“What? She claims to speak quite well. I’m giving her a chance to prove her speaking abilities.” Then he turned his attention back to me, “Tell us about yourself. Did you graduate, let’s see, what’s it called in the States? High school?”

I nodded. “Yes. I was valedictorian. In case you don’t use that word here, it means I….” I hesitated, not wanting to say top of the class because I felt certain that would be used against me. Therefore, I said, “It means I had the best grades out of all the students in my graduating class.”

“Oh, my, that sounds very important. And you went to university?”

I nodded, absentmindedly stroking Ronan’s hand where it rested on my hip. “I did.”

“And where did you go? What was your area of study?”

“I went to the University of Pennsylvania and majored in statistics.”

Sean blinked, his expression altering by the tiniest fraction. I’d surprised him.

I continued, wanting to clarify, “But that was undergrad. For postgrad I went to Wharton and graduated—again as the class valedictorian—with a master of science in statistics and marketing.”

“A master of science?” Sean’s frown was disbelieving, as was his tone.

I nodded and added, “Yes. Of science. The title of my thesis was Infographics as a Means to Effectively Transfer Knowledge Reducing the Bias of Consumer Interpretation.”

Sean stared at me. In fact, the entire table stared at me. I felt myself wilting under the attention, so I reached for my champagne merely to have something to do. It almost tumbled from my grip, but I saved it at the last minute and finished it in three gulps.

Then Ronan chuckled.

Then Ronan laughed.

Then Ronan laughed so hard he seemed to have trouble drawing breath.

I turned to look at him, confused by his joviality, found his eyes bright with amusement and moving over me with raw tenderness.

“Oh, Annie,” he whispered affectionately, “what am I going to do with you?”

I heard someone release a low whistle, followed by Marta asking from her spot, “Isn’t Wharton one of those hoity-toity schools in the States? Really hard to get into? And you graduated top of the class?” She sounded impressed.

Ronan smiled at me for a beat and then leaned to the side to address the table. “No, no, Marta. They don’t have hoity-toity schools in the States.” He paused, and I realized later it was for effect when he added, “It’s top shelf.”

Chapter Seventeen

@Joshblue93: @RonanFitz Why u such a dickhead?

@RonanFitz: @Joshblue93 Got too big a dick/I get too much head. You choose.

*Ronan*

My ex didn’t have much in the way of brains; however, she did have enough cop on to know that I was mocking her. I’d always hated when people pretended to be something they weren’t, and Brona was a prime example of that. I was willing to bet she thought she could upwardly mobile her way into an engagement with Sean, who, unlike my good self, had the full backing of his well-to-do family and would inherit a shit-ton of money and property when his parents died.

And, big shocker, Brona was all over that.

I didn’t think there was a single person at the table who believed these two were a love match. Shit, I didn’t even get the sense that they liked each other. Brona was currently taking a break from shooting daggers at poor Annie in order to focus her arsenal on me. Her lips looked more enhanced, shall we say, than the last time I saw her, and she wore a tight red dress that barely covered her tits. I couldn’t believe I’d stuck my cock in that. Repeatedly.

Perhaps I’d been suffering from low self-esteem.

The biggest surprise of the night, though, was how little all this crap was affecting me. In fact, I was finding it kind of hilarious. With Annie close, her perfectly round arse pressing into my more than welcoming lap, the whole world was looking pretty fucking rosy. I wasn’t even bothered that my grandparents were pretending I didn’t exist, as per usual.

“Oh, Ronan, you look like you’ve been enjoying your time off from the team,” Brona chirped from her place across the table. “It must be great to be able to relax now and not to have to worry about eating right and training all the time.”

Was she insinuating I’d let myself go? Annie glanced at me, a look of bewilderment on her face like she’d just come to the same conclusion. Brona was clearly angling for a reaction because I hadn’t been in such good shape in years. I was too much of a stubborn bastard. Throw me off the team? Fine, go ahead; I’ll come back better and stronger than ever before. Brona knew I had a short temper, and she was playing on that weakness. I gave her nothing.

