Page 57 of How to Belong with a Billionaire

“Perhaps,” suggested Caspian, “we should change the subject.”

“No.” I tossed my spoon into my sunken island and stood up. “Let’s not change the subject. This is not a change-the-subject situation. Your fiancé insisted I come to dinner, has been a dick to me the whole evening, and has spent dessert trashing my character and my life choices.”

Caspian attempted to glare at us both simultaneously, which didn’t entirely work. “Arden, be quiet. Nathaniel, apologise.”

“I will not,” we said in unison.

“For God’s sake.” He dropped his head into his hands. And then, to Nathaniel, “I told you this was a bad idea.”

Nathaniel made a sound like his cat being stood on. “Forgive me for trying to be hospitable to your friends.”

“Stop saying that.” Oh fuck me. I was yelling. “I’m not his friend. I loved him. I still do. And I’m going home.”

Reader, I got the fuck out.

Chapter 18

I’d honestly never been so glad to be leaving the country. The run-up to Christmas was fun at work—lots of events, many of them fancy, some of them fabulous—but I couldn’t stop thinking about what had gone down at Nathaniel’s. Like I was Jack Nicholson, only instead of Chinatown, it was a dinner party. I mean, was what had happened my fault? Given how long I’d spent feeling about myself pretty much the way Nathaniel had said I should, it had been rough having him slap me in the face with it all over again. Not because I believed he was right anymore. But because I shouldn’t have to defend my choices to dickhead concern trolls. And what had Caspian meant, at the end, when he said it had been a bad idea to invite me? Hadn’t he wanted to see me? Or had he known I’d find a way to fuck everything up?

Also: I’d told him I was still in love with him. In response to which he’d told me precisely fuck all. But what had I been expecting? That Caspian would show up on my doorstep with declarations spilling from between his lips like rose petals? Probably I should have sent him a text to apologise for being the worst dinner guest in history. Except he hadn’t apologised to me for having to be a guest at the worst dinner in history. So there were no texts and no apologies, and soon there’d be an ocean between us, and I fucking needed that ocean to be there. Maybe I’d miraculously learn how to transmute physical distance into emotional distance. But even if I didn’t, I’d be far away from Caspian, which would hopefully curtail my capacity to make a fool of myself in front of him.

The day of my departure—part of the reason the flight was so cheap was it left England at five in the afternoon and got into Boston at eight o’clock at night, which was a time zone headfuck and a half—I bullied my wheelie case down from the mezzanine and found Ellery slumped on the sofa. This wasn’t unusual, but it was unusually early for her, since she normally didn’t get out of bed before dark.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

I’d told her a bunch of times I was spending Christmas with Nik. I’d even left a note on the fridge that went,22nd December: Ardy Going to Boston, and included a stick drawing of me in a plane flying over an ocean along with my actual ticket because it was the only way I knew I wouldn’t lose it. “America.”

“Oh, right.” A pause. “Can I come?”

“I’m going, like, right now.”

“So?”

I gaped at her. “Well, you don’t have any luggage or—”

“Yeah, because they don’t have shops in Boston.”

“I got my ticket weeks ago.”

“There’s still some left.” She waved her phone at me. “Look, I just bought one.”

“Ellery.” I think, given the pitch of my voice, her name qualified as a legit exclamation. “Nik’s in hospital. It’s not exactly going to be the Christmas of anyone’s dreams.”

She shrugged. “What’s the alternative? Having to spend it at Mum’s with Caspian and Nathaniel playing Happy Fucking Families?”

“I thought you liked Nathaniel.”

“He was only interested in me because I’m Caspian’s sister.” Her lip curled into its customary sneer. “Couldn’t drop me fast enough when Caspian dropped him.”

“It must have been hard for him when they broke up. He probably didn’t want to be…reminded of everything he’d lost.”

Her eyes flicked to mine briefly, their gaze too sharp. “You stuck around.”

Why the fuck was I defending Nathaniel anyway? “Good point. Clearly I’m amazing and Nathaniel sucks.”

“Well then. I want to spend my Christmas with people who don’t suck.”

This already had the potential to be a disaster. But the Ardy Friendship Code was clear: No Ellery left behind. “I guess that means we’re going to Boston.” I did my best to sound stern—not exactly my forte. “You’ve got to be nice to Nik, though.”

---