“Y’all are ruining the toast!” Emery spat.
“To Emery being shitty at toasts,” Julia said, lifting her glass again.
“I’ll toast to that,” I said.
Emery sighed, and we all clinked our glasses together.
She muttered, “Bitches,” under her breath as we tipped our drinks back.
Julia’s eyes lit up as we approached the craps table. I had only a vague idea of how to play. I had never been a big gambler, but I could see that Julia really knew what she was doing as she placed her bet.
“Done this before?” I asked.
She grinned. “Not for a long time. I prefer blackjack or poker, but craps is pure entertainment. Less thinking.”
I stared at the board with my head spinning. Yeah, less thinking. Sure. But then again, this was probably what people thought about pool, and it all fit for me like a puzzle.
Julia had a crazy stack of money in front of her after only a half hour of playtime. She shrugged her shoulders, as if it didn’t mean anything, and then pocketed her earnings.
“You do know that this is for charity,” Emery said with a laugh. “You’re supposed to lose.”
“Oh, I don’t lose,” Julia said. Then, she frowned and looked uncomfortable. “Um, maybe I shouldn’t play?”
“I was kidding,” Emery said. “Of course you should play.”
We moved over to the blackjack tables where Julia’s eyes were lasered in on the cards popping up. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was actually counting the cards. Could she do that?
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” someone said next to me.
I whipped my head over and found Austin and Patrick standing and grinning at me. Patrick’s date, Mindi, was drinking a dirty martini and staring blankly at the blackjack table in a silver micro-mini dress.
“I didn’t expect to show up,” I admitted.
Patrick smiled back. “Don’t blame you.”
But Austin’s attention was on Julia. “Hey,” he said.
She glanced over at him with indifference. “What do you want?”
“Need a drink?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t have to have a drink to have fun.”
“But what does it hurt?” He tilted his head at the bar and grinned like the cocky bastard he was. “Come walk with me. We should catch up.”
“No. Not with you,” she told him. Her hands were on her hips, and she looked fierce.
I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with her. Emery pinched my arm, and I saw that she looked worried that Austin and Julia were making a scene.
“Maybe just leave her alone,” I said.
“I was simply asking her if I could get her a drink.”
“I don’t want a drink from you,” Julia said.
“Then how about a walk?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you either.”
“That’s not what you said last time.”
Julia’s nostrils flared. “You used me and then ignored me, Austin. You’re disgusting, and I’d rather go anywhere than be around you. You’re a user. That’s what you do.”
“Takes one to know one,” he said, his jaw clenched.
Julia slapped the shit out of Austin. His head whipped to the side, and the table we were near silenced. Everyone was staring in our direction now. But Julia didn’t seem to notice. She was shaking with anger.
“Fuck you,” she hissed.
Austin rubbed his jaw, looked back at Julia, and laughed. “However you like it, babe.”
Julia fumed and looked ready to do more than just slap him when Emery intervened and guided Julia away from Austin. But I was staring at him. He was hurt. I was shocked to see anything but the look of a drunk idiot on his face. His tone had been reactionary. He’d been offended, so he’d gone for the jugular, and when that hadn’t worked, he’d made it a joke. It was a defense mechanism.
I stepped forward and got in his face. “If you ever hurt my friend again, I will rip your balls off and put them in a blender. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” he spat.
I stormed after Julia, but she was holed up in the restroom and wouldn’t let Emery or me near her. I knew that feeling. She probably just needed to compose herself before she could go out there again.
God, why did guys have to act like such dicks?
I was standing against the wall, sipping on another glass of champagne that a waiter had brought by, when I saw Landon break away from Austin and Patrick and aim straight toward me. It was like he had a radar to find me standing like a wallflower against the back of the room. Part of me wanted to turn tail and hide in the women’s restroom, but I didn’t. I kept my dignity.
“Hey, you showed,” he said with some surprise in his voice.
“Yeah. I, uh…was told you wouldn’t be here.”
He deflated for a second before a quick recovery. “Of course you were. That sounds right.”
He stared at me for a second too long, like he was drinking me in. I had completely forgotten about my sexy dress and high heels.
“You look incredible,” he told me.
“Thanks.” I bit my lip as I assessed him for the first time.
Because…holy shit! He was in a tuxedo. A tailored tux that fit his body like a glove, and I wanted to slowly take it off. He was clean-shaven where he normally had a bit of scruff, and he must have gotten his hair cut. I really wished that he wasn’t so hot. It would make all of this easier.
“You look nice, too.”
He grinned. “Sorry about Austin. Patrick filled me in.”
“Yeah. Your brother is a grade-A jerk.”
“Unfortunately, that’s how you can tell that he likes her.”
“Well, we’re not on the playground anymore, and mean boys weren’t cute even then.”
Landon held his hands up. “I wasn’t defending his actions. I think what he said was wrong. But this is Austin. He’s a total shit when he likes someone.”
What I wanted to say was, if he wasn’t such a raging alcoholic, then maybe he wouldn’t always find himself in this situation. But I didn’t really know Austin. Definitely not like Landon did. So, I just let it go.
“Do you want to…” Landon trailed off and gestured to the room behind him.
It was full of happy partygoers frivolously spending their money for charity.
“Do you really think that’s smart?”
“I find that I don’t care in the slightest.”
It was nearly impossible to stay aloof to Landon when he was staring down at me so earnestly, begging for a little time with me. Of course, this was what had gotten us into the mess to begin with.
“Yeah. I guess everyone already knows that I was fired because of you,” I said with a sigh.
“Actually, they don’t. Besides your supervisor, Julia, and me, no one on your floor is aware of the reason for your absence.”
“Absence?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone thinks that I’m taking some time off?” I asked in disbelief. “What kind of bullshit is that? Saving your own asses?”
“They were trying to avoid a scandal, Heidi. This could have been damaging to the Wright Construction brand. Far beyond the scope we’d thought about. I, obviously, have been primarily focused on your needs, but I do understand what Jensen and Morgan are dealing with.”