“Pretty much,” I replied casually, stroking my hand back and forth over Annie’s thigh and pressing a soft kiss to her bare shoulder. “But I have other ways of keeping fit nowadays.”

Brona pursed her ridiculous lips and barely managed to contain her sneer.

“I’ll drink to that,” Bryan put in cheerfully, lifting his pint.

Marta began to steer the conversation in another direction, and the table filled with chatter. I was quite happy to remain sitting there with Annie on my lap, even with sausage lips and fuckface across the table. I had a keen eye on Annie’s fresh glass of champagne because, as soon as she finished the last mouthful, we were out of there. Unfortunately, she was listening with interest to the conversation around her and seemed to have forgotten her drink.

“God, this party is so boring,” Brona complained loudly, and I saw Sean roll his eyes behind her back. The spoiled little shit deserved everything he got with her. He must’ve thought that, just because she was my girlfriend, she was some kind of prize. He met my eyes then, and I smirked at him. Yeah, enjoy that fucking prize, dickhead. I should probably thank him. Prick did me a favor. Just thinking of the difference in how Annie made me feel and how Brona did, I realized just how much I’d been missing out on.

“Bunny, some of the ladies are dancing out on the floor; why don’t you go join them?” said Sean with false affection. “I know you love to dance.”

Brona frowned and then pouted as she twisted in his lap. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not, Bunny. You know how I love to watch you put on a show for me,” he said, voice dipping low to convey the double meaning.

Annie had just been bringing her glass up to her mouth for a drink and choked a little on the liquid. I rubbed her back. “You okay?”

She nodded furiously, her eyes watering like she was trying not to burst into laughter. I could tell she was tipsy because I didn’t think she meant to reply so loudly. “I’m fine. It’s just that Bunny as a nickname cracks me up, and he won’t stop saying it.” She smacked her hand off my knee in delight. Okay, maybe she was more drunk than tipsy.

“Fuck, they all heard me, didn’t they?” she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

I couldn’t have been more in love with her in that moment.

“You’re a little bitch,” Brona hissed, getting up from the table with a look of outrage on her face. Then she leveled her eyes on me. “Looks like you had to sink pretty low to find someone who’d put up with your proclivities, Ronan.” She let out a harsh laugh. “Then again, fat girls don’t have very high standards, do they?”

Annie might have been drunk, but she comprehended Brona’s insult loud and clear. She grew tense in my lap. I balled my fists to keep from lashing out. No way was she going to talk to Annie like that.

“Bitter, are we, Bunny?” I asked, channeling all my disgust into my words. “We all know you had to write to Santa for those knockers.”

I squeezed Annie’s thigh to soothe her; but her cheeks had grown red, and her lashes shaded her eyes. She was upset and embarrassed.

“Can we leave now?” she whispered.

I was already standing. “Absolutely.”

Brona looked like she’d won, her chin raised high as she watched us leave. I had to resist the urge to bark out a laugh because she hadn’t won a thing. In fact, I’d won just by the fact that I wasn’t with her anymore. I’d won by the simple fact that I had Annie under my arm instead of her. I led us outside and into a waiting taxi. She stared out the window on the drive, her voice quiet when she said, “I don’t understand how you could ever be with someone like that. She’s horrible.”

I ran a hand down my face and tugged her closer. “Don’t let the shit she said in there get to you. You’re beautiful, and she’s jealous.” I paused, letting out a tired sigh. “She wasn’t always so horrible, but yeah, the seed must have been there. I was just too blind, too preoccupied perhaps, to see it.”

“People aren’t always what you think they are,” Annie murmured, her head lolling to the side. She was exhausted, and it wasn’t surprising. She’d been through so much in the last twenty-four hours alone.

Her words piqued my interest, and I wondered if she was referring to her secret identity as The Socialmedialite. My heart pounded. Would this be the moment when she came clean?

“No?”

She shook her head. “Human beings are really good at hiding stuff. You shouldn’t blame yourself for not seeing through Brona in the beginning.”