Chapter 2

Julie

The evening was going great. All the important people were there: the gallery owners, the artists and their posses, the managers… if things kept going like this, her clients would get farther than she dreamed.

The opening had been a complete success, they donated two paintings to the Children of Chicago Foundation, which was big enough news for the reporters to come and cover the event. They kept asking about Laureley Dubois work and why she thought her pieces were getting more and more expensive.

"So, I tell him," Nina said, her conversation as lively as ever, "if you think I'm gonna get in bed with you just because you bought me a drink, you're in for a surprise. His face was like what the fuck?"

She laughed so loudly, it was contagious, but Julie had to restrain herself. Her parents were around here somewhere, and they were way too conservative. Old school Italian-Americans, they still thought laughing out loud was too "un-ladylike."

"You told him that? What did he do?"

"You shoulda seen his face! Oh, my God, Julie, he choked on his beer, nodded and just left."

Julie laughed, covering her mouth, "you're an ass."

"He was good looking and all, but come on! They have to work harder for this."

She pointed at her butt. Julie laughed again.

"Where have all the gentlemen gone?"

"Really, Nina. You're looking for a gentleman now?"

"Hey, that's cheap, I'm not looking for anyone. I'm just… available. Free. Not all of us are freaking ice-queens you know?"

"Ice queen?" Julia was almost offended by her comment. Almost.

"You need to drop the facade, girl, you need to get a boyfriend and—"

"Evening, darlings."

She didn't even need to turn around to see who it was, his overconfident-in-a-bad-way tone of voice gave him away before she had to.

He put his arm around her and a shiver ran down her spine. The man was annoying, yes, but this was going too far.

She stepped away from him, but he held his hand firmly, trapping her.

"Trey," Nina said, her eyes meeting Julie's, seeing what was going on.

This is the worst place for this to happen. The ass hat knows it, that's why he took advantage.

She wasn't going to make a scene, it would cost her her image, and in the arts world, how people sees you counts for a lot more than she cared to admit.

"Nina and Jules,” Trey said, “I’ve been looking for you two all evening…" his grip tightened on her waist, "glad to see you came here alone."

Before Nina could reply, Julie put her hand on Trey's chest and pushed softly.

"We're not alone, Trey, we came here together."

"Yeah, but no dates? You should've come here with a man."

Nina rolled her eyes. Julie pushed a bit harder on his chest, she stepped back with a smile, making sure no one saw she was trying to escape his grip.

She pushed hard. He would either let go of her, or bring her closer to him. It was a risk, but she had to take it.

His arm held on tight. He wasn't budging. What a freaking dumbass.

"We didn't find a man worth bringing," Julie said, and his eyes flash with anger. Crap, I need to get away as fast as possible.

She coughed.

It came naturally, without thinking.

She coughed in his face and he immediately let her go.

She took another step back and finally got away from him, standing beside Nina.

"What about me?" He said.

Careful, you don't want to hurt this man's pride. He's an enemy not worth having.

"Didn't you hear?" Nina said, visibly annoyed, "she didn't find a man worth bringing, do you think that doesn't include you?"

Julie turned to Nina, a part of her wanted to go hide somewhere, who knows what this man would do… another part of her wanted to smile.

Who the hell does he think he is?

Trey stared at Nina, his eyes burning with fury.

"Be careful, Nina, don't talk to me like that."

Nina pressed her lips so tight they turned white, but didn't say anything back.

He turned to Julie, "I was talking to you," he asked, taking a step forward, "you're too good for me now?"

He was a ticking bomb, ready to make a scene and ruin the party up just to feel like a man. This was business, she couldn't risk his anger.

"I—"

"There you are, girls!" Said someone just beside her, placing his hand on her lower back and letting go instantly, what?

A tall guy stood by her side and smiled.

Dark hair, square jaw, and deep green eyes. He was movie star handsome. Goosebumps flared all over her body.

She'd never seen him, who was he?

He looked incredibly fit, tall, wide back and thick hard arms.

And his smile. Oh my God. She could lose herself in that smile.

It had just been a brief moment and she already felt like she'd been staring at him for hours. The man turned to Trey and spoke in his deep, masculine voice.

"Sorry we took so long."

He wore black fitted pants and a blazer over his shirt, he's not an artist, the way he acts is too… natural.

He wasn't a manager either. He wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone, or worse, wasn't trying to fit in, he just behaved like a normal person would.

He was friendly and in full control of the situation, standing two feet away from her, facing Trey, his eyes fixed on him.

Another guy stepped beside Nina. His hair was black, his skin tanned. He wore a light blue dress shirt and a purple tie; dark, fitted pants completed the outfit. He looked like a big shot lawyer.

They appeared out of nowhere, who are these guys? She was sure she didn't know them.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" The green-eyed guy said to her easily, as if they were friends from a long time ago.

She didn't say anything at first, what's going on?

"I'm Remy," he said, extending his hand to Trey, "I've never seen you before."

Trey was dumbfounded. He's not buying it.

"You…" He said stepping back, but common courtesy forced him to shake Remy's hand.

"Yeah, we came here together, what's your name again?"

Trey looked behind him and met her eyes. He was shocked.

"Didn't you say—"

"You're late," Julie said to the guy, following along. She would get rid of Trey first, then she would deal with these two guys.

"We had to come here alone."

"Yeah," he said, turning to the girls, "sorry we're late, you know how long Mark takes to get ready. He thinks he's a princess or something."

"Shut up, dumbass," his friend said, and both laughed. It had been a while since she met people who actually talked like people.

Most men she met were so utterly transparent about their intentions they acted weird.

All of them wanted to date the daughter of the great Charles Crawford. It wasn't her they were interested in. It was the power her family had.

"I'm John Philips the—"

"He's Trey," Julie interrupted, she didn't want him saying his full name followed by the third, it was embarrassing even for her.

"Well, nice meeting you, Trey," the stranger said and turned his back to him, facing her.

"Want to go get a glass of wine?"

She eyed Nina, who just shrugged rose her eyebrows, as if saying I don't know either! so it was all on her.

"Sure, Remy, I thought you weren't coming."

He held his arm up for her and she took it.

"Ma'am," he said, and she giggled as they walked toward the edge of the room, away from the crowd.

Trey just stood there stupefied. This was a good way of getting rid of him, his insistence on dating her was now borderline psychopathic, and it wasn't a secret he was only doing it to better himself in her father's ranks.

She didn't want a thug as a boyfriend, much less a dumb, macho one.

Once they were away from Trey, she let go of Remy. Nina and Mark followed them, shouldering their way through the crowd.

"Where are we going?" Julie asked.

Remy eyed her for a brief moment, stepping away from an older woman who talked loudly and wore a small, tight dress.

Remy's hand brushed with Julie’s and the whole world stopped for a second.

"I don't know," he said, "I just wanted to steal you from that guy."

She felt butterflies in her stomach, this guy was—

"Smooth," Nina said with a laugh, just behind them, the turned to Mark, "are you like him?"

"Not so cheesy, no," he replied, grabbing a glass of wine from a waiter, and getting Nina one, Remy did the same.

Julie smiled. She hardly knew these guys. Yeah, they were handsome, but she had more important things to think about.

They clanged their glasses and sipped their wine.

"So," she said, "who are you guys?"