Court’s lips draw together, and it’s clear she’s struggling not to argue. “So, you’re all married?” she asks, once our plates are all full of food.
“January and I were first, then Starling and Sebastian, Bunny and Hunter got hitched last fall, and Sammy and Evan were what…eight months ago?” Clay says.
“And you’re already pregnant?” Court blurts.
Chuckling, Sammy smirks at Evan. “This one wasn’t exactly planned; we found out the week after the wedding. Luckily, he’d already made an honest woman of me.”
“Honestly, I never expected to see the Acres Elite all married and settled down.” Her tone is sweet, but it’s clearly a dig.
“Acres Elite.” Hunter chuckles. “To think that the whole school thought we were gods. It’s a little silly when you think about it.”
“It’s tradition,” Court says quickly.
“It’s high school.” Evan laughs. “I can’t believe some people would have done literally anything to get close to us.”
“Do you remember that girl who used to follow us around trying to hang off of us?” Hunter says. “Starling, you knew her, right? She was your friend. She was so desperate for attention it was pathetic.”
Swallowing down a laugh, I shake my head like I don’t remember. “I only hung out with you guys for a few weeks. Plus, the only friend I had in high school was Court.”
Hunter’s eyes widen for a minute, like he’s just realized that the pathetic clinger he was describing is the girl sitting beside me. Purses his lips, he shrugs. “I guess high school was a long time ago. What’s your major, Courtney?”
“Her parents are lawyers, I know you always wanted to follow in their footsteps,” I say brightly.
“I’m undeclared at the moment,” Court says, a little of her bravado diminishing.
Waving my hands, I smile like a fucking cheerleader. “Well, who cares about college? Let’s find you a husband and then you won’t have to worry about stupid things like jobs and money.”
“You’re not planning on getting a job after you graduate?” she asks.
“God no. Sebastian doesn’t want me to work,” I say, sighing happily as I turn and press a kiss to my husband’s cheek.
“Starling’s job is to look beautiful, spend my money, and to make me an heir, and she’s been practicing that since the day I finally made her mine,” Sebastian says with a grin.
“Well, shopping is so much fun.” I laugh.
“I can’t believe you went to Cartier without me,” Sammy says, sipping at her apple juice. “That necklace is beautiful.”
“Thanks,” I say, reaching up to tug at the necklace Sebastian clasped around my throat earlier. “We can go later this week if you want. You could get it too, and we could be matching. We should all get them,” I say excitedly, looking between my friends and Courtney as I clap my hands and bounce up and down in Sebastian’s lap.
“Evan does owe me a lot of push presents,” Sammy says, glancing at her husband with ridiculous doe eyes.
“Eighty grand isn’t much of a push present. I thought you wanted that yacht we looked at,” Evan scoffs.
“Eighty grand,” Court says beneath her breath, but loud enough that I hear her.
“Oh, my goodness,” I gush, trying to put on my best “I’m an idiot” look. “Is that in the budget?” I ask her condescendingly.
“Not really, not all of us married millionaires,” Court scoffs.
“Billionaire,” I correct. “We’re billionaires these days. That’s right, isn’t it, Baby?”
Courtney falls silent after that, and when we head back out to the pool, she spends a lot of time texting on her cell. After a couple of hours, she says she has to get back and calls an Uber to come and collect her.
I hug her goodbye, force her to swap phone numbers, and make her promise to come to brunch on the weekend. The moment a security guard drives her to the gate in one of the golf carts, I let the overly bright smile fall from my face.
“Billionaire, we’re billionaires these days,” Evan mocks the moment I step back out onto the patio.
Sammy lifts her hands into the air and starts to slow clap, her lips spread into a wide smile as she nods. “And the Oscar for the most vapid gold digger goes to…”
