Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(56)

“I couldn’t leave you waiting,” she said in a slight British accent.

Etta introduced us as quickly as possible and then all but dragged Ava away. To where, I could only imagine. Hopefully, she made the show to see Charlotte at least.

I shook my head and then headed toward the stage in search of Lewis. But the crowd was thick. The show was about to begin, and I needed to get to my place. Without Etta as a guide, I was in a sea of strangers.

“Hey, I know you,” a voice said behind me.

I turned around and came face-to-face with Addison Rowe. She was not only the twin sister to Archibald Rowe, but also Lewis’s high school girlfriend. Last time we’d been in vicinity, she’d cornered me in the restroom of a charity function to warn me about the crew. Turned out that she was right.

I smiled uneasily at the woman standing there. “Natalie. You’re Addie, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me. We met last year.”

I nodded. Instantly on guard. Getting ambushed in a restroom had that tendency.

“I didn’t know that you were back in New York.” Addie stepped up to my side as we meandered the crowd together.

“Yeah, I moved here recently.”

“You’re looking for Penn?” she asked, shifting her eyes forward. “I think I saw him over there earlier.” She pointed to the other side of the room.

My stomach flip-flopped at the information. So, Penn was here. Somewhere. I didn’t need another ambush from him either.

“No,” I got out. “I’m not here with Penn.”

“Oh. I didn’t know. Well, forget I said anything then. You looked lost, like you were missing someone. I just assumed.” She smiled sincerely.

I wondered if we could be friends if I kept my mouth shut. But I didn’t trust her. So probably not. “I was looking for someone. I’m here with Lewis actually.”

Addie’s smile vanished. “Really?”

I nodded.

“Well, good luck with that,” she said, dripping sarcasm.

“Thanks,” I said with equal derision.

“There he is.” She pointed him out in the crowd. “Go running back to him.”

“What is your problem?” I asked. “First, you find me in the restroom to warn me about the crew, and now, you have to make snide remarks about Lewis? Can’t you keep it to yourself?”

Addie promptly stopped and jerked me to a stop, too. “Did you ever even do what I told you? Did you look them up? Ask questions?”

“I asked questions. And I got burned, just like you’d thought I would. But this is different.”

Addie rolled her eyes. “It’s always different.”

“Whatever,” I said, trying to brush past her.

“I mean, you’re clearly just the latest.”

I stilled. “The latest?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Oh, you know, Lewis. He jumps between obsessions. One time, it was me, then it was baseball, then it was classic novels, then poker, and photography and on and on.”

I narrowed my eyes at her accusation. These obsessions…they sounded like all the things he had on display at his apartment. He’d claimed they were hobbies. I didn’t know what the difference was.

“So?”

“Well, when it’s you, you’re bathed in sunlight, and when you lose his attention, you might as well be on the dark side of the moon. And you’re the latest,” Addie said with a smile.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe. But, if you’re not his latest, then you know about Hanna Stratton, right?”

“Who?” I had never heard that name in my life.

And Addie saw it at once. She laughed. “That’s what I thought. Enjoy the sunlight while you can.”

I scrunched up my brows as she swept past me. I was pretty certain that I didn’t like that girl. She always had some strange, ominous thing to impart on me. If my mother were here, she probably would say that she had a dark aura. That I needed to dispel the taint of it to move on. But I wasn’t my mother, and right now, I was shaken by her words. Because Addie’s comments were oddly similar to something Penn had said at the last party.

My head was in the clouds when I finally reached Lewis’s side at the front of the stage. Trinity had darkened considerably, and a spotlight was now on the runway.

“There you are,” Lewis said with relief. “I tried your cell, but you never responded.”

I touched the tiny purse I had slung over my shoulder. I’d forgotten about it. That would have been easier. “I guess I was distracted.”

His eyes filled with worry. “What happened?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know what to think about Addie. I had no idea if I could trust or believe a word out of her mouth. The only reason I even considered it was because she had been honest last time. But I didn’t want to ruin our night, Jane’s night. I’d have to ask him about it later.

“Elizabeth asked to dress me for Katherine’s wedding.”

Lewis raised his eyebrows. “Look at you.”

“The wedding I’m not planning on going to.”

“You could,” he muttered. “Go as my girlfriend.”

My stomach flipped at the way he’d said that word. But it did nothing to dissuade me. “I can’t go. I never want to see Katherine again.”