“Screw you, Avery.”
Ignoring the voices calling out to me, I stomped away from the table and headed straight for my room. There was nothing any of them could say that would make me not want to rip out Avery’s throat. What the hell was his problem? Was this how he got rid of women, by being an insufferable asshole? If it was, his little plan had certainly worked on me, and this was another ‘I told you so’ point for Des. I called the front desk of the hotel to request a cab, checked my room for anything I’d left behind, then hurried downstairs so I could leave.
If I never saw him again, it would be too soon.
— Avery —
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I wrenched my eye open to see Des standing in front of me, a petite bundle of fury. “Why did you do that to her?”
Shaking my head, I scowled up at my little sister. “Somebody needed to. These women run around preying on successful men, have you thinking they’re something they aren’t. And calling it a ‘matchmaking service’? Please. She’s a damned pimp.” I’d dealt with a so-called ‘matchmaking service’ before, and remembering the ordeal sent my anger through the roof.
“You. Are. So. Stupid!” Desiree snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “Do you really think I would be friends with somebody like that? I went to college with her Avery! Next to Deidra, Tori is like my sister! She runs a legitimate matchmaking service, she’s the reason Drew and I met, dummy!”
Oh.
“You never told me that!”
“Because I didn’t want to hear your shit! You’re always railing on about online dating, and gold diggers, and frauds, and all of that other nonsense. I didn’t want to hear your opinion on how my relationship with him started, so I just didn’t tell you.”
I dropped my eyes, embarrassed. I considered online dating sites a swindle at best, and what Tori did was worse. She was the equivalent of a Madame, hooking up rich, spoiled losers with money-grubbing women. I glanced up at Desiree, who was still scowling in my direction, and immediately felt guilty for that thought. My baby sister was definitely not the type to pursue a man to serve as her meal ticket. Desiree had a disgusting amount of money in savings accounts I had set up for her, but it had never been touched. Besides, she had Halo, her high-end lingerie boutique so she didn’t need handouts anyway.
Then there was Drew, who was not by anyone’s measure a ‘rich, spoiled loser’. Drew had created and developed several wildly popular smartphone apps, including one I used myself to keep track of my usually hectic daily schedule. He was successful and self-made, qualities I admired, but more important than that, Drew was good to my sister. No matter how I felt about Tori’s profession — and how baffling it was that Drew and Des had sought her services in the first place— she had helped them find each other. So maybe I had jumped the gun, and reacted badly. Very badly.
“Des, you know I’ve never meant for you to feel like you couldn’t come to me with anything.”
Her expression softened as she watched me use my napkin and ice from my glass to create a makeshift cooling pad, which I gingerly pressed against my eye. “I know, Avery, but that’s what happened. You get really, really weird about people being set up on dates. Like, crazy weird.”
“I know, Des. I just don’t trust it. I heard she was a ‘matchmaker’ and I—”
“Stop saying it like that.”
“Saying what like what?”
“The word matchmaker all sarcastically, like it’s a code word for something. She’s good at what she does, and it’s real. She’s hooked up a ton of people, and it’s not gold diggers and rich men, it’s just people, like me and Drew.”
I scratched my head as an unpleasant feeling settled over me. “I get it, Des.”