Page 232 of The First Taste

Tristen purses his lips. "Then why do you still live here? You have the ability to live anywhere. If I remember correctly, you come from money just like I do."

"Yes, well." Her answer is not really an answer. "As you know, I’ve accepted Burn’s ring. So I’ll be staying here as long as he’s here. That’s what people who are married do for each other."

"Oh, is that all?" Tristen mutters.

Daisy rolls her eyes, dismissing Tristen so easily. She turns to me, her head tilting, her expression growing worried. "How are you, Dare? I saw you last night, but I didn’t think to ask. Are you back in town for a while?”

"I’m not. Not really."

Her gaze is drawn to my face. “Are you still upset with me? It’s been almost a year now."

I push out my cheek with the tip of my tongue, aggravated.

"No, Daisy. Honestly, I usually don’t even remember that you are alive."

She smiles with a flash of teeth. "Ouch, Dare. Well, it’s good to see that you have moved on. I feel like that’s the least I can hope for you, since I fit so well with your brother. Being engaged with Burn is like breathing. Just totally natural and effortless. And I was thinking that maybe you would meet someone new who would feel the same way. You know, I think that Sarah Harding is unattached at the moment. I could set something up for you if you want."

I watch her closely, seeing the pleasure in her eyes at my discomfort. I push it down, blinking. Just like with my brother, to show her exactly how I’m feeling is to let her win.

"Well, we have to be off. We have an important meeting to attend. I’ll see you around, Daisy."

To this, she smirks. "Not if I see you first, Dare."

With a wink, she strides off, heading toward the hotel lobby. I watch her retreating figure for a moment, resentment boiling up in my body.

"What a total bitch," I spit out through gritted teeth.

Tristen glances at the door that she just disappeared through, and he reaches out and pulls me by the arm. "Come on,” he says. “The more space that’s between us and Daisy, the better. I forgot that she was so unpleasant."

I look at him a little skeptically. "What do you mean? You used to like Daisy."

He rolls his eyes. "I was putting on an act for the good of our friendship. I never liked her. She was always bitter to me."

We walk down the street, and I think about the fact that Tristen never got along with Daisy. "It’s news to me, though I admit that it’s not unwelcome to me now. You were just putting up with her because I was dating her?"

He shrugs his shoulders casually. "I know the type of girl she is. She’s a lot like my sister—spoiled and shallow. I knew that my sister often drove the friends of her boyfriend away if she decided that she didn’t like them. So, you know... It was easier to keep up appearances than to say anything."

"I wonder if that is how Daisy came to be this way, with such an entitled personality. It always amazes me that no one ever checked her or put her in her place."

"Yeah, well. Maybe you will be the first one to change that. Isn’t that what the entire point of rubbing Burn’s infidelity in her face is?"

I wrinkle my nose. "That is one of the possible outcomes. The other one is that she digs her heels in and becomes more entitled than before. Which one she will choose is unknowable as of yet."

Tristen lets go of my arm and cuts me a look. "I think I have an idea."

"Oh yeah?" I say, still engrossed in my doom and gloom.

"You should start dating this Talia girl. See how Burn likes it. Rub it in his face. And then, if you feel like it, eventually you can tell Daisy that Burn has been unfaithful."

A bark of laughter leaves my lips. "What?"

"Seriously, think about it. It’s beyond time for you to find another girl. Someone who is actually loyal. Why not this girl?"

"Women are only interested in me for my money and my name. I’m not like my brother. I am not charming or Machiavellian. I’m not a drunk like my father or a gambler like my uncle. I am the reasonable one, the one who usually compromises with other loud personalities in my family so that we can come together to accomplish even the most basic tasks. No one actually wants me for my personality. Trust me."

"Maybe you’re just not looking in the right places. I mean, there are tons of women out there in the world that are great matches for you, I’m sure. My point is, why not get the ball rolling with a girl that could actually be useful for you? She could be attractive with a little polish. And Burn would look at her and realize that you have turned the tables on him.”

I turn a corner, exhaling a deep breath. Ignoring the terrible advice that Tristen is currently giving me, I resume my train of thought, pretending that he didn’t even suggest it to me.