Page 60 of Unapologetic Love Story

‘I’m not here on work matters,’ Tom added warily.

I don’t want to write about her any more. I want something else entirely. The piece is over.

‘Aren’t writers always working?’ Pepper replied.

‘He brought her beautiful flowers,’ Solana pointed out.

Pepper’s interrogation was cut short at the sound of high heels on the staircase. Solana squeaked and hurried out into the hall. ‘Birthday girl is coming down!’

Her words brought most of the partygoers out into the hall, where they gathered at the foot of the stairs. Pepper shoved Tom with her shoulder, but he managed to find a spot. He saw Matt and his comrade emerge from the living room, the former staring up at the top of the stairs. All the strange, greasy bravado from their introduction was gone; he now gawped with amazement.

Tom turned to see for himself. His whole body tightened and his heart stopped.

Raina was standing on the top step of the stairs, smiling bashfully down at her guests. She was a glinting, gleaming vision in silver. Tom watched her hand shake just slightly as she laid it on the banister, beginning her careful and steady descent.

The women at the party were yelling in appreciation while Tom felt dazed and staggered.

She always looked good. She always dressed well. But this was different.

This was something extraordinary, and suddenly Tom couldn’t bear to be at this party if she truly didn’t want him there.

‘Thank you for coming,’ Raina said, beaming at everyone while never directly making eye contact. ‘I can see you started without me so . . . carry on.’

The crowd did just that and Tom watched as Raina made a beeline for three women who were standing by the coat-rack.

‘How are you?’ cried the hostess, hugging each one individually.

Tom found himself standing with Pepper, watching the back of Raina’s head. He turned to her and said, ‘Who’s Matt Fletcher?’

Pepper’s eyes filled with something Tom couldn’t quite read. Something dangerous. ‘He’s Raina’s ex-boyfriend. Neither of us thought he would show, and yet there he is.’

Matt, the man in question, was lingering in the hall. He was pretending to laugh loudly at whatever his friend was saying, but every part of his body language told on him. He was waiting to get a moment with Raina.

Tom watched Pepper as she watched Matt, and he found the cold hatred in her face both fascinating and unsettling. She watched him with the cool calculation of an assassin.

‘What?’ Tom murmured.

Pepper’s eyes flitted to his for a moment and then back to her target. ‘I just can’t stand seeing him here, acting like he didn’t do anything wrong. He did everything wrong.’

Tom was starting to realize that he’d grossly underestimated Pepper Cousins. He had her penned on his writing board as a loyal, overprotective friend who was a little spoiled and frivolous. This new Pepper, or this new side he was now witnessing, revealed something much darker. Something a little troubling.

‘What are you going to do?’

She shrugged, her face suddenly morphing into a blank and careless expression. ‘Nothing that he doesn’t deserve.’

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

After everything, Raina had been too nervous to look at Tom Branimir’s reaction to her dress. So afraid of seeing indifference, she’d kept her eyes above everyone’s heads. She’d got away with it; people were smiling and socializing. That was the benefit of a busy party – people took responsibility for their own fun. It wasn’t a dinner party, where the host had to make sure that everyone was being entertained and getting enough attention paid to them. Raina could float and mingle, knowing that people were having a good time without her.

‘Rai?’

She turned to see Matt Fletcher hovering by the living-room door.

‘Hey, you,’ she said. ‘You all right?’

She was still dubious about his reasons for attending. He’d brought Nick with him, because of course he had. Nick was something of a keyboard warrior – very brave and feisty in text messages. In person, he was too timid to ask the waiter for more tap water.

Matt would always choose his friends over Raina. At first, Raina had insisted that this was the healthy thing to do. Friends outside of a relationship were essential, and Pepper certainly took her role as ‘the one friend your boyfriend cannot stand’ very seriously. However, Matt enjoyed keeping Raina separate from his friends. He would allow them to meet when Raina would graciously invite everyone to dinner. They would eat the food she’d cooked while ignoring her completely, laughing at inside jokes with Matt and regressing back to their late teens together while Raina sat in silence, wondering how to join a conversation that was designed like a maze of thorns to keep newcomers out.