Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(18)

Every Artist Needs A Muse





Penn





7





“Okay, that’s all for today. I’ll see you all on Friday.”

The students in my lecture class began to pack up their books, and my teaching assistant, Chelle, hurried forward from the back row. I turned away from the lectern to collect the remaining papers that hadn’t been picked up from that class.

“Great class, Dr. Kensington,” Chelle said.

“Thank you, Chelle. Though I think it was lost on most of the students.”

“Yeah, well, undergrads,” she said with a shrug.

I stuffed the papers in my bag. “I wish more of them showed up to class. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be failing so many people.”

Chelle huffed. She had been dealing with the brunt of the students this semester. Apparently, I was intimidating. Though…it hadn’t kept the small number of female students from relentlessly hanging around my office hours.

My eyes lifted as another presence entered the room. It was a slight shift in the room, as if the air were suddenly charged. I sighed when I saw who was standing there.

“We’re going to have to postpone our meeting, Chelle. Let’s reschedule for Friday.”

Chelle glanced behind her and raised her eyebrows. “Sure thing, Dr. Kensington. Let me know if you need anything else before then.”

“Of course. If you’ll excuse me.”

I left Chelle where she was standing and strode across the room. I’d been anticipating this encounter for the last couple of weeks. I’d been purposely, conspicuously busy. Finalizing a hopefully groundbreaking book on philosophical ethics had that tendency. Though…I had used it as an excuse more than was strictly necessary.

“Katherine,” I said warily.

“Hello, Penn,” she said with a formality that I knew meant she was angry with me.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She tilted up her cherry-red lips and tossed back her supermodel mane of dark waves. “So, seeing me is a pleasure now? That’s why you’ve been avoiding the crew?”

“I’ve been busy.”

She arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Sure you have.”

“What do you want, Ren?”

“You know what I want. You haven’t responded to my RSVP.”

I shot her a knowing look. Then, I pushed past her and out into the brisk New York morning. The click of her high heels followed me onto Columbia’s campus in the heart of the Upper West Side.

“Why must you make this difficult?” she asked, walking as if she were on the prowl in a short black dress and fur jacket that I knew her father had left for her. She was lucky to still own it after all of their assets had been frozen and liquidated to pay his securities fraud.

“Am I making it difficult?”

“Yes. You know that you are.”

I glanced over at her as we walked brick pathways around manicured lawns toward the library. “You want me to go to this sham of a wedding?”

Katherine gave me a flat look. “Well, you’re not about to change your mind and sweep me off my feet, are you?”

“No,” I said, mirroring her tone.

“I didn’t think so.”

“You’re really going to marry him?”

“A bet’s a bet.”

I halted my steps. “Katherine…is this really what this is all about?”

“I don’t want to talk about this with you, Penn. The wedding is set for the Saturday before Christmas. It’s happening in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and no expense has been spared,” she said sharply. “Are you coming or not?”

I searched her face. I didn’t know why I’d expected to find anything in her eyes. She didn’t love…or even like Camden Percy. Who could love that egotistical, manipulative asshole? And, with the tragic downfall of her parents’ own marriage, how could she envision anything else for herself? She’d dug her own grave with Percy. Now, she had to lie in it.

“Yes,” I said finally. “Of course I will be there, Katherine.”

She released a breath as if she hadn’t actually been sure what I would say.

“Good.” A real smile graced her features then, and she looped our arms together. “I wouldn’t have known what to do if you hadn’t shown up. You’re my oldest friend, Penn Kensington. We’ve had our differences, but we’re practically family. I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “Why do I feel like you’re about to do something vicious?”

“Wouldn’t you like that?” she said with a wink.

“You’re being too nice. What do you know?”

“Well, I thought you already knew, and that’s why you were being so mopey.” She tilted her head onto my shoulder and fluttered her eyelashes. “But I see that this is just who you are. All broody and self-loathing. No wonder she didn’t tell you she was back in the city.”

I jerked Katherine to a halt. “Who…is in the city?”

“Natalie, of course.”

My mind whirred to life. She was here. In my city. What was she doing here?

“You truly didn’t know? I thought she’d have already come by to torture you some more,” Katherine said dryly.