The Arrangement Anthology 1(184)

“And I happened to be at the bar, dressed to attending a wedding, and on the lookout for Gabe’s hot nephew. And he is hot, just a little too heartbroken to see that the love of his life is a total bitch.”

Mel and Gabe chatter, which is weird. They didn’t get along at all when I first met him, and now it seems like they’re old friends. Either way, it works for me.

“Where to, Miss Stanz?” When I tell him, he breaks our gaze and shakes his head softly, like he shouldn’t say anything. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah, she’s sure about that. Drive man! Stop asking us questions.” Mel laughs and leans back into the seat. She starts chattering about tabloid gossip and I love her for it. “Did you see that shot of Trystan Scott?”

“Yeah, I did. When rockers come to town, they rock hard, huh?”

“I don’t know. The guy seems…”

“Unlucky. Very unlucky.” That guy’s life has been plastered across the papers ever since they found him hiding in a high school on Long Island. He wrote a love song for some girl that didn’t know he was alive. The song went viral, but the guy wouldn’t show his face. Some blonde outed him. I feel bad for him. His life sucked and fame doesn’t seem to have made it better.

“Cursed is more like it,” Mel says. “Or maybe his marketing gurus make that shit up to get the teens slobbering.”

“Yeah, right. The teens.” I smirk at her. “It seems to be working pretty well on college crowd too, from where I’m sitting.”

“Cuz he’s hotter than hell. If the devil made the perfect man to lure women into Hell, it’s totally Trystan Scott. Mmm, mmmm. I’d follow his perfect ass anywhere.”

I laugh at her. “You’re so stupid. You would not.”

“I would and I’d have no regrets, because that’s the way I am. I see what I want and I take it and if that guy ever crosses my path, he’s mine.” She means every word of it. I almost envy her. Mel is so sure all the time, it’s like she’s never worried about anything.

I worry about everything.





CHAPTER 10




As Gabe pulls the car up to the hotel, my stomach dips. It feels like a bad omen, but I get out of the car anyway. I’m going to order bourbon and burn my tongue out off my mouth. I’m going to laugh and forget about things for a while.

As Mel and I walk across the lobby, several sets of male eyes fall on us. We take the elevator up to the restaurant and head for the bar. It’s the middle of the week so it’s not too crowded. Plus drinks here cost twice as much as anywhere else in the city, which drives away some people. I don’t care. I love this place.

As Mel and I settle onto a couple of seats at the bar, a familiar voice speaks out behind me. The hairs on my neck prickle. Out of everyone, I never expected to see him again.

“Avery?” I turn around and see Peter Ferro, uh, Granz. He’s standing there in a dark suit with his hair slicked back. Every strand is perfectly in place, which is the complete opposite of Sean’s.

“Peter?”

Mel turns and glances at him, but says nothing. She flags down the bartender and orders for us while I talk to Sean’s brother.

“I’m so glad to see you.” He’s smiling at me, but I have no idea why.

“Yeah, nice to see you too.” For a second my stomach claws its way up my throat. I’m horrified that Sean is here with him, but as I glance around I know he’s not. I don’t know what he wants or what to say, so I smile at him and drop my gaze. I don’t want to be reminded of last weekend.

Peter sits in the empty stool next to me. He opens his mouth a few times, laughs, and shakes his head. “I don’t know how to say this, but I have to say it. Sean is an asshole—”

Mel smirks, “That’s an understatement.”

“So, you’ve met him too, then.” Peter offers her a crooked smile and speaks to both of us. “Then you know how hard he is, how completely stoic and heartless he is?”

Mel nods. “You’re preaching to the choir, baby.”

Peter waits a beat and then asks me, “But when he’s around you, something changes. I saw it at dinner the other night and it floored me. You changed him.”

I nod and take the little shot glass in my head. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do, and I have to ask why you let him walk away? It’s none of my business—I know that—but you guys seemed happy together.”

“I was his call girl, Peter. I didn’t mean anything to him.”

Peter smiles at me. It’s just like Sean’s, but less jaded, more hopeful. “You’re wrong. You meant everything to him, but the guy has too much pride. He won’t come back for you. You should go after him.”