Page 13 of What He Always Knew

Just before he joined us, Mom confirmed that feeling in my gut was there for a reason.

“Of course she knows him, sweetie.” Mom chuckled. “This is Reese’s girlfriend.”

Reese

If hell was a place on Earth, I was literally walking into it in a tuxedo.

I’d told myself to wait, to not go to the bathroom until after Charlie and Cameron had arrived. I was going to try to pull her aside before she got to the table, though I hadn’t exactly figured out how I would do that yet. But it didn’t matter now — she was standing right next to Blake.

And judging by the steam coming from her ears, I wasn’t going to have the chance to explain a damn thing.

“Ah, there’s the man of the night!” Maxwell said as I approached the group. He clapped me hard on the back, squeezing my shoulder with a proud grin. “Are you open for requests yet, son? You must playThe Way You Look Tonight.”

Gloria beamed. “That’s our wedding song.”

“Exactly, dear. That’s why he must play it.”

He leaned in to kiss her blushing cheek, and I swear Blake melted into a puddle on the floor watching them.

Charlie, however, was shooting lasers at me with her beautiful brown eyes.

“Anything for you, Mr. Reid,” I said, clearing my throat. “Nice to see you, Charlie.” I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my smile in place. “Cameron.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t miss it,” Cameron said, his grin wide and confident. Clearly he’d caught on to the fact that Charlie didn’t know about Blake, and he didn’t have to say anything for me to already know what he was thinking.

This would work against me, and play right into his plan to convince Charlie to stay.

“Mom was just introducing us to yourgirlfriend,” Charlie said next, and the woman didn’t show a single card as the words left her lips. They were light and airy, riding on a beautiful smile — one that I knew hid all the questions she had for me.

And likely a few curse words, too.

“Why am I not surprised you haven’t told them about me yet?” Blake teased, threading her arm in mine and leaning up on her toes to kiss my cheek.

Charlie watched that kiss with murder in her eyes.

“Reese always was the perpetual bachelor,” she explained to the group, a charming smile firmly in place. “I don’t think the wordgirlfriendleft his lips in at least ten years before he made it official with me.”

Maxwell and Gloria laughed at that, and it was a perfect segue for Gloria to tell the story of how she and Maxwell had met and started dating. I smiled and nodded as she did, but my eyes kept finding Charlie’s, and hers never left mine.

I wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or kill me.

It felt a little like both.

I cursed the time on my watch that told me I had to make my way to my piano. I wouldn’t get my first fifteen-minute break for at least an hour, and that meant an hour of playing and not talking to Charlie. It meant an hour of her not knowing why I kept Blake from her, and how I felt about her.

It also meant an hour with Cameron.

And an hour for Blake to make things even worse.

I gritted my teeth, knowing I had no choice but to wait for that break. I had to figure out a way to get her away from the table when that time came.

“Well, it’s time for me to start,” I said. “I’ll join you for a drink after this first set.”

“Oh, good luck, babe!” Blake said excitedly, kissing my cheek again before taking her seat next to Gloria.

“Break a leg, son,” Maxwell chimed.

And with one last, longing look at Charlie, I made my way to the piano.