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They stop at their dad first to give him a hug and then their mom, both of them kissing her on her cheek. I hold my breath as Lincoln scans the table for an empty seat, hoping that the things he said last night weren’t just his jealousy and dick talking, but when he strolls past me without so much as a hello, while Micah gives Sienna a kiss that rivals those in the romance books I read, my heart cracks.
He orders a drink, then turns his attention on me. “How are you feeling?”
“Cold,” I mutter, sounding as bitter as I feel.
“Do you need a jacket?” he asks, already moving to remove his like the perfect gentleman he is.
“No,” I bite out, then take a sip of my coffee.
“Hey, Lincoln,” Micah says from across the table. “How did the meeting go with Brody yesterday?”
“I had to reschedule,” Lincoln tells him.
“What? You’ve had that meeting scheduled for months. You told me you’d handle it. He’s a major player?—”
“Something came up,” Lincoln says, cutting him off. “He understood.”
“What the hell came up that had you blowing off Fields?”
Lincoln opens his mouth, then closes it, and it hits me that the meeting he blew off to chase after me yesterday is the one they’re talking about.
“There was an issue at the club,” he lies.
It’s not that I expected him to go into full detail about what happened between us in front of everyone, but the way he flat out lies makes me feel like I’m his dirty secret. Like he gets off on fucking me behind closed doors, but I’m not good enough to be anything more than that.
My thoughts take me back to high school when I went on a study date with Jameson, a kid from my school. I thought maybe he was interested in me, but he was only interested in fucking me. Told me that I was the type of girl guys fucked, not dated. It didn’t matter that I was living in Micah’s expensive hotel and attending an elite art school, I was still the poor girl from Booker Park. Lincoln sat with me and told me that guy was wrong, yet here we are, years later, and he’s fucking me in secret, embarrassed to tell his family about me.
Maybe Jameson was right...
Needing to escape before I start crying, I quickly mutter an excuse about needing to use the bathroom and take off toward the restroom.
I’ve barely made it there, when arms gently wrap around me from behind.
“Let me go!” I yell, already knowing from the scent that it’s Lincoln.
“Stop, please,” he says, spinning me around and pushing me against the wall. “I’m sorry.”
“You seem to be saying that a lot lately,” I say dryly, sniffling back my tears. “I don’t even know why you followed me.”
“Because I could tell you were upset.”
“Yeah, well, now your family might think you actually care about me, and we know you don’t want that.” I glance to my left and nod toward the women’s restroom. “Hey, look...If we’re quick, you can fuck me in there and make it back out before we need to order, and nobody will ever know.”
“Kitten, please stop,” he murmurs, pressing his forehead against mine. “I didn’t want to lie, but?—”
“Auntie Ellie!”
“What the hell is going on here?”
“Ohhh, Daddy, you said a bad word!”
We both jump and glance over, finding Micah and Brooklyn standing in the hall.
“Brooklyn, go use the bathroom,” Micah bites out.
Once Brooklyn has disappeared into the bathroom, he asks, “What’s going on?”
I wait for Lincoln to answer, refusing to lie and hoping he won’t either, but when he says, “It’s complicated,” my heart shatters.
