AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The other guy he’s with is striking. There’s a hard look about him, with his chiseled face and blue eyes that clash with his jet-black hair. He seems almost otherworldly, and his posture is straight. The expression on his face as he looks at Declan is severe.
“Come on,” Declan says, laying a hand on my shoulder. “Those are my friends. Let’s go say hi.”
Before I can protest, he starts to head over. I follow him, my heart pounding. It was one thing to be introduced to Nora as Declan’s girlfriend—we’ve already crossed paths, so I wasn’t meeting a stranger for the first time.
And these guys are, well, rich. Really rich. So rich that I recognized one of them from the cover of a magazine. So rich that, well… that they’re in the same room as Declan.
“Hey,” says the black-haired man as we draw near. “Look who finally made it. Thought you were gonna stand up your Gran on her birthday.”
Silent looks pass between the three men, and I realize that they know each other well enough to communicate without speaking.
“Ah, shut up,” Declan grumbles at last. “We’re ten minutes behind schedule at most. Sophie, this jackass is Cole, and the other one is Reed. And—” He pauses when he reaches Reed’s girlfriend, hesitating. “Sorry. I don’t believe we’ve actually met.”
“Who, me? I’m Lena,” she says. She has a high-class British accent, and her words are slightly slurred, like she’s already tipsy despite the fact that the party just started. She’s wearing a tight-fitting black dress with a pattern of sequins around her torso.
“Lena,” Declan repeats. “As in—”
“Beaumont,” Reed supplies. “Yeah.”
Declan blinks, then lets out a long breath through his nose. He shoots a quick glance over at Cole, who raises his shoulders in a tiny shrug. Whoever this girl is, they both seem to know her, or at least recognize her name.
She’s already disinterested in Declan, despite not being introduced to him. Her attention is mostly on the remaining centimeter of wine in her glass. She doesn’t seem to want to be here. I have to wonder if whatever’s going on between her and Reed is all that serious.
“You here alone?” Declan asks Cole.
Cole nods, but raises an eyebrow pointedly. “Yeah. But you’re not. You wanna introduce me to your friend, Declan?”
“This is Sophie,” Declan says. “My girlfriend.”
Cole whistles, long and low, but he looks amused. “That’s a new one!”
“I’m serious.” Declan scowls at him. “This is serious.”
“Oh, I know,” Cole replies, undaunted by Declan’s expression. “I could tell the second you said it. You had a tone, man. Shit was serious.”
I’m impressed by how easily Cole can read Declan, like he can see a million little tells all across his face. They must know each other very well.
As if reading my thoughts, Declan says, “Sophie, Cole and I have been best friends since we were kids. We all grew up together—same circle.”
I nod, understanding. These are Declan’s people.
“So what’d you do to get my boy locked down, huh?” Cole turns to me with a slightly pained, but genuine, smile. “Last time I checked, he was married to his company.”
I shrug. I’m not sure I even know the answer, to be honest. “Perseverance?” I venture. “A stand-out work ethic?”
Declan snorts a half-laugh. Cole’s eyes widen. “Oh, you’re the employee! I think we’ve heard about you.”
“In fact,” Reed chimes in, “I think we’ve barely heard about anything else from Dec for ages. He’s just been all stormy and brooding.”
Declan levels a look at him. For a moment, I’m worried that he might regret bringing me to this party; but as I watch his face, I can see the amusement in his eyes. This is just the kind of banter that he’s used to with these guys.
“Lucky you came along,” Cole comments. “Now he can go back to being a happy-go-lucky dude.”
“You guys done making fun of me?” Declan sighs. “I swear they’re not usually like this, Spitfire.”
“We’re literally always like this.” Reed takes a long, delicate sip of champagne.
Lena, who already looked bored, begins to get antsy. She throws back the remainder of her wine in an undignified manner, like she’s in a hurry to leave, and turns to Reed. “Darling, I’m sick of just standing around listening to your idle chitchat. Do you mind?”
