Page 1 of Rival Hearts
1
ALEX
“Alex!” Gabe cried out when I arrived at the house where theparty of the year,as Gabe called it, was hosted.
It wasn’t his place—Gabe stayed in a modest apartment in the middle of Newport, Rhode Island.
This place belonged to one of Gabe’s frat buddies from college. James something-or-other. “It’s about time you arrived, bro! We were waiting for you before we really got into the booze!”
Gabe slurred his words, proof that he’d already gotten into the booze and not exactly waited for me. That was fine, I could always play catch-up, and if I didn’t… well, then I wouldn’t feel half as shit as he was bound to feel in the morning.
Since when did I think about partying and drinking that way? I just wasn’t feeling it tonight.
Gabe wrapped his arm around my neck and shook me. “Come on, this is a big one, we’re going to celebrate! Can you believe we’re already thirty-one? Next stop, old age home.”
I laughed. “I’m still thirty, buddy, and I have more than enough life ahead of me.”
“Not if you party right. Tonight we’re writing ourselves off. Tequila!”
“Tequila!” three frat guys echoed, and it turned into a chant.
“Stay here, I want to introduce Charlie to you,” Gabe said. “After the shooters!”
“Right. Sure.” Gabe had told me all about his sister, who’d studied in Miami for a while and was finally back home. I wasn’t really in the mood to meet her tonight. I wasn’t in the mood to meetanyone. I was just here because Gabe was my best friend and missing his birthdayparty of the yearwould be wrong.
When Gabe and his frat friends—seriously, how old were we?—lined up for shots, I made my way through a group of people roughly our age or younger. Guys stood in groups, playing drinking games or chugging kegs like this was a frat party altogether, and girls in groups gossiped and eyed each other, either with daggers if they hated each other or with fake smiles if they weren’t fighting right now.
God, sometimes I hated these circles. Everyone was fake and pretentious, and it was all about what they looked like and how much they earned, and no one seemed to care aboutwhothey were.
I shook my head. I was just cranky. I’d had a shitty day in the office, and I just had to shake it off. There’d been a time when I’d been just like these guys, right?
Yeah, ten years ago, maybe.
I was just being grumpy.
I got a drink for the bar—who’d funded all of this? I was pretty sure James what’s-his-name had pulled out all the stops. Gabe had a good job but he wasn’t rolling in dough and he didn’t usually splurge on unnecessary stuff.
Whiskey, neat, because anyone who diluted good alcohol with water or ice—or both—didn’t fully understand the process ofwhiskey making. In a different life, that was something I’d have liked to do.
“Hi,” a woman said, appearing in front of me. She looked me up and down, practically eating me up with her eyes. “You’re delicious.”
I gasped. “Just like that?”
“Oh, yeah, just like that,” she breathed. “I’m Candice.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Okay, wait,” Candice said. “I’m sorry. I mean, you’re really attractive, but the pickup line totally sucked. I was trying to be bold. New Year’s resolution.”
I frowned. “It’s been the new year for at least six months.”
She shrugged. “Never too late to start. You’re Alex, right?”
I narrowed my eyes. The fact she knew who I was usually meant trouble. Of course, a lot of people knew who I was. Blackwood Inc. was a company that dominated the business world, and my brothers and I were out and about on the social scene all the time, but an introduction like that made me hesitant.
“Are you going to the yacht show this year?” she asked.
I frowned. “We go every year. You know, since we make at least half the yachts that show up there.”
