when Asher came back into her life. Pretended not to have feelings for him, but eventually confessed it was all a ruse.”
“Sort of like me, huh?”
Julianna’s eyes spread wide with shock, but then her face falls with recognition at the voice meeting her ear. The man behind her is bent at the hip, standing so close to Julianna, you’d think they were a couple.
Rome Montgomery. I remember meeting him the night of Julianna’s party.
He’s the one she can’t stand.
“Is that how you feel about me, Lark?” he teases close to Julianna’s ear.
“Rome,” she grinds out, the muscles in her temple twitching.
Rome’s mouth curl deviously. “Your hatred from me is just for show, isn’t it?”
If I wasn’t sitting directly beside Julianna, I wouldn’t have been able to hear Rome’s teasing. His use of a pet name ‘Lark’ has me feeling as though I’m witness to something private.
“Absolutely not. You know exactly why.” Julianna’s jaw clenches before she’s popping up and out of her seat.
She spins around and kneels on the bench where she was just sitting.
She leans forward, delivering her ire directly at Rome.
“How do you keep showing up when you are the absolute last face I want to be looking at?” She narrows her eyes. “Are you stalking me?”
“Stalking you?” Rome tips his head back and roars with laughter, pressing his hand to his chest. “This is my club, Lark.” He leans forward, over the top of the bench, and brings his face closer to Julianna’s.
She instinctively jerks her head back in disgust, stumbling back off the bench.
Her feet land on the floor. “Seems you’re the one stalking me. ”
“Right.” She scoffs, trailing her tongue across her lips. “You wish I was stalking you, if only to inflate that fragile little ego of yours.”
His eyes roam over Julianna, drinking her in with his heated gaze.
Julianna snaps her fingers. “Eyes up here, Montgomery.”
Rome’s expression turns cold, and his mouth curls. “Who’s the one with the fragile ego now, Julianna?”
Her mouth falls open as she stands stunned with his comment.
Rome turns to the rest of us. “I hope you ladies have a wonderful night and enjoy yourselves.” Without another word, he leaves our VIP section.
“Of course, he fucking owns this club.” Julianna swirls around and sits back down with a huff. “I don’t know if I can stay here knowing Rome owns it. I should have known or looked it up or something.”
“Seriously?” Charleigh asks, looking around the room. “This place is great so far, and you’ve already paid to reserve this section.”
“Fine.” Julianna groans, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her legs. “I just hate him. I don’t think there’s ever been anyone else in my life I haven’t been able to stand as much as that man.”
“What’s the story with you two?” I dare to ask, hiccupping from the sips of champagne already settling in my stomach. The alcohol is bringing out my more courageous side—the one risking asking my new friend the details of her past with her mortal enemy.
Sensing the tension, Stephanie is quick to drop a drink in front of her. Julianna tips it back, but not without muttering, “I’d rather not talk about it,” beforehand.
When she’s done drinking another glass, Julianna pulls out her phone, and her face lights from the screen, highlighting her mischievous grin.
“What are you doing?” Charleigh asks suspiciously.
Julianna simply shakes her head, then slides her phone back onto the table with a satisfied grin. “Nothing but a little harmless fun.”
We don’t ask for any more details.
As the hour ticks by, Rome’s brief visit fades away, and so do my thoughts of West. He’s still there in the back of my mind, but I’m at least able to enjoy this moment without allowing the memories to swallow me whole.
The girls don’t mention him again, dropping the subject of my hidden feelings for my ex-husband’s adopted brother.
Another hour passes, then another. Julianna and I have paced our drinks, but it appears Selene and Charleigh haven’t.
Selene’s eyes are glassier than usual now, and Charleigh’s forced herself to stay where she is on the booth, no longer dancing .
I feel relaxed as I take sips of water between my champagne, but my attention is pulled to the entrance of our section when Asher appears with Holt.
Then West.
Asher greets the three of us before meeting Charleigh.
“Had a bit of fun, did you?” he asks her.