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“Of me?” I laughed. “No. We’ve never been competitive with each other.”
“You’re not competitive, but that doesn’t mean she can claim the same. Maybe she always felt like she had her life more together and she can’t handle that things look different now. Things changed, Meyers. Look around.”
My brow pinched. “But I’m still me. This isn’t what my day-to-day life looks like.” Usually, it’s a dumpster fire racing downhill on wheels.
I sighed. It wasn’t even all Elle. It was Elle and my dad, the two of them teaching me a life lesson I didn’t want to learn right now.
Barrett bumped my shoulder. “Your life’s never going to go back to what it was. It won’t always be a wedding, but it will be other things. Hale’s a high-profile guy. You’re his person. Sorry to break it to you, but the fanfare doesn’t go away.” He sipped his drink. “It’s also annoying how easy Hale makes perfection seem.”
“Your brother’s far from perfect.”
“I know that, but the world doesn’t. After a while, even our closest friends fall for the charade and start to covet what’s ours.”
I thought of the droves of women who hit on Hale, especially since the wedding coverage. Females wanted what they couldn’t have, and they could not have Hale. He was mine.
Barrett was right. I reached for more champagne and confessed, “I hear what they say—in the lady’s room—when they don’t realize I’m listening.”
“There are women out there who would stop at nothing to steal him from you, but Hale’s one of the most loyal men I know. You don’t have to worry about trusting him. But never trust them, Rayne. Once you’re officially a Davenport?—”
“I’ll still be me.”
“Maybe. But to the outside world, you’ll be one of us. Then you’ll see.”
I took his glass out of his hand and set it aside. “I’m sorry she stopped seeing you for you. It’s her loss, Barrett. Hers.”
He retrieved his glass. “Don’t let them change you, Meyers. You’re going to attend all those things. You know how this world works. Mark your territory now. On the surface, it’s going to look like an endless cycle of galas, gowns, and glamour, but your life will be surrounded by sharks. Don’t let anyone get close enough to hurt you. Protect yourself and what’s yours.”
“I get it.”
“Do you? You can’t be Rayne Myers the cotton-clad townie anymore if you want to be Rayne Davenport wife of Hale Davenport. Aristocracy is a part. It’s the role we play. The moment we show any vulnerability the vultures come to eat us alive.”
“I thought they were sharks.”
He tipped back his glass, sucking down the last drop. “Sharks, vultures, snakes, they’re all a bunch of blind fucks who can’t see past our wealth. You’re lucky Hale’s loyal. Don’t expect the rest of them to be.”
“You’re drunk and you sound bitter.”
“I am drunk, but I’m giving you pearls.”
“Yeah, well, the vultures have already pecked the meat off the bone where I’m concerned.”
Just that morning I read another tabloid smear about a poll that let people vote on ten other women better suited for Hale. According to the media’s views, he was supposed to be marrying some perfume heiress from Finland. It still stung to read such hateful drivel, but I was learning not to let their words affect me as deeply as they once had.
“Hale likes me the way I am and that’s how I intend to stay.”
Barrett picked up my hand, which had been dipped and polished and manicured to glove model quality. The diamond of my ring flashed under the candlelight.
“Sorry, kid. It’s already happening.”
I frowned at my fingers, no longer covered in ink smudges or pen. My once bitten-down nails, now artificial and long.
Diamonds glinted in the candlelight as I turned my ring. These superficial things didn’t change who I was, but I understood what he was saying.
“Inside, you’re still you, but outside the world sees the affluence. In their eyes, this is what you’ve become.” He tapped the enormous stone of my engagement ring. “I wish I could say our friends are immune to the impact of privilege, but they’re not. When they say money changes people, they’re not just talking about the people who have it. They’re mostly talking about the people on the sidelines looking in.”
“Elle and I have never been rivals.”
“Because it wasn’t a competition—back then. That’s what I’m saying. Things change. Perspective changes. Look at the view, Rayne. You’re on top of the world.”
