Page 41 of Ruthless Dream
“No, I’m not.” She sips her liquor. “I’m worried.”
“What? I’m fine.”
She takes another big gulp of whiskey. “No, my older sister siren is going off. Something's up, you’re just not talking about it.”
“You normally act bored when I call you,” I point out. “You didn’t believe me about the HR lady at first.”
“How is that going? The internship.”
“It’s fine.” Boring as hell and not as exciting as I thought it would be. Also, I’m the youngest intern since most of the others are in their senior year.
“And school?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
Nat nibbles on her bottom lip. “Fine?”
I shrug.
“You’ve given soliloquies since you were a toddler, and now you’re pulling out the word ‘fine.’”
“I could send you a syllabus, let you see what I’m dealing with.”
Nat places her empty glass on a table and grabs a champagne flute when a server passes by. I’m guessing she’s had a rough week too.
“And this new guy? Where the fuck does he fit in?”
I grab a flute of champagne for myself.
“Ciaran?” she asks.
“He buys me coffee on the way to the library.”
She digests this information with a tiny frown. “Does he go to NYU?”
“No.”
“Then how’d you meet?”
“At the party the other day.”
Nat blinks. “He’s. . .”
One of us. I nod.
Her lips part, her words coming slow. “Ads. . .”
“He’s Cain Murray’s son,” I say, repeating Yelena’s words.
“Okay, um, why is he your boyfriend though?”
“What do you mean?”
“That party was a couple of weeks ago. Is he even from here? Where does he live? Why don’t you just date for a little bit and see how it goes.”
“I. . . Like him, and I don’t want to date around.”
“That’s labelling things really fast,” Nat cautions.
