God, he was such a pig. I couldn’t believe I actually thought he was being sincere. He just wanted to get laid again, that was all.

And I fell for it. Only for a second, but still. I was an idiot.

I heard the sound of his footsteps rushing up behind me. I contemplated making a run for it for a millisecond, but knew I’d eat it if I tried running in five-inch heels. That was added humiliation I just didn’t need.

“Hey, wait. Will you just wait for a fucking second?” Caleb grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop, spinning me around to face him. “What did I say?”

My skin prickled with the desire to smack some sense into the jackass. “Seriously? How are men so freaking clueless?” I declared to the ceiling before looking back at him. “No wonder your gender dies first. It’s baffling that some of you even make it to old age.”

He gave me a funny look, like he was waiting for me to grow fangs and rip his throat out. “I feel like something important just went down, but I’m not sure what it was.”

I narrowed my eyes in a steely glare. “Why am I not surprised? Well let me spell it out for you. If you’re looking to get your dick wet tonight, you’re going to have to find someone else, because this booty call is officially off the market.” Exasperation enveloped me as I threw my arms out to the sides.

“Leave it to a woman to totally misconstrue the meaning of something a man says.”

I was going to kill him. Like seriously murder his ass dead. “I didn’t misconstrue anything!”

“If you think I was instigating a booty call back there, then you sure as hell did.”

And for the billionth time in just a handful of days, I felt like crying again. Sweet merciful Mary, what the hell is wrong with me? “You’re an asshole!”

“And you’re a neurotic pain in my ass!” he shot back.

I turned and stomped off before I did something like scream bloody murder in the middle of the party before clawing his eyes out.

Screw Caleb McMannus.

No… wait. That was what I was supposed to be avoiding. Caleb McMannus can go screw himself. There, that was better.

I pasted on a fake happy face as I joined Sophia and Lola just as one of the waiters set a whole tray of full champagne glasses on the table beside them and took off.

“Ooh, a whole tray!” I picked up a glass and began sipping as Lola and Sophia chugged theirs down like they were competing with each other. My eyes bugged out. “Wow. I see it’s going to be one of those nights.”

“I love Grayson, I really do,” Lola started. “But what was he thinking, putting everyone we know in the same room together?”

I understood exactly what she meant. The Abbatellis were a different bunch, prone to drama wherever they went. And Grayson’s family had a few nutters too. More specifically his hilarious, slightly scary Nana. But I lied to try and make her feel better. “It’s not that bad.”

Lola gave me a droll look. “Between Soph and Dominic, Gray’s cane-wielding nana, my mother, and the best man trying to bone every woman in the room under the age of forty, tonight is bound to be a bigger bloodbath than The Red Wedding.”

My stomach clenched and my heart tore a bit at the comment about Caleb, but I somehow managed to hide my reaction. But then I turned in the direction my friends were staring. We watched as the waitress he’d been whispering to reared back and slapped him right across the face.

“Ooh!” All three of us winced on his behalf as the girl stormed off.

Sophia giggled while a little piece of me died on the inside. “That looked like it hurt.”

“Serves him right,” I hissed bitterly. “It’s about time someone shot him down.” I wish the woman would have kneed him in the nuts, or worse.

* * *

Caleb

Son of a bitch. That fucking woman was going to drive me into a goddamn loony bin. But for whatever sick, twisted reason, I couldn’t stop going back for more. She was my addiction.

“I’ll show her,” I mumbled to myself as I entered the throws of the party. I scanned the crowd looking for an unsuspecting victim and smiled wickedly when my eyes landed on one of the blonde servers. She was exactly the kind of woman I used to go for before Daphne. Now that I’d had her, other women did nothing for me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use them to drive Daphne as crazy as she was making me.

“Excuse me.” The server turned. Once she got a good look at me, she gave me one of those suggestive smiles I was so used to seeing. Not a chance in hell.

I leaned into her in a way that would look slightly salacious to those who couldn’t hear what I was saying.

“I need you to do me a favor,” I whispered into her ear. “There’s a woman over there that I’d like to make jealous. Could you feel me up for a second and maybe pretend like you’re going in for a kiss?”

