AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Well, at least you'll be able to confess your sins together after he kills Jared," she joked, earning a dirty look from me. "Oh good, they're close. Let's scram and avoid murder."
Unfortunately, getting out of the hall was tougher than expected. Even before the campaign, Brandon was a magnet as one of the symphony's top donors. His money almost single-handedly funded the youth orchestra, which focused on local outreach in poor neighborhoods around Boston. And now that he was fully in the public eye, everyone wanted a piece of him. We could barely go anywhere anymore without getting mobbed.
"Hey," I said as I finally elbowed my way to where he was deep in conversation with a well-dressed older woman. "Where are Lucas and Craig?"
"Hey beautiful, there you are," he said with a bright grin. "I sent them to get the car. Red, this is Elodie Blake. She's the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors here at the symphony. Elodie, Skylar is my fiancée. She's the reason I've gotten a bit more involved here, since she's an incredible musician herself."
"Oh, really?" Elodie replied in a voice that was a dead ringer for Katherine Hepburn. It was an accent that belonged almost exclusively to the old money in Massachusetts. She looked me over with renewed interest. "What instrument?"
"Piano," I said as kindly as I could while subtly scanning the crowd for Jared. I really wished Brandon hadn't left our security outside. It seemed like a bad idea in a crowd like this.
Behind Brandon, Jane was making bug eyes at me through her oversized glasses.
"She studied at NYU," Brandon continued as he wrapped a proprietary arm around my waist. Under normal circumstances, the pride in his voice would have made my belly flip, but right now, I just wanted to get out. As if he could feel my nerves, Brandon frowned.
"Um, babe?" I interrupted Elodie's rattling on about NYU's music program. "Sorry, Elodie. I'm actually not feeling that well. Could we make an early exit?"
Brandon's handsome face transformed with concern. "Yeah, of course. You okay?"
I grimaced to Elodie, who was watching curiously. "I'm fine. Just a nasty headache."
"Oh, yes. I get migraines sometimes. Absolutely horrid," Elodie joined in. "You should get her home, Brandon, and give her a shot of whiskey in a dark room. Only thing for it, truly."
Brandon draped my coat over my shoulders. "I'll have David pull the car around back instead. They'll move quicker."
"Sounds good," I said with a grateful smile. "It was lovely to meet you, Elodie."
We were stopped by at least five more people before I was able to tow Brandon out of the main hall and to the service entrance in the back where Jane and Eric were waiting.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Brandon laughed as I practically yanked his arm off. "Jeez, you really weren't in the mood to mingle." He smirked. "Headache. Right."
I blinked as innocently as I could. "My head is absolutely pounding. I'm telling you."
Brandon just snorted. "You are the worst liar, Red. And if Elodie wasn't blind as a bat, she would have known you were full of shit too."
We all popped out into the alley laughing, until we turned to find Jared standing in his tuxedo shirt, arm propped over a girl against the brick wall. They both looked like scared deer at the sight of us, and time froze.
"Fuck," Jane muttered behind me.
"Go inside." Jared shuttled his––date? conquest? Who knew?––to the door. "Well, I guess this was inevitable," he said as the door shut behind her. "Jane. Eric. And Skylar, how are you doing?"
He couldn't hide the sneer on his face, and I wondered now how I had ever thought this cocky little shit was my friend. Everything about him screamed entitled, spoiled brat.
"Fucking terrific," I said, stepping in front of Brandon, whose body had instantly pulled tight as a drum at the sight of Jared. "I'm engaged, no thanks to you."
Jared's eyes flickered down to my ring. "So I heard. No surprise, really. I guess trash attracts trash, after all.
Brandon growled, and I gripped his wrist tightly, willing him to stay put.
"That's probably why Skylar never went for you, you arrogant bag of half-composted chicken shit," Jane retorted.
Jared crossed his arms in her direction, but looked to Eric instead of even acknowledging Jane's existence. "Her, Eric? Really? I'm surprised you're still tagging that. Seems a bit beneath us, don't you think?"
No one missed the way he grouped Eric with himself––part of the same social set––old money in the Northeast. Jane opened her mouth to issue another sharp reply, but Eric pulled her back behind him.
"What do you want, Jared?" he asked directly, with a calm that no one else in the alley seemed to have. "You're standing in an alley picking a fight with four people who despise you. So, what do you want?"
I watched curiously, keeping my hand on Brandon's wrist. He was strangely silent, but if the ticking pulse under my fingers was any indication, my man was a bomb ready to detonate. I needed to find a way to diffuse the situation immediately. Goddammit it, where the fuck was David? Where was the gorilla-shaped security team when we needed them?
