Avoiding Intimacy (Avoiding #2.5)(28)

John said with a smile as his friends walked into the nook. “This is Nitya, Trey, and Darius. Trey and Darius work with me at Global.”

He volunteered the information for those two but left out an explanation for the woman that was with him. That immediately drew Chyna’s eyes to her.

She was Indian with gorgeous dark- caramel skin, thick, long black hair with natural body, and almost unnatural blue eyes. She was exotically beautiful and clothed in an eye-catching red dress. Nitya smiled at them before taking a seat next to Adam.

“No problem at all. Nice to meet you,”

Adam said, promptly standing and shaking the two guys’ hands. “I’m Adam, John’s brother. This is my girlfriend, Chyna.”

Chyna just smiled at them. Trey was a medium build guy with short blonde hair, and he was wearing a navy suit. He was everything she expected from a Global employee. In fact, he looked like he had the superiority complex to boot. Or, is it a Napoleonic complex? The guy next him, Darius, was a tall, skinny African American man with a perfect smile that was contagious.

They all filed into the booth. The room was already filling up, and they now had a party of five when she had been expecting just the two of them. She couldn’t help noticing how close John sat next to Nitya when they all sat down.

“So, how do you know each other?”

Chyna asked. She couldn’t believe she had even opened her mouth.

“Nitya was at Harvard when I was getting my MBA,” John told Chyna with a smirk.

Nitya rolled her eyes. “Don’t make it sound so amazing,” she said. “I was just getting an art history degree. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Harvard is a big deal,” Trey said, shaking his head.

“Not to someone who went there,”

Darius said, elbowing him in the side with a big full-watt smile.

“Alright, guys,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like I’m the MET curator or anything. I still sell shitty paintings every day.”

“They’re not shitty,” John said, his hand touching her arm in a way that Chyna was all too familiar with.

She narrowed her eyes at the movement. Then, he caught her looking at him, so she turned her attention to Adam, who was too busy with the hookah to pay attention.

“Do you…paint?”

Chyna asked, breaking the private moment.

“Some, but I’m shit. And, don’t you say otherwise,” she said, pointing at John.

“I work for a small art gallery as a viewer doing appraisals for their collection.”

“That’s pretty cool actually,” Chyna said disappointed. That was actually really cool .

She hated these moments. She didn’t regret not going to college because she got more partying done in New York, and she didn’t have to deal with the whole school aspect. But, she had never had anything she could really call hers like this Nitya chick.

“And, your paintings aren’t shit. I’ve seen the inside of your studio,” John said with a smirk.

Nitya giggled and leaned into him like they were sharing a private joke. When, in fact, their joke wasn’t all that private. It was obvious what he was saying.

Trey, obviously not picking up on what John was saying, spoke up. “Yeah, I agree. I’ve seen some of your work. I’d love to see your studio though.”

Was this guy that dense? The only one seeing inside her studio was f**king her, and Trey certainly wasn’t.

The subject switched to business, and Chyna pulled back from the conversation.

She didn’t want to be involved, and she didn’t want to have to think. Adam ordered her another drink, and the table got a round of tequila shots. She veered away from the alcohol. She’d had too good of a time last night, and she didn’t want to make herself look worse by imbibing way more than she could handle.

Instead of taking the shot, she checked her phone to see if Frederick had ever responded to her text messages. Just when she was about to get up to give him a call, he texted back.

Dallas called. Sorry, chicky.

Chyna groaned, throwing her phone back into her purse. She took a drag on the hookah and could feel a slight buzz from both the alcohol and tobacco already. The sweet aroma was deceiving because it was already making her tingly in a way that alcohol never did anymore. It was nice.

“Are you still meeting up with Frederick?” Adam asked, standing. He was completely confident on his feet.

Had he even been drinking that much?

Chyna hadn’t really been paying that much attention.

“He cancelled,” she told him, resting her head back against the cushion.

Adam bent down and kissed her forehead. “Maybe you should take it easy.”

“I’m fine!” she said defensively, sitting up straight. She hadn’t had that much after all. “Will you get another hookah while you’re up?”

Adam sighed with a nod. “Anyone else need anything?”

Trey and Darius nodded. “We’ll come with you.” The three guys walked away to get more drinks for the table.

“Ah!

Two wonderful, beautiful women,” John said, his speech showing the signs of alcohol. He smiled that devious smile in Chyna’s direction and crawled over Nitya to sit in between the two women.

“John! Watch it!” Nitya cried as he caught her leg when he scooted across her.