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The bad stuff…
Candace understood. She knew everything about Blaine, having gone through it with me. It was nice having someone who knew my deepest darkest secrets and didn't care.
She gave me the look – a look designed to chide me for being so pessimistic about everything. I had more than enough reason to be that way, but I was trying hard to overcome my nature. Be more like CandyC.
Candy Cane — my nickname for her.
“I’ll try but I doubt tonight will be fun. The best I can hope to get out of it is the food and champagne. With my luck, it’ll be boring and a flop.”
“Stop!” she said and shook my shoulders. “Go with a positive attitude at least. Think of this night as your good deed for the year that will build up some good Karma for you. You deserve it, of all people.”
I forced a smile at her and glanced at my butt in the mirror. “Does this dress make me look fat?”
I caught her giving me the look again. “Baby got back, so flaunt it,” she said and smacked me in the butt.
“Hopefully, there won’t be any dancing or baby’ll get sore butt when I fall in these heels,” I said with a laugh, finally relaxing a bit. I grabbed my coat and bag and air kissed Candy’s cheek before leaving the apartment.
Chapter 4
Luke
* * *
Usually, I could barely stand the thought of spending another night in the company of my adoptive parents and their crew of Manhattan elites and would politely give my regrets, but this was our annual family dinner with our business partners and so I had to go. The only thing that made me look forward to the night was enacting my little plan for teaching my cheating brother-in-law Eric a lesson.
Of course, he was there, standing like a peacock in his three-thousand-dollar suit – bought with the Marshall family's money of course – a drink in his hand, my sister at his side looking up at him with a mix of adoration and awe. A beauty, with long brown hair and a face that graced many gossip magazine covers, Dana was better than him. She had one hand on her very pregnant belly, and the other clasped tightly in Eric's hand, listening raptly as he expounded on his latest exploits over in Abu Dhabi.
The bastard…
I used to like Eric. I thought he'd be good for my sister when she started talking about him and then when they started dating. Little did I know…
Now, I was no prude and I had no plans on getting married myself, but I did believe in monogamy. If you made the vows, keep them. That was at a minimum what I expected from any husband of my sister, and any brother-in-law, and especially any top executive in my family's corporation.
My anger at him burned in me as I stood and made small talk, forcing a smile I didn’t feel while I listened to him boast about his latest conquests half way across the globe in our Middle East office. By all rights, he should have been fired as soon as I learned about his cheating but I couldn't.
I couldn't break my sister's heart. She finally had what she thought she could never have – a baby. She had a rare disorder that made her almost incapable of becoming pregnant without extreme measures and a lot of money. Luckily, our family had that, but it took months and months of effort. When she announced that she was pregnant, I was shocked because they had almost given up and were planning to adopt. Now, she'd have her own child and I hoped she'd be happy but then I found out Eric had been fucking cheating on her?
What – couldn’t he use his hand in the last few weeks of Dana's pregnancy for fuck sake?
I seethed while Eric bleated on and missed his question entirely.
"What?" I said, glancing up from my watch, checking to see what time it was, anxious for Lexi to arrive so we could get the show on the road.
"I asked you what you're working on now?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry. I'm expecting my date any minute and was just checking to see what time it was."
"Who?" Dana asked, genuinely curious. "Is it someone I know?"
I hadn't had a date since I ended things with Felicia and so I knew Dana would be insanely curious.
"You'll meet her soon enough," I said and smiled. "She's someone I met at Columbia. You'll love her."
"I'm surprised you invited her," Dana said, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head to the side. "You know, with Mother here and Felicia as well…"
"I'm brave," I said with a laugh, knowing exactly what she meant. "I want to discourage Mother as much as I can. And although Felicia’s a lovely woman, she’s just not my type."
"That's an understatement," Dana said, smiling.
