Page 6 of Twisted Beauty

“What?” Katie swung her legs over the side of her chair and looked like she was ready to pounce. “What the heck does that mean?”

“It means he has adoring fans. It means their favorite meteorologist with the blue eyes and chiseled jaw can do no wrong.” Her voice got louder as anger swept over her sadness, and she sat up to face Katie. “He put out a tweet a couple of days ago. Made it sound like I’m making all this up to get attention. Now his fans are thrilled to be rid of his gold-digging fiancée. That’s a quote. It’s all over social media. It’s actually gone viral.”

Katie stared at her with a look of complete shock, and Liv was beyond grateful for her friend. Katie was always on her side no matter what. And this time, she was pissed.

“Okay,” Katie said slowly. She huffed and shook her head. “We’ll see about that.”

A flash of panic surged through Liv’s gut. She’d never get away with the kind of crap Katie pulled. Like the time in grad school when Katie lost her temper, photoshopped a semi-naked student onto a professor’s lap, and pinned it on the message board outside the classroom. The professor and student were subjected to days of scrutiny before Katie came forward as the creator, claiming it was an innocent montage for class. In typical Katie fashion, she batted her baby blues and got away with it. Liv would have been expelled.

The last thing she needed right now was to make things worse. She didn’t want to be the focus of any more media attention. She wanted to disappear until it all died down and everyone moved on to the next big celebrity-esque gossip, leaving her alone with her bruised heart. Hence the trip to Mexico.

No one knew where she was. Only that she was gone. And they had no idea when, or if, she was coming back.

“Promise me you won’t do anything without talking to me first,” Liv said with all the firmness she could muster.

Katie lifted an eyebrow.

“I mean it, Kate. Promise me right now.”

“Fine.” Katie raised her hands in surrender. “I promise. But this is so not over. We’re making him pay.” She reached for her shot glass and refilled it along with Liv’s. “Until then, you need some serious rebound sex.”

The last thing Liv needed was rebound sex. “Not on your life. You promised me a reprieve. You promised me an empty beach and no men.”

Katie tilted her head and looked up through her eyelashes in mock innocence. “In that case, you might not like what I’ve got planned for tomorrow.”

3

Liv

The knocking came from deep inside her skull. Liv cracked open one eye to see sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window.

God, that was bright.

She glanced around the room and felt a rush of confusion. Gauzy white curtains, lavender lamps, a huge pair of feral blue eyes staring at her from a wall-sized mural. Where the hell was she?

It took her a moment before it all came rushing back. The Twitter feed with her name and face smeared all over it, her last minute push to get packed, the near death experience with Fernando in the taxi. Shot after shot of tequila on Katie’s deck.

She had a vague memory of toasting to eunuchs at some point. Everything after that was pretty much blank, which was a first for Liv. She’d had some nasty hangovers in her college days, but she was never lucky enough to forget a single embarrassing detail of the night before.

The pounding started again.

“Liv, get your cute little butt out of bed!” came Katie’s voice from the other side of the bedroom door.

How was she awake already? And so horribly chipper?

Liv pulled a pillow over her face and groaned. A little late now to remember why she hated tequila. It wasn’t just the taste. “Too. Early.”

“It’s almost noon. You’ve got less than an hour before everyone shows up.”

Oh, hell no. She pressed the pillow into her face. Suffocation seemed like a better option than trying to mingle while there were fireworks exploding in her skull. But the pillow was yanked from her hands before she knew what was happening. She hadn’t even heard Katie open the door.

“Just wait till you see who’s coming. You’ll thank me.”

“I promise you that won’t happen,” Liv grumbled.

“Will too.” Katie broke into a big, goofy grin and Liv pulled the sheet up over her head.

She’d been here less than twenty-four hours and Katie was already pushing men on her. Of course, she should have known. “Go away.”