Patrick takes the outstretched hand and holds it like a dead fish, mute. Like I said, mincemeat.
Leanna rolls her eyes. “Matthias, this is Patrick Linzer. He’s Clarissa’s-”
“I’m Clarissa’s boyfriend,” Patrick finally speaks up, and I inwardly groan.
Matthias, on the other hand, turns to stare at me, and then cuts his eyes back to Patrick who’s standing there, staring at Matthias as if he’s a seafood buffet, and he’s been fasting for a week.
“Nice to meet you, Pat,” Matthias finally says.
“It’s Patrick. I don’t like ‘Pat.'”
Matthias gives his hand another hard pump. “Patrick, it is. Do you like cognac, Patrick?”
Patrick pulls his hand away. “Love it.”
Matthias passes him a glass of amber liquid. “Well, then please, take this glass, Patrick. I’ll get another one.”
“No, I’ll get it,” I say, torn between wanting to watch the scene unfold and wanting to be anywhere but here.
“Nonsense. Sit,” Matthias commands, pointing to the empty chair next to Patrick.
My legs bend of their own accord and I feel my ass sink into the seat. Matthias gives me another one of those indecipherable looks and gets up out of his chair. “I can get my own glass. You’ve been running around all night and god knows for how long before that.”
My stomach swoops at his concern, but before I can argue, he’s gone. His blond head towers above the crowd all the way over to the bar. He says something to James that makes him laugh, and he comes back with another brandy balloon and a glass of orange juice.
The glass gets placed in front of me.
“Drink that,” he whispers into my ear.
And for a moment, I forget that I hate him. “Um, what?”
“I said, ‘drink that’. When’s the last time you ate or drank something?”
I can’t even remember when. Might have been this morning. Might have even been yesterday.
For no reason other than to take a moment to process what is happening, I lift the glass to my lips. I’ve downed the whole glass when realize I must’ve been thirsty. My stomach rumbles from the addition of acidity into it. Luckily, the music drowns it out.
“Another one?” Matthias asks, his voice low against my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
What is he doing?
I shake my head, glancing past him to see Leanne watching us both intently.
Is she jealous?
She doesn’t have anything to be jealous of.
I’m putting Matthias’s interest in me down to him having already downed half of the bottle of Louis
XIII all on his own. Most men turn into disgusting sleazebags. Who would have guessed that Matthias turns into a gentleman?
He’s about to say something else when Patrick turns his attention back to us.
“So, Matthias, how do you know Clarissa?” he asks, reaching for the bottle sitting in the middle of the table. He fills up his own glass almost all the way to the rim, licking at the drop that spills over the sides.
I catch a look of disgust ripple across Matthias’s face. He steadies his face and opens his mouth about to answer. Just before he speaks, he glances at me, cocking his eyebrow at the pleading look in my eyes.
Instead, he just says, “Oh, we’re old family friends. You?”
I mouth a thank you to him, but he’s not looking at me. He’s sizing Patrick up, from his thinning hair to the way he slurps down his drink.
Patrick coughs, wiping his hand across his mouth. “Oh, well, it was a meeting destined in the stars, wasn’t it, dear?”
I focus on a stain on the tablecloth, so I don’t have to meet Matthias’s eyes. Why am I so scared of him finding out about what’s going on here? Why do I suddenly care? “Um, yes. We met at… a restaurant.”
Patrick continues filling in the holes I’d purposely left out. “She was there, looking for a friend who didn’t show up. So I asked her to join me instead. And the rest is history!”
Matthias cocks his eyebrow. “The rest?”
“Oh yes, she didn’t tell you?” Patrick puts his hand on my thigh. “I guess she wants to make the announcement together.”
Leanne can’t help joining the conversation. “Announcement?” she asks.
Please, please stop, I silently beg,
Patrick beams. “Oh yes, Clarissa has finally agreed to make an honest man out of me.” “I’m sorry?” Leanna splutters.
“Clarissa and I are getting married.”
MATTHIAS
‘m sorry, I must have misheard you over the music. Did you say that you’re getting married?”
“I
I address Patrick, but my eyes are locked on Clarissa, who’s squirming under my gaze. Why in
the fuck is she marrying this loser? I know exactly who Patrick Linzer is. He’s a barnacle in an ocean of sharks. Living off his inheritance while trying to make a name for himself in the stock brokering business, most of his clients are people who owed his father a favor. He’s been trying to get a meeting with me for months. Maybe years. He can keep waiting. What is she doing? Surely, she can do better than him.
While I continue to glare at Clarissa while she avoids my eyes, Patrick drones on. “Yes, we’re planning for a fall wedding. I mean, we’d like to have more time to plan, but, well, you know. It’s time sensitive.”
Instantly, my eyes flick down to her stomach as her hands come up to cover her torso. Hiding something? God, no. This is even worse than I thought.
“No!” she yells at me, then tries to cover it with a cough. “I’m sorry, I mean… no, I’m not pregnant.”
“Oh. No.” Patrick laughs. “It’s nothing as sordid as that. No, Clarissa needs her green card to stay in the country. So, since we’re getting married one day anyway, I suggested that we do it as soon as possible so she can stay. And make me the happiest man in the world.” He reaches for her hand.
Relief floods through me. I tell myself it’s because my plan to rope my brother’s ex-fiancee into helping me clean up my image for the next three months isn’t completely hopeless yet.