Page 38 of Ruthless Dream
“Have you heard anything about Wallen?” My fingers squeeze my black clutch.
He shakes his head. “It’ll be okay.”
Nothing is feeling okay these days.
“Excuse me!” a voice calls out.
“Oh, fuck,” I groan. Ciaran’s lips twitch.
“Hi. Hello. How are you?” Nat crosses her arms, not hiding the sarcasm in her voice. She gives Ciaran a once over. “Who is this? Who are you?”
“This is Ciaran,” I introduce.
“Ciaran?” Nat’s brows lift. “Ciaran who?”
Her hair is down, and her makeup is the same as she does for work. She doesn’t give a fuck about dressing up but I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s here. Her girlfriend, Lia, drags her to events like this all the time.
“Ciaran O’Connell.” He offers her a hand.
She pointedly stares at it, arms still crossed. Then she looks at me.
“Don’t be a bitch,” I warn.
She shakes Ciaran’s hand. And then turns right back to me again. “Who the fuck is this?”
“It’s Ciaran.” I shrug.
“I’m her boyfriend.”
Nat wrinkles her nose. “No, no. I don’t like this.”
“Nat, could you not?” I beg.
She points at him. “This is the reason you haven’t been answering my phone calls?”
“You get annoyed when I call you!”
“This is not the 1960s.” Nat waves her hand in the air. “We did not send you off to NYU to get an MRS degree.”
“Sorry I didn’t have a high school sweetheart to keep me company.”
“You should be studying,” Nat lectures.
“You told me to get a life!”
“Getting drunk. Losing your security detail.” Nat’s already been looped in.
“Well, at least I didn’t take them to any crack houses this time,” I mumble, the back of my neck heating when I feel Ciaran’s curious gaze.
“No, now you’re just parading around”—Nat waves a hand around again—“at high flying fundraising events. Very mature. Very sophisticated.”
“Mature, yeah.” I flash her a look. My older sister is not coming across as very mature right now. “Where’s Lennie?”
“God, like she’d come here.”
She breezes past us, mumbling something about needing a drink.
“Stop laughing,” I tell Ciaran. “She doesn’t like you.”
