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I put on my best staged smile and take my seat next to Tara, grabbing her hand. “Sorry it took me so long. The food looks delicious.” Pulling her delicate hand with the ring I bought her to my mouth, I place a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She smiles, her eyes lighting up at my sweet gesture.
Damn, she’s a better actress than I thought she’d be.
“It’s fine. Your mom and I were just talking about how you slept with a night light until you were eighteen.”
Fucking shit.
My eyes dart angrily to my mom. She just shrugs, not caring how embarrassing that is. I don’t think my mom ever learned the real reason I slept with a night light, and I’m not about to give up my best friend’s secret.
“I—”
“Actually...” Reilly’s voice cuts in as he sits in the chair beside my mom. I can’t help but notice the way Tara stiffens beside me at his arrival—further proving there might have been more than talking going on. “That night light was for me.” I give him a warning glare to shut the fuck up, but he just shakes his head.
Mom turns her attention to Reilly, her eyebrows drawn together. “What do you mean, sweetie?”
He needs to let this go while he still can.
“After you took me in…” Yeah, he’s not stopping. I hope he knows what he’s doing. “I couldn’t sleep through the night because of my nightmares. Nix would let me sneak into his room. He would talk to me until I fell asleep again. The light was for me. I was the one scared of the dark.”
Everything he said is true, but I didn’t expect him to tell all his secrets at my expense. I would’ve taken that to the grave and just let people think I was a scaredy cat. He went through enough with what happened with his parents—he didn’t need everyone knowing just how much he hurt from it.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” My mom’s voice shakes, a pitch higher than usual. She’s obviously hurt that he never came to her about this. She loves him so much; she would’ve done anything for him to make things better.
Reilly shrugs, averting his eyes to the table. “You did so much for me. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
Mom wraps him in a hug. “Oh Reilly, I could never be disappointed in you. I could never replace your mom, but you know I love you like my own son. I would’ve made sure you were safe and comfortable.”
She pulls back, murmuring something else to him, but my attention is on Tara. She’s watching their interaction, her expression unreadable. I don’t know much about her, but I do know that she wears her emotions pretty openly. Since I can’t tell how she’s feeling, she must be trying extra hard to hide it from me.
“Is this one of those times where your friend makes up some shit excuse to take the spotlight off you?” A voice pulls me from Tara. My eyes fall to her best friend Lya, who’s sitting down beside her. Lya’s boyfriends fill the rest of the seats at our table.
That’s one thing I’ll never understand. How do they all share her? If I ever found a woman worth keeping, there’s no way in hell I’d be sharing her. She’d be mine and only mine. I don’t play nicely with others.
I don’t have to worry about that though. I don’t know how to love like that, and I don’t plan on finding out.
My eyes narrow on Lya. Tara’s attitude is bad enough. I don’t need another one to worry about. This girl looks like the type to say whatever she wants, without giving a fuck who it offends. Guess I’ve figured out why she and Tara are best friends.
I know Tara’s told her about our little arrangement. So not only do I have to worry about Tara screwing this up, but I have to worry about her friends doing the same. Which means as much as I want to tell Lya off right now, I can’t. If she feels disrespected or threatened, she might blow this whole plan up.
I’ve seen their advertisements around town. They own VPAC, a tech company which does pretty damn well, from what I’ve heard. They obviously have money—enough to keep Star of India afloat. I don’t know why Tara doesn’t just get the money she needs from them, but that’s not my problem.
She chose to do it this way, so I don’t fucking care what their little situation is.
I’m stuck in a staredown with Lya, trying to keep my assholish ways under wraps. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but the look in her hazel eyes says the interrogation is only about to begin. It’s good that Tara has people in her corner—she’s definitely going to need them to put up with me—but I don’t like being disrespected. Something I’m sure her little friend won't have a problem doing if I say the wrong thing.
I just need to survive tonight…
And one year with Tara Mangal as my wife.
