Page 86 of In Case You Didn't Know

Ben.

Of course I remember him. Works in Hudson’s New York office. Ambitious, polished.

Fake as hell.

And maybe Francie would like that. Safe, predictable. Not someone like me who can’t even send her a damn text because I’m too twisted up in my own head.

“Actually, I’m feeling pretty hungry,” I say suddenly. “Maybe I’ll join you after all.”

Hudson pauses, eyeing me. “You sure? A minute ago, you said you’d be working through the night.”

“Yeah, well, plans change.” I grab my phone and jacket, already heading for the door.

He gives me a long look, like he’s trying to figure out what he’s missing. Then he shrugs. “Suit yourself. But you have to tell Skyler she needs to place an extra setting at the table.”

“No problem.”

Because Skyler definitely isn’t the problem.

Reminding Francie who she belongs to, that’s the only thing on my mind.

twenty-four

FRANCIE

I’ve been sitting at Skyler and Hudson’s massive, reclaimed wood dining table for the last thirty minutes, sipping a glass of wine and nodding like I care about the NASDAQ and share prices and whatever else they’re all talking about.

Ben, Hudson’s latest wunderkind from the New York office, is holding court like he’s on a TED stage. He can’t be any older than twenty-five and is painfully enthusiastic.

“So I told Hudson that we really need to shift the equity position if we want to maximize yields across all verticals,” he says. “And boom, one week later the numbers prove me right.”

“Boom,” I repeat, deadpan. I down another mouthful of wine. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.

Next to me, Skyler keeps looking furiously out of the window at the driveway. She picked me up earlier, plied me with pre-dinner drinks and gossip, and right now she’s on the edge of losing it over Hudson’s lateness.

“I swear to God,” she mutters under her breath, “if he’s not home in the next five minutes I’m going to cut his balls off and tell his associates they’re a new delicacy.”

I try not to grin. “Now that would be a maximum yield.”

She snorts into her water glass. “Exactly.”

“It’s just about making bold moves, you know?” Ben continues. “I told Hudson, if we want to stay ahead of the curve, we need to be the curve.”

“Scratch that,” I murmur to Skye. “You can feed them to Ben while they’re still attached to Hudson. I think he’d like that.”

“Hudson or Ben?” she asks, giggling.

I shrug. “Ben, for sure.”

Before we can be even ruder about her guests, Hudson’s car pulls into the driveway. He drives around to the back of the house to the garage, and Skyler wrinkles her nose.

“I guess his balls stay on. And un-Benned.”

“Maybe next time,” I say, soothingly.

The door to the dining room opens, and Hudson walks in, as cool and composed as if he hadn’t abandoned his wife to entertain his associates. She shoots him a dirty look. He shoots an even dirtier one back.

Oh, they’re absolutely going to have angry sex tonight. I shift in my chair.