“Probably seven or eight in the morning.”
“Can you maybe do something on Saturday? Just you and me?”
“What did you have in mind?” I hitch a brow.
“I’m sure you can use your imagination.” She saunters back toward me, her irritation with me evaporating as quickly as it had formed.
There’s something I learned very early on about Cat. She wants everyone to have the perception that she’s a very loving, caring person, when in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I let her live in her delusion because it usually works out in my favor. Take right now, for example.
I drop my head back as she straddles my lap and grinds against me.
“I think I can make Saturday work.” I smile up at her, startling when the door to the office swings open.
“Seriously, Alec...” I look past Cat as she jumps to her feet, fully expecting to see my brother in the doorway. To my knowledge, he’s the only one still here who would just burst in without knocking.
Only it’s not my brother’s flushed face I see staring back at me. But London’s. I’m not sure if I’m pissed or ecstatic at her timing.
“Oh, I...” She seems flustered, her gaze jumping between me sprawled in the chair, pants tight around my groin, and Cat, who quickly plasters on a smile.
“London!” She crosses the room in an instant and tugs London into her arms like they’re old friends. And in a way, I guess they are, or at least they were, once upon a time. “How are you?”
“I’m... Um, I’m good. How are you?” London meets my gaze as Cat hugs her, and I can’t help the smirk that tugs at my lips.
“I’m so good.” Cat releases her. “My mom told me you were back in town, but I just could not believe it. But here you are, in the flesh.”
“Here I am.” London smiles and it couldn’t be further from genuine, though I doubt Cat is perceptive enough to pick up on this fact.
“Why are you here, London?” I grumble like her interruption couldn’t be any more ill-timed, when in reality, I’m rather pleased that she’s here.
Petty. Immature. Vengeful. I am all of those things and then some, and I couldn’t care less.
“I, uh, I forgot my wallet.”
“You forgot your wallet?” I hitch a brow, finding her excuse rather lacking.
“Yep.” She sidesteps Cat, stepping around her desk before pulling open the desk drawer. “I really am so sorry for interrupting.”
I half expect her to say something along the lines of ‘it isn’t here, guess I must have left it somewhere else,’ but to my surprise, she holds up a soft pink wallet.
Why I thought she’d intentionally come back here after the crap I said to her earlier is beyond me. Wishful thinking, I guess. Though that thought doesn’t quite sit well with me either.
“I’ll let you two get back to...” She shakes her head like she’s unable to bring herself to say the words.
So not completely as unaffected as she’d like me to believe. At least there’s that.
“Before you go.” Cat steps into her path before she can reach the door. “I’m having a birthday party tomorrow night. A lot of the girls from school will be there and I know they would love to see you.”
“Oh, no, sorry. I have plans.”
“Plans that are better than catching up with all your old friends?” Cat places a hand on her hip.
London meets my gaze for the briefest of moments, almost as if to beg for a save, but I’m not going to give her one.
“I’m actually going up to Allen’s Ridge to visit my grandparents tomorrow. I haven’t seen them since I’ve been back, and my grandma has been begging me to come visit. My grandpa is wheelchair bound now and it’s a lot on my grandma to travel with him, so it’s easier if I go to them.”
“Well, as far as excuses go, it’s not the worst one I’ve heard.”
“Is it an excuse if it’s true?” London hitches a challenging brow, her slip in patience showing all over her face.
