I look down at my card, realizing I too would need more liquor before I execute my task as well. I still didn’t feel relaxed around these girls or in this environment, although the place looks beautiful and expensive, like something out of a music video.
As if the universe forever works in Carina’s favor, three men make their way towards our section. The bodyguards stationed at the entrance immediately straighten, their attention locking onto the approaching group. For a second, they look ready to turn the men around before they get within ten feet of us.
Carina lifts a hand.
“They're fine,” she hollers over the music.
The guards reluctantly step aside.
The man leading the group is handsome in a designer T-shirt and gold chains. His friends linger a few steps behind him, already striking up conversations with Lety and Camila.
“Congratulations!” The leader of the pack shouts over the music. Carina thanks him and gives him a hug. “I want to send you a bottle of champagne if your goons will allow it.”
“How about you just buy us a round of drinks at the bar?” Danielle shouts, eyeing him with lustful eyes.
I didn’t blame her one bit.
The leader of the pack eyes Danielle up and down before he licks his lip. “Yeah, I can do that too. Let’s go.”
Danielle turns to us and waves goodbye, the biggest smile on her face that I’ve seen all night.
“Lead the way,” Lety orders. And the six of them are off. Carina and I take a seat next to each other, watching them walk down the steps with the handsome strangers.
“You’re not going to go?” Carina asks me.
“I’m good right here,” I tell her. I take a swig from my flask and wince.
“Being a good girl for your man, I see.”
She crosses one smooth brown leg over the other. She is a vision in her white curve-hugging mini dress. The corset bodice is shimmering in embellishments.
“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?”
She gives me a cutting look and then smirks. “Yeah, I guess so. Let’s fix some of the good stuff. We’ll pop a bottle of champagne when the girls come back up.” Carina reaches past the Ace of Spades bottle for the DeLeón. Then proceeds to fix us both a concoction made of tequila and lemonade.
When she hands me my cup, I realize I need to understand her better for this story to feel authentic. Maybe it’s the journalist in me, but suddenly, I’m curious about the woman beneath the celebrity. I want to know the version of her that will make this story everything her mother wants it to be. I want to know the history she shared with Othello.
“How did someone like you fall in love with a man like Gavin Wade?” I start.
“As corny as it sounds, it’s because he treated me like Carina and not CarinaSterling.”
“Are you saying that Othellodidn’ttreat you like Carina Sterling?”
Carina studies me carefully, weighing whether I’m worthy of her truth. She leans into me, the smell of her Turkish rose perfume drifting between us.
“Ozzy made me feel comfortable, too, but I think he grew tired of everything that came with Carina Sterling.”
The nickname hits my ears like nails on a chalkboard. It’s not that I expect her to call him Othello, but hearingOzzyfrom her mouth feels intimate. Like a secret only he and she share. Like she’s marking her territory or letting me know that she had him first.
“Why do you call him that?” I ask, trying to keep my voice light and casual.
Carina looks at me, her eyes flashing with a sharp, knowing amusement.
"Honestly? I can't even remember,” she says after a long pause. “It started during a rainy weekend in Paris when we were stuck in our hotel room. It just fit the moment we were in.”
“When did you realize you were falling for him?” I ask, taking a sip of the drink she’d given me to calm my nerves.
She pauses. “Whichhim?”
