I turn back to Piper, finding her shaking her head in exasperation. “Why are you always so nice to her?”
“What are you talking about? I’m nice to everyone.”
She snorts. “Yeah. Right.”
Okay, maybe she has a point. I can definitely be an asshole sometimes. But it’s not on purpose; I just can’t do the fake pleasantries thing. I shrug. “Gia’s an easy person to be nice to. She doesn’t piss me off as much as most people do. And besides, you have to be nice to your employees or you’ll have no more employees.”
“Fair point, I suppose,” she allows, taking another sip of her wine.
“So, are you ever going to tell me why you dragged me back here?”
She rolls her eyes, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder. “Don’t even start. I didn’t need to drag you back here. You wanted to come home. I don’t even know why you went over there in the first place.”
“Star’s my best friend—” I start, but Piper cuts me off.
“She used to be your best friend. Back when you were in high school and she was all sweet and actually fucking genuine,” she says with way more passion than I’m used to seeing from my big sister. “Before she turned into this influencer bitch who cares more about how many likes and follows she gets than anything else.”
“That’s not fair,” I argue, feeling my hackles rise in defense of Star. She’s far from perfect but she’s not nearly as shallow asPiper’s making her out to be. If she was we would have well and truly parted ways by now.
Piper holds her hands up, clearly registering that she’s gone too far. “Okay, okay. Fine. I’m just glad you didn’t get sucked in to all of that.”
I let out a derisive snort. “Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.”
Gia approaches the table and sets my drink down—an incredibly smooth-looking whiskey sour—and I thank her, before taking a sip. I all but moan as the drink touches my lips because, damn, that’s good.
“Should I leave you alone with that?” Piper asks dryly.
I set my glass down and eye her pointedly. “I’d rather you just spit it out. What the hell’s going on?”
She sighs, taking another sip of her wine before setting her own glass down and squaring me with an intent look. “It’s Dad. He’s a total mess right now.”
“Why?” I narrow my eyes as a thought hits me. “Please don’t tell me this has something to do with that devil woman. I thought you said this wasn’t about Izzy?”
Actually, associating my stepmother with the devil is probably an insult to the devil. The only good thing that bitch has ever done was give birth to Izzy, and she was too selfish and stupid to even see it as a good thing. Instead, she checked out from day one before finally giving up and leaving three years ago. But instead of agreeing to the divorce settlement—which was way too generous if you ask me—she’s been holding Dad to ransom with the threat of a custody battle until their pre-nup kicks in. Fucking psycho bitch.
“This isn’t about Natalia,” Piper assures me. “There’s someone else. Someone new.”
I groan in apprehension. “Please don’t tell me it’s another Playboy mansion reject who’s only after him for his money.”
“Well, I don’t know about the money part,” she says. “But it’s definitely not a Playboy wannabe. It’s a guy.”
My brows shoot up in surprise and I suddenly remember the text she sent last night, taunting me about never being able to guess the news she had for me. Well, she was right. “Seriously?”
As far as I’ve always known, my dad is straight. Although there was that strange conversation the day before I left for LA…
Piper nods. “Seriously. It’s…” she gives a sharp shake of her head, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know what to make of it. Dad’s clearly head over heels, but I don’t know how that’s even possible. He’s a guy. Dad’s not gay. He’s never been into guys before.”
“How do you know?”
She blinks at me in surprise. “What?”
I shrug. “How do you know he’s never been into guys? Has he told you about every single sexual encounter he’s ever had?”
Her face screws up in distaste. “Ew. No!”
“So how do you know he hasn’t been with a guy?”
She looks utterly bewildered now. “I guess…I don’t know. I just kind of figured…”
