Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(57)

“I know. I know that you hate her for what she did.”

“Hate her?” I said. “She tried to destroy my life. She got me fired from my job and blacklisted from ever working in that field again. Hate is not a strong enough word.”

“But it wouldn’t be about her. It’d be about us.”

“I don’t think so.”

He sighed. “All right. We can talk about this later. Look, Jane is waving at you.”

Jane motioned for us to stand by her at the front of the runway. Court Kensington stood at her side. He looked so much like his brother. It was unnerving. But at least, I didn’t see Camden with them. Court I could handle. Camden made my skin crawl.

Jane kissed each of my cheeks when we arrived before her. “Natalie, I’m so glad you made it. And look at this dress. Amazing!”

“Thanks to you.”

Jane grinned. “I wanted you in something spectacular. Plus, I knew that I had to surprise you, or you’d figure out a way to say no.”

I laughed. She knew me too well.

“Court,” Lewis said, holding his hand out.

They shook. Court’s eyes moved from me to Lewis for a moment with a wry smile on his face.

“Haven’t seen my little brother around here, have you?” Court asked, craning his neck, as if Penn would just materialize out of thin air.

“No,” I breathed.

“I don’t think he’s coming,” Lewis said.

“He is,” I said before I could stop myself.

Lewis’s eyebrows rose in question.

“Uh…someone told me he was already here.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. Awkwardness permeated the space between us all. “Just remembered that I knew him.”

“That you dated,” Court needled. “Right?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Lewis’s arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back a step into him.

“How interesting,” Court said.

What he was thinking was painted all over him. Court had slept with Penn’s girlfriend, Emily. And I was now with Penn’s best friend. He smirked when he saw me grasp it.

“Court, darling,” Jane interrupted before I could say anything else, “why don’t you stand over here so that the photographer will have a better shot of me when the show begins?”

Court grinned at me and Lewis standing together as I tried not to think about what he’d insinuated. Then, he stepped around Jane and turned his focus to the runway.

“Jesus, he has a way of being such a fucking bastard,” Lewis snapped.

“While saying so little.”

“All that time spent with Camden, I think.”

I nodded. Remembering the way Court had saved me from Camden. So, he wasn’t all bad. But, right now, he wasn’t exactly my favorite person either.

Lewis dropped a kiss onto the top of my head as the announcements began for the show.

And Jane nudged me when the first model walked the runway. “I’m so excited! I can’t believe this day is really here!”

I let her ramble on through the entire fashion show about everything from who’d helped fund the club to all of the other celebrities who were in attendance. The number was staggering. Jane knew everyone. And everyone wanted to be here for it. It almost made me wonder why she wanted me next to her when all these other people were here. We were friends, but it wasn’t like I was famous. Even if being Lewis Warren’s girlfriend apparently made me somebody.

When Charlotte walked out on the stage, I ignored propriety and cheered for her. Etta and Ava on the other side of the stage did the same. Lewis laughed and joined in, too. Suddenly, everyone was cheering for Charlotte. And on her debut at that! She looked unbelievable up there. The pièce de résistance of the entire thing. I knew she was the spotlight. She was the one everyone was going to talk about. Cameras flashed, and she swaggered back down the stage, soaking up the energy.

“She’s amazing!” I told Lewis.

“She loves what she does.”

The fashion show wasn’t as vibrant without Charlotte. But it ended with a final walk for all the models and Elizabeth herself. The crowd went wild. Then they were gone, the lights came back on, and the show was over.

That was when a figure caught my eye almost directly across from me.

There, standing in a suit fit for James Bond, was Penn Kensington.

And he was smirking at me.

Hands in his pockets. Cunning, wicked, delectable. He tilted his head in a come-hither motion. I knew that was a terribly bad idea.

It might as well have just been me and Penn alone in a crowded room in that moment. But I couldn’t make the mistake I’d made at Harmony’s party. I wasn’t subject to his whims. I didn’t want to have another screaming fit.

Still, seeing him like that, I wanted to go.

But I swallowed hard and shook my head. I mouthed, No, to him.

He raised an eyebrow. A challenge.

I held my breath for a second before letting it out again and turning away from him. There…over and done with.

“Let’s go dance,” I said to Lewis.

He smiled down at me, oblivious to what had just transpired between Penn and me across the room. Then he took my hand and led me out onto the dance floor.

Our bodies moved together in the crush of people. Jane flitted in and out of the picture, meeting with friends and celebrities and investors while also trying to make sure that I was having a good time. I kind of loved her. Charlotte and Etta appeared sometime later. Charlotte had changed out of her kaleidoscope dress and into a short, sleek black number. Brodie was at her side with his tongue down her throat half the time. Rowe even appeared at one point on the arm of one of the models. He awkwardly nodded at me and then went back to his date dancing on him while he stood still.