Getting jiggy? Is that seriously still a thing?
‘Oh, that?’ Larkin said, waving a hand like she was shooing away a bothersome fly. ‘Isn’t it great?’
Bel’s gaze snapped across to her cousin’s. She’d known? Not that they’d been keeping it a secret, but they’d tried not to interrupt the wedding-related program or risk stressing the bride.
Niki swapped grins with the other women. ‘You think small towns are bad for gossip? You’ve clearly underestimated the ability of this group to sniff out a juicy scandal. Besides, we knew something was up when Gigi’s charms failed to bag Tate. That was a dead giveaway.’
‘Like I was really trying,’ Gigi sniffed, taking a sudden interest in inspecting her nails.
‘Meow,’ Niki said.
‘At least I’m not taking someone else’s sloppy seconds.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Niki shot upright in her chair.
Bel’s gaze switched from one side of the room to the other like she was a spectator at a tennis match. She had no idea what was going on but she had a sneaky suspicion this was about to get more than a little interesting.
Lisa discreetly leaned over and turned up the volume on the stereo, and the sounds of pan flutes and windchimes grew louder. ‘How about I lead a meditation session?’ she suggested cheerfully.
‘I want to know what you’re implying, Gigi,’ Niki said, ignoring Lisa’s attempt to defuse the situation.
‘Oh, come on. Like you don’t suspect already,’ Gigi said, rolling her eyes.
‘Suspect what?’ Niki demanded, sounding on the verge of hysteria.
‘I’ve saved a heap of motivational quotes that I wanted to share,’ Lisa tried again, frantically scrolling through her phone’s images.
‘Oliver is a manwhore.’
Niki’s mouth dropped open and the room went silent.
‘Everyone, let’s take a deep breath in—’
‘Shut up, Lisa!’ Niki, Gigi and Kelly yelled in unison.
‘Okay, that’s enough. You’re all ruining my vibe,’ Larkin said, standing up. But even the queen bee couldn’t douse this scrub fire.
‘He’s playing you,’ Gigi said, leaning forward, ‘and you’re so desperate to keep his attention that you’re ignoring what you know.’
‘I amnotdesperate.’
‘No, you aren’t. You’re above that crap, but for some reason, when it comes to Oliver, you’ve forgotten who youare.’
‘We have something special. He said so.’
‘Isn’t that the same thing he told you, Kelly?’ Gigi asked the woman who was now turning pale under her expensive salon tan.
A confused look replaced Niki’s earlier indignation. ‘What?’ She swapped her glance from Gigi to Kelly. ‘What’s she talking about?’
Kelly simply shook her head, gaping like a fish out of water.
‘God, thedrama,’ Gigi groaned. ‘Oliver slept with Kelly two days before we got here. And the day before that, he slept with some Greek tycoon’s daughter at the yacht club. He tried to getmeinto bed on the first day here and he even boasted to the other guys that he was going to bag Little Miss Wessex here, only now it’s pretty obvious that Tate decided to stake a claim. Well played, by the way, Bel. That wide-eyed innocent look gets ’em every time.’
Bel was too shocked by the barrage of revelations to immediately register the backhanded compliment Gigi had thrown at her. And clearly Niki had stopped listening at some earlier point, focusing only on what had affected her.
‘You’re lying. You’re just jealous that he chose me. Kelly’s not even his type.’
Kelly snapped out of her stupor. ‘What’sthatsupposed to mean?’
