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“Did you see the photos of him in the hospital?” asked a brunette. “Jesus, what a nightmare. What awaste.”
“What’s he doing here?” the blonde asked me. “I mean, the Observation Deck? What’s he going to observe? And there’s going to be aslideshow. They do it every year, showing the highlights. A slideshow,” she repeated and made a motion at her eyes. “Poor thing. Who invited him anyway?”
“Deacon,” I managed.
The brunette made a face. “Figures.”
The other women exchanged glances, muttered a few pleasantries, and moved off. I gripped the sink with both hands. A slideshow. And Deacon must have known. Was he trying to humiliate Noah? It didn’t make any sense.
Another woman—a tall, stunningly gorgeous blonde in a periwinkle blue dress, most definitely a model—emerged from a stall behind me. She’d been so silent, I hadn’t known she was there. I recognized her at once from Google: Valentina Paquette. Noah’s ex-girlfriend.
We exchanged small smiles as she washed her hands, and then she strode out, all long, bronzed legs and a cloud of Chanel No. 5. I waited a minute to make sure she was gone and then left to find Noah.
As I passed the men’s room, I heard Noah’s voice and then Deacon’s answering. Noah sounded hoarse. He’d probably thrown up, and Deacon, good buddy that he was, had been there to help him. I waited outside, fuming, torn between wanting to be a supportive girlfriend and wanting to drag Noah out of the building. In any case, I wasn’t about to leave Noah with Deacon and sat down to wait on the cushioned bench just outside the bathrooms.
The men’s room sounded just as cavernous as the women’s. Deacon and Noah must have been standing by the sinks near the door, as I could hear their conversation plain as day.
“Did you see Mona?” Deacon snorted a laugh. “Ha! What am I saying? You didn’t see her. Pity, man. She’s looking hot tonight. And I saw Valentina not a minute ago.Goddamn, I can’t believe you couldn’t get serious with her. And she waswilling. What a waste. I’d have given my left nut for her, and you just walked away.”
“Deacon,” Noah said, sounding weary, “I’m with Charlotte…”
“Yes, you are,” Deacon replied, his tone strange. “Interesting choice, but then I guess you’ve changed a lot.”
I felt a sliver of ice slip down my spine.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Noah asked.
“Oh, come on, man,” Deacon said. “Charlotte’s adorable, but yourememberValentina, right? Need a reminder? Killer body, legs that go on forever… Hell, I don’t need to tell you. You knowexactlywhat I’m talking about.”
I waited, every muscle in my body having gone rigid, waiting for Noah to tell Deacon to shut up or punch him in his stupid, ugly mouth. I wanted to get up and run but felt glued to the seat. Then Noah spoke and my blood turned to ice.
“I remember Valentina.” Noah sounded terrible. “But Charlotte…what does she look like, Deacon? I can’t see her face.”
“Charlotte? You want me to describe her?”
“I can’t see her face,” Noah said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “I’ll never see her face.”
“She’s cute, like I said. Sweet. A luscious little thing, but I don’t know that you’d have given her the time of day.”
“Don’t say that,” Noah said. “That’s not what I… Don’t say that, man.” He muttered something else I couldn’t hear, or maybe it was the blood rushing in my ears that deafened me.
Deacon’s voice was loud and sharp. “Come on, buddy. You’re three sheets to the wind. Let’s get you back in your seat and you can hash out some shit with Yuri. What’s your plan, anyway? To write our articles for us?” He laughed snidely. “Stick a fork in you, you’re done, my friend. D-u-n, done.”
I stood up on shaking legs, ready to face them both. Tears stung my eyes. Was Noah ashamed of me? Or afraid I wasn’t up to his usual standards? A small voice told me my own insecurities were probably feeding on Noah and Deacon’s conversation like a feast, but it hurt to hear Noah ask at all.
They came out, Deacon supporting Noah who looked rumpled and tired. I thrust my chin forward, braced for a confrontation, and felt a cold spot grow in my chest as Deacon looked right at me…and kept on walking.
chapter twenty-nine
Deacon led me to my chair, and Yuri decided it was time to have our one-on-one. But it wasn’t the pseudo-job interview I’d stupidly thought it would be. Instead, Yuri told me to get out and not look back.
“I need to tell you this?” he wondered.
His accent was made thicker by the vodka I could smell on his breath. He held my neck in a vise, for which I was sort of grateful, as the floor kept trying to spin out from under me.
“I know why you’re here, and I’m happy to see you,bratishka, but what did you want? To sit with me in the office? Like English teacher grading papers when their articles come in? No, no. Not for you.”
“I don’t know what I wanted,” I muttered. “To go back to where I was before. That someone would show me how or tell me it was okay to try.”