The chick jerked back and slapped me right in the face as hard as she could. “You’re a disgusting pig!” she seethed before taking off.

My cheek burned like fire.

I seriously didn’t fucking understand women.

* * *

Daphne

I wanted to rant, but I couldn’t seeing as I stupidly kept our little… tryst or whatever a secret from my friends.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for Sophia, Lola’s brother, Dominic Abbatelli, chose that moment to interrupt my inner rage. “Evening, ladies.”

My eyes darted to Sophia instantly, trying to gauge her reaction to his appearance. He’d been living in Seattle for a while now, and even though she claimed she was totally over their past, I still couldn’t help but worry about her.

“Dominic,” Lola greeted, but he only had eyes for Sophia.

“Hello, Dominic,” she offered in a somewhat stale tone.

“Butterfly. You look beautiful.”

Ugh! Guys and that line!

Mine and Lola’s attention bounced between the two of them like a ping-pong ball. I wasn’t sure about Lo, but I was hesitantly waiting for the impending explosion that was sure to come when those two were within spitting distance of each other. So you could have knocked me over with a feather when she politely replied, “Thanks. You look nice too.”

“What’s happening?” I asked Lola in a none-too-subtle, panicked whisper. Before she could answer, someone announced that dinner was being served, so we all moved to take our seats.

I did my best to keep an eye on the situation with Sophia, but the second I sat down, Caleb pounced, taking the chair next to me. “Mmm. Dinner looks delicious. Almost as delicious as you.”

I snorted in offense into my champagne glass. “You are beyond belief,” I hissed.

He smiled self-assuredly, making my palm tingle with the need to slap him. “Why thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment, you jerk.”

I turned back to the table, doing everything I could to ignore the man next to me. My plan was to engage in other conversations around me. However, everyone at our table seemed to already be engrossed in ones of their own. To keep my attention forward, I watched Deacon Lockhart like it was my job, curious as to what had taken place between him and Fiona since I’d last talked to her.

Man, I really hope those two have gotten their shit together.

“You know, this isn’t going to work,” he whispered into my ear.

“What isn’t?” I asked, pointlessly cutting the lettuce in my salad with the precision of a neurosurgeon. Anything to not look into those strange, beautiful eyes of his.

“Pretending you aren’t affected by me sitting right next to you.” He moved impossibly closer, his palm resting softly on my thigh beneath the table. “You’ve got goose bumps again, gorgeous.” I was turned on and disgusted all at the same time. Leaning away from him, I carefully moved my fork toward my lap so as not to draw attention, and jabbed the sharp prongs into the top of his hand. “Ow! Son of a bitch!” He yanked his hand back, shaking out the pain.

“Have you already managed to forget that you were just hitting on a waitress not even ten minutes ago?”

He winked, one corner of his mouth quirking up. “Jealous?”

I was just about to stab him again when the blonde server he’d been getting cozy with walked up, dropping Caleb’s dinner on the table in front of him with a loud clatter. “Be careful with this one,” she told me warningly. “He’s only using you to make a woman here jealous. He tried his shit on me a little while ago. Don’t waste your breath on this asshole.”

Oh. My. Gah! My eyes went as big as saucers, and I spun in my chair, letting out a giggle of disbelief as I faced an embarrassed-looking Caleb. “Oh, that’s great!” My giggle turned into a full-blown laugh as the waitress wandered off. “Are you using me to make another woman jealous?” I teased.

He faced forward, lifting a glass of scotch to his pouty lips. “Shut up.”

I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get control of my laughter, but just then I was hit with the smell of Caleb’s dinner, and the Veal Piccata, a meal I typically loved made my stomach lurch so violently I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up right then.

“Excuse me,” I mumbled, stumbling from my chair. Luckily Lola and Grayson were too consumed with each other, and Sophia looked to be quietly arguing with Dominic, to notice me as I hurried from the table.

I’d only made it as far as the hall outside the banquet room when it happened. Thankfully, there was a potted ficus not too far from the door. That was going to have to do.

How humiliating.