“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Really? You’re going to the ‘let me pretend I don’t have a girlfriend’ route while she’s here?” I paused to take another sip of wine and tipped my head a little to glare at him. “I’m not a good candidate for bullshit, Victor. I see right through it.”
He balked at me. “And as you know, I’m not good at practicing patience. What the fuck are you talking about, Nicole?”
“Mia,” I said, a little louder than anticipated. His face morphed from confusion, to amusement, to anger, and back to amusement as he started to laugh.
“You’re fucking insane.”
“Yeah, well—” I started. Before I could finish, he was pulling my hand and practically dragging me to where Mia was standing with Oliver and the hot guy crew. “Victor.”
“No,” he said, stopping in the middle of the yard to look back at me. “If you’re going to accuse me of something, you should have the sense to get your facts straight. Do you know how fucking mad I am at you? Do you know . . .?” He stopped to take a deep breath before pulling me again. “We’ll discuss that later. Just . . . come.”
Oliver, Estelle’s husband, turned around with a frown. He pushed his long hair out of his face and looked between Victor and me.
“Everything okay?” hot guy number two said to our right.
“Mia, why are you here?” Victor asked, his voice strong.
Mia pulled a face. “I’m not sure I’m understanding the question.”
Hot guy number two, I was pretty sure his name was Jensen, hid his smile behind the bottle of beer in his hand.
“Jensen, stop fucking laughing. Tell Nicole why Mia’s here,” Victor said.
Jensen started laughing and shaking his head, then Oliver joined in, and the other guy they were talking to followed.
“I told you,” Jensen said when he finally stopped laughing.
“No, I told you,” Oliver said.
“Fuck you. I said it first.” He paused, wiping his eyes and looking over at Mia. “Babe, what did I say about Victor last week?”
Babe? My eyes widened. Oh fuck. No.
Mia frowned. “I don’t know, Jensen.”
“You need to remember.”
She rolled her eyes. “Are we done here? I need to go see if Grey’s still sleeping.”
“You have the video monitor attached to your ass. I’m pretty sure he’ll alert you when he wakes up,” Victor said. “Can you answer my fucking question before I punch your husband?”
Oh motherfuck. She was not. And she was a mom?
“Estelle’s my best friend. I’m not going to miss her birthday,” Mia said.
“Okay, and who did you come with?” Victor pressed.
“Jesus Christ. With this idiot,” she said, pointing at Jensen, who started laughing again. “Why?”
“She thought you were my girlfriend,” Victor said, his eyes cutting to me. I wasn’t looking at him, but I could feel them on me.
“What?” Mia said, laughing now. “Oh my God. That’s disgusting.” She paused and looked at me. “No offense or anything.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but there was absolutely nothing I could say.
“Don’t worry, this one right here is your brand of crazy,” Jensen said, pointing at Mia with his thumb. She pushed him.
“Shut up,” she said, then looked at me again. “Why . . . oh. Is it because our pictures in the tabloids? I told you we were famous. I’m a huge fan of yours. Well, I was a huge fan of Gabriel, but then all that . . . stuff happened, so I’m not as big a fan as I used to be, but I still like him as an actor because he’s really good.”
Jensen wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. “Babe.”
“What?”
“Your fangirl is showing.”
She buried her face in her hands and took a breath before looking at me again. “I talk a lot when I’m nervous.”
I smiled. “That’s fine. I’m sorry for probably giving you the biggest bitch face earlier. I really didn’t know you guys were just friends.”
“Totally fine. Totally cool,” Mia said. I smiled at her and everyone else before excusing myself once again. As I walked away, I heard Mia say, “She’s officially my new best friend,” and I had to laugh.
“You thought I was dating someone?” Victor asked when he caught up to me. “And you didn’t even fucking think to ask?”
“How would I ask?”
“You could have called.”
“You broke up with me.” And it broke my heart.
He narrowed his eyes, jaw set. I raised an eyebrow, daring him to take a different approach. “You’re going home with me.”
“What?”
“Tonight. You’re going home with me, and we’re going to have this fucking conversation. Either you go with me, or I go with you. You pick, but I swear to God if that Brent guy shows up at your house I’ll get arrested, and you’ll have to bail me out of jail.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing but was unsuccessful. “You’re the lawyer.”
He scoffed. “If I get to keep my license.”
My smile dropped. “What do you mean?”
“Your dad didn’t tell you?”
I blinked and shook my head slowly.
“We’re having a meeting with the associates on Monday to see if they want to keep me on board as partner.”