Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(34)

Clearly, Trihn had pissed her off, and Lydia was striking back with the only ammunition she had.

Trihn had given up on loving Preston when she left for Las Vegas. He was her first love, and it hurt, knowing that he’d not only been dating her sister but now intended on marrying her. Trihn felt disoriented by that, but she didn’t love him.

Actually, she quite hated him. Just the thought of him made her blood boil. But her hatred for him wasn’t jealousy. It was anger for him wrecking their family, for driving her away from New York, and for poisoning her sister.

“No. And the fact that you think that, let alone have the nerve to ask me that, just solidifies my position,” Trihn said, her voice like ice. “Just leave me out of this, Lydia.”

“Trihn—”

Trihn hung up before she could hear whatever Lydia was about to say. Her hands were shaking when she tossed her phone back into her purse. She walked over to a campus park bench and took a seat. It was still pretty chilly out, but she didn’t even notice the conditions. She was processing what had happened.

Standing up to Lydia hadn’t been easy. Trihn wanted to be happy for her. With any other groom, she would have been, but with Preston, she just couldn’t be.

Her phone started ringing almost immediately. Trihn checked the screen and saw her mother was calling. She silenced the phone, letting it go straight to voice mail. She was sure she’d have a long message from her mother yelling at her for upsetting Lydia. After all, Lydia was the favorite.

But her mother didn’t know what had happened that summer. She might be singing a different tune if she did.

When the voice mail notification lit up the screen, Trihn clicked off of it. She didn’t need to even listen to it to know what her mother had said.

Instead, with shaky fingers, she dialed Damon’s number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey, love. How were your classes?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t happen to be in a position to pick me up, take me back to your place, and help me forget the last fifteen minutes, would you?”

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I just got into a fight with my sister, and my mother called to yell at me. The last thing I want to do is sit around and think about all that.”

“I would love to pick you up,” he said, “but I’m actually going over to my mum’s. You could come if you want…if that isn’t weird.”

“Hmm…maybe a little weird,” she admitted. They’d only been on one actual date, but she felt like she knew him so much better than that after the weeks building up to that date. “But it also sounds nice.”

“You sure?” Damon asked.

“Yes.”

“All right. I’ll see you in a minute.”

Trihn sent him a text with where to pick her up on campus, and he arrived a few minutes later. They drove across town and into the nicer suburbs away from campus. She stared out the passenger window, lost in thought. She knew that she had done the right thing with Lydia, but it still hurt that it had come to that, and she couldn’t stop obsessing over it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Damon asked as they pulled off the highway.

“I told my sister I wouldn’t be her maid of honor and stand up for her at her wedding,” she told him. Saying it aloud sounded so official.

“Wow. That’s big. All because the guy’s an *?”

“He’s cheated on her.”

“Shit,” Damon said under his breath. “You’re sure?”

“Yes—at least once though I’m sure there are others,” Trihn said. “Cheating is my hard limit. I don’t understand how she can overlook it. It breaks people and friends and families. It ruins lives. It forces people to do things they’d never do otherwise. I can’t go to that wedding and pretend it’s okay.”

“I don’t have siblings, so I don’t think I can weigh in on that. But I couldn’t imagine finding out someone had cheated on you and then staying with that person. I’m assuming she knows?”

Trihn snorted. “Yeah, she does.”

“Well, I know it must be hard. You feel like you’re turning your back on your sister?”

Trihn nodded.

“Kind of sounds like she turned her back on herself.”

“Yeah, a long time ago.”

Damon pulled into the driveway of his mom’s house, effectively ending their conversation. As Trihn got out of the car, she straightened her outfit and fidgeted with her hair. She wished she’d had more warning before meeting Damon’s mom. She might have worn something a little nicer.

“You look great,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it. “You ready?”

Trihn took a deep breath and nodded. “Sure.”





TRIHN HADN’T ENVISIONED meeting Damon’s mom on the second date. In fact, maybe she had never thought about meeting his mom—not because she didn’t want to. It was something she hadn’t ever thought about. She had never met Neal’s parents even though they had dated for a year and a half, and he’d come home with her to New York twice. So, meeting Damon’s mom just hadn’t crossed her mind.

But now that she was thinking about it, her stomach flopped.

Will his mother like me? Does this set the tone of our relationship? Why did I think this would be a good idea?