I broke.
The moment I stood, Wes stood, and we reluctantly joined the party heading to a private dining room.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Wes as we slowly trailed the group like captured prisoners of war. “There was so much pressure, and Archer was basically going to hold our food hostage. And I’m starving.”
Wes slid his hand to my waist as we took the staircase up to the private level. “No more apologizing for anything that isn’t your fault. We’re going to work on that.”
His presence and touch put me at ease.
“That wasnotkismet, right?” I asked him. “How the fuck did they find us?Again?”
Wes shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but we both went silent as we entered the private party room upstairs and Jayne began seating everyone at the long table. When everyone had sat according to Jayne’s divine plan except for me, Jayne, Archer, and Wes, I could see Archer’s wheels turning.
Clearly Wes saw it too, as he gracefully pulled a seat back for me and sat between me and the head of the table before Archer and Jayne had time to scheme something different.
Archer took the head of the table, and Jayne sat across from me and Wes. I’d been effectively separated from the cult power couple. Wes’s hand was quick to find my thigh under the table, heavy and grounding.
“I’m glad you broke free from your writer hermit dwelling tonight,” Maisy said cheerfully from down the table. She was sitting with a couple of girls I knew from the group chat and yoga.
Between us were a group of younger men wearing cocky smiles and stunning women in revealing silk dresses—a mix of faces I did and didn’t recognize.
“Me too,” I forced out, trying to sound less annoyed than I currently was. Annoyed and severely, painfully pent-up from Wes’s incessant teasing and denial. Something sexy had been on the tip of his tongue, and Archer had ruined it.
A server placed cocktails in front of us, and I eyed Archer. If they knew everything about us, including our fucking location, there was no way they hadn’t noticed Wes and I didn’t drink.
My hand found Wes’s, which was so high on my thigh now that I could feel his touch as a steady pulse in my core.
I must’ve failed to hide my derision, because I swore Archer’s gaze darkened a shade. He clearly didn’t enjoy the opposition—from me, from Wes, or from his wife.
But in the next blink, he’d covered it all up. “Tell us about the new book,” Archer said. Not a question. A demand. Wes’s hand tensed on my thigh, gripping me as if in a silent reminder I didn’t owe Archershit.
But with so many eyes on me, I folded again. “It’s a dark contemporary romance set in the city,” I said. “I’m still writing, so it’s not, um, completely fleshed out yet.” I launched intoa brief synopsis, leaving out any details I didn’t want them to know. Or, more specifically, that I didn’t wantWesto know. I fumbled over the description, not great at explaining a developing draft on the spot.
“It’s different than your previous work,” Jayne said, leaning forward as she considered me. “This is the kind of story publishers are hungry for right now. I was talking to an agent about you at the party. I wanted to introduce you, but you disappeared on us.” She smiled slowly. “I think she’ll beveryinterested in hearing about the new book.”
“We’ll connect you with her tomorrow,” Archer said with a slight flourish of his hand, as if waving a magic wand.
It didn’t matter that I knew they were manipulating me. My heart still sped up at the idea of an agent being interested in me and my new book. Especially because if I did manage to get over myself enough to publish it, I would be starting over with a brand-new audience—given my current audience would never tolerate dark themes or open-door sex scenes.
Maybe if a publisherchoseme, finally, it would be easier for me to be brave.
I glanced at Wes, and he gently brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. He’d told me I shouldn’t accept any help from The Circle, and I’d told him I wouldn’t.
But Wes had a three-story townhouse, and I had… nothing. No savings. No assets. No stable, guaranteed income.
All I had were my dreams that seemed perpetually moving further and further out of reach, no matter how long or hard I worked toward them.
“Thank you,” I said. “It is different. Very different. I still love my previous books, but… I think a change was inevitable.”
“Have your dreams shifted as well?” Jayne asked, sipping her pink cocktail.
She had to have seen the truth written into the perplexed planes of my face. Yes, my dreams had shifted. But that was because I was now mixed up in a dangerous, freaky cult and indulging in my kinks for the first time in my life.
“Maybe a bit,” I admitted, drawing a curious look from Wes.
“That’s the magic of The Circle,” Jayne said. “I’m so excited for you, Nova. You’re making all your wildest dreams come true with your authenticity and vulnerability. You are exactly what the world needs, and soon, the world will know it too. You’ll be a household name within two years. I canfeelit.”
“Iliterallyhave chills,” Maisy said.
