“Could you be any more whipped?” Tristan slides up next to me, already holding a drink in his hand.
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Tris.”
He snickers into his glass. “Please. Love is for the weak.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, big boy. You see that asshole walking off on the left?” Tristan follows my gaze.
“Yeah.Is that Greg?”
“Yes. Don’t let him leave,” I say, and within seconds Tristan has his phone out, texting someone.
I love that about Tris—he acts without hesitation. He may ask questions later, but not when we need him most. He trusts our decisions when we take action, especially when it comes to stufflike this. If I ever need to bury a body, Tristan will be the first person I call.
“I’ve been wanting to take my anger out on someone for a bit. I’m glad Greg showed up.” Tristan’s laugh reverberates low in his throat.
“Yeah. I’m just sad Aaron missed that interaction. It would have been fun watching him trying to hold back. Speaking of, where is he?”
Tristan sighs. “In the building, dealing with a problem.”
As I face Tristan, my brows furrow, and his expression is anything but positive.
“His parents are here. Apparently, they want to buy some art pieces and were invited by a family friend.”
I wasn’t expecting that to come out of his mouth. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, but we’re dealing with it. I had a feeling something like this would happen, and we wanted to be prepared,” Tristan says.
“We? As in you and Aaron?”
Noting the change in my voice, he narrows his eyes at me. “Generally, that’s what ‘we’ means. Feeling a little left out?”
“A little. There seems to be a lot of that happening lately.”
Tristan shrugs, looking bored. “You’ve had a lot going on. Work problems, girl problems, and then an accident that put you in the hospital.”
“Yeah, and I’ve handled all of it. I can handle this too. You know that,” I state.
“I do, but your friends are here to ensure you don’thaveto handle shit.”
Just as I’m about to respond, Tristan interrupts me by placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Listen, put all of that out of your mind for now. Because we have to deal with their parents before it ruins Zoe’s big night. I have a plan, but you might need a drink first.”
Tristan only demands alcohol before delivering difficult or complex news. I make eye contact with the bartender and ask for two whiskeys.
28
ZOE
“You know, if you ask anyone in the office, they’ll tell you I don’t hand out praise often. Which is true, except for when it’s well deserved. Then I don’t shut up about it.” Tracy grabs me by the shoulders, smiling cheek to cheek. “This is beyond fantastic, Zoe. Jenna is so thrilled that she wants to become a permanent client of ours.”
Tracy does another sweep of the grand hall, nursing her nearly empty champagne glass.
Saying I’m over the moon would be an understatement.
This night has gone better than expected. I’ve done four rounds and checked the list twice, so I should be able to relax now, maybe even pat myself on the back for not screwing anything up. But I can’t seem to unwind. Something inside me is unsettled, like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Maybe the shoe was Greg’s half-assed apology. I still can’t believe he ran over and said all that shit, even though the whole time, I felt like he was being held at gunpoint.
