"You're fucking with me, right?"
"No. You just told me you'd seen the pictures."
"Oh my god." She turns to Mel. "She's serious. I thought those pictures were staged."
Bee and Mel start discussing it as if I've left the table. I sip my drink and let my eyes wander the room. On the second sweep my eyes catch on a table thirty feet to our left, and my stomach churns.
Tyler.
I'm actually not surprised he's here as he's obsessed with being seen in the latest hotspots. He's leaning in close to a woman with long, turquoise hair with his arm along the back of her seat. I watch him from across the room and try to remember what about him I ever loved. Or even liked.
Nothing comes.
Tyler finally looks up and gives me the unbothered, charmed smile that's his factory setting. He murmurs something to his date, gets up, and crosses the floor toward us.
"Sloane Archer." He says it like my full name is a joke between us. "You look amazing. The country agrees with you."
"Quick work," I say, nodding in the direction of his date. "What happened to the bridesmaid?"
"Aw, come on. The bridesmaid meant nothing, and Cara over there is just looking for some fun. We could slip out and talk somewhere quieter, if you want. She won't mind."
Tyler winks at me. The man who cheated on me winks, and he thinks it's going to work. He shuffles on the spot when I don'treply. "Anyway, no hard feelings, right? I know things ended in a…" He tips his head and chuckles. "…yeah."
"Oh, you think it's funny?" I look him square in the eye and he has the nerve to look hurt.
"Sloane. Come on. I came over here to be civil. I actually thought you might want to say sorry for the scene at the wedding. You embarrassed me in front of everyone."
For a second I can't speak. "You think I owe you an apology?"
He shrugs and shakes his head with that small, sad,I'm the reasonable one hereexpression that I used to mistake for emotional intelligence, and something in me snaps clean in half.
I look down at the champagne flute in my hand, stand up and throw the entire glass into his face.
Sita gasps and Nicole's hand flies to her mouth. Mel lets out a roaring laugh. Tyler stands there with champagne dripping off his jaw onto his white shirt, the smile finally gone. For a single second I feel better. That will give him some more to be embarrassed about.
When I turn, I see Mel has her phone up.
"Put it down."
"Babe — that was funny, that was —"
"Put the fucking phone down, Mel."
She blinks. "Why? He deserved it."
"Don't you think I've had enough of being filmed?" The whole section of the room is watching us as I raise my voice. "I came here because I wanted one night of my own life back and my so-called friend is filming me for content." I shake my head. "Never mind. Coming here was a mistake."
I walk away before anyone can stop me, out into the night, where a row of town cars is idling at the curb. I walk up to the first one and get in.
"Sloane!" Sita is behind me, grabbing the door before I can shut it. "Sloane. Wait. Wait."
"I'm done, Sita."
"What Mel did was completely out of order and I'm going to deal with her, I promise." She touches my shoulder. "Please don't leave. Come back inside. We'll move tables or I'll get them to put us in the back room. Or we'll just go, you and me."
"Sita. Please. I love you but I want to be on my own." I close the door and the cab pulls away.
The driver glances in the rearview mirror. "Where to?"
