Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(87)

“May I?” I’d only ever had Tonya and my mother do my makeup. They’d been the only ones who’d ever wanted to. Handing the bag to her felt like I was handing over some trust or handing over a part of the little girl in me that wanted the love of a friend or a sister.

She patted my hand like she understood, and we sat there while she applied the concealer, the blush, the eyeshadow. “You have amazing eyes that he’s probably obsessed with.”

“Declan isn’t obsessed with me.”

“Oh, he is.” She tsked. “When I saw him following you in his car on that viral video, that’s when I knew. He wouldn’t have done that with any other woman. You’d broken him. And you only break someone when they’re obsessed with you.”

“That’s mostly just getting on his nerves.” I shrugged.

She hummed and tilted her head. “I need a little more of something.” Then she grabbed her purse and dug around until she pulled out a red lipstick. “If that’s the case, can I ask you … do you want to break him?”

Her question hit me like a freight train as she stared at me with hazel eyes that held me captive. Declan told me her and Izzy, although twins, were very different. I saw the difference. She was determined in her gaze, driven with her questioning, and intelligent with where she was leading it. Lilah planned like me. So, I told her what I knew. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Well”—she pulled the lid off the red lipstick and drew it onto my lips—“I think it’s best we find out tonight then.”





32




EVERLY





ANASTASIA DIDN’T TAKE the switch up well. I heard her yelling through the phone when Dom called her while Declan and I walked out. I’d given Dom an out and said Declan and I could handle it, but he smiled at me like he had the world under control. “I’ll take her and Clara. They’ll both be pissed about it.”

Anastasia called Declan immediately when we got into the car, and I didn’t let him avoid it. I hit answer when her named popped up on his car’s touchscreen and waved at him to say hello. He sighed and grabbed the phone from his pocket to take her off the speaker phone before he greeted her.

There wasn’t really a point. I still heard her screaming.

Minutes passed as I watched the ocean and then the city lights fly us by. Halfway through, Declan tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear and his hand went to my leg. The dress was long, but there was a slit he found immediately. I gasped at his touch and his eyes caught mine.

“Anastasia, I told you I wanted to bring my wife.”

I heard her say I wasn’t really his wife.

That had the grip on my thigh tightening. “Anastasia, let me be clear. Until there’s a document saying we’re divorced, we’re fucking married. Make sure you understand that and make sure Piper understands too.” He hung up and drove faster than he should have to the event, like he was on a mission to prove something to everyone there.

When we pulled up to the HEAT Oceanside Resort, the cameras started immediately flashing at our car, and I glanced down, but Declan stared straight at them. He wanted the world to see us, was ready for them. Before he got out, he grumbled, “Don’t you dare open your door yourself.”

When he got around to my side, I saw Anastasia wasn’t the only one pissed I’d arrived with Declan. As my car door opened, Piper stood waiting to see her friend emerge, and her face dropped as Declan leaned in, I thought, to speak to me. Instead, he smiled as he undid my seat belt. “Declan, do not—”

“Indulge me tonight, huh?” His scruff brushed over my cheek as he pressed the button for the belt. “That call didn’t give me a moment to say you look stunning. Fucking divine enough to eat, and I’m going to have a hard time letting other men stare at you and those red lips tonight.”

My stomach tightened at his words and heat rose to my cheeks as he pulled me out of the car.

The crowd of press went wild, screaming questions as he and two security guards hustled us in. We only stopped one time, and he murmured for me to smile as he pulled me close, wrapping his arm wrapped around my waist. I did as I was told because I just wanted out of there. I felt him kiss my forehead and then wave to a few paparazzi as we hurried inside.

Gentle, calm, on point for the cameras.

“One portion down,” he reassured me. This was press. This was media. He was fine with it, he maneuvered it, molded it, bent it to his will.

It’s how the night went. One public display of us together after the other. All of them somewhat fake, somewhat real. My mind played tricks on me as he pulled me close, brushed his hand on my back to ask if I wanted a flute of champagne. And when they called couples out to dance, he was already leading me there to move slowly against him as he whispered sweet nothings in my ear. He told me I danced well, I was doing so well, I handled that conversation with grace.

Yet, when Piper and Anastasia approached to tell Declan the event looked amazing, I tried to slink away quietly while they barely acknowledged me. I knew I wouldn’t handle them with grace much longer. But Declan wove his fingers through my hand and held me there as Anastasia finally turned to me and said, “Nice dress.”

I don’t think it was an actual compliment. We were past being cordial at this point, but I still responded with the last ounce of kindness I had left. “Thanks, I borrowed it from Clara.”