Page 65 of Beauty Beneath the Sorrow
Piper bats her eyelashes before speaking first. “Jack and I are officially in escrow on my condo.”
“That’s so exciting!” Bailey shouts.
“I still can’t believe we won’t be working with you anymore.” I frown. “But at least you’ll be out here as much as you want!”
Avery smiles, holding her glass in the air. “Cheers to our Piper Moon and her happily ever after!”
“Yeah, Piper!”
With the clinking of our glasses, my mind chaotically swirls with the possibility of being alone forever. I’ve spent most of my life dating casually. Sure, I’ve had a few long-term boyfriends here and there, but committing myself to someone has been out of the question.
At the heart of who they are, men are perpetually selfish. They make decisions based on what they want at the time they want it. And again, I find myself entangled with a man who is off-limits and unavailable. The ultimate definition of self-sabotage is that I can’t stop myself from hiding behind a wall of a relationship that can never be. Am I protecting myself or repeating the same cycle I’ve become trapped in?
Taking a deep breath, I down my entire martini.
“Okay, Lina. It’s going to be that kind of night?” Avery teases.
I need to tell my friends that I slept with Carter—well, twice. And I let him go to town on me in the library of the masquerade party. I can’t keep this in. I don’t know how Bailey kept Mason a secret from us for so long—or Piper marrying Jack in Vegas. They have way more willpower than I do because I’m about to fucking explode.
“I slept with Carter!” I blurt out. The words shoot out of my mouth like a shaken bottle of soda.
Silence.
“Carter, as in your dad’s best friend—Carter?” Bailey clarifies in shock.
I nod. “Yes. I slept with him—well, twice.”
Piper’s eyes bulge out of her head, and her mouth is agape. “I knew it!”
“I’m surprised it took you guys this long,” Avery replies, casually folding her arms across her chest.
I blush while grinning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that anytime you two are around each other, the tension is so thick it’s suffocating for everyone else.” Avery sips her old-fashioned. “We were teasing you about it at the masquerade ball, but it’s completely true.”
Bailey’s face remains frozen in shock. “I thought you two were just casually flirting. When did this happen?”
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, remembering the thunderstorm—Wait.This is the first time since high school that my insides aren’t twisting while I remember a thunderstorm.I can’t fucking believe it.Could it be as easy as replacing bad memories with good ones?
My eyes mist. “When we were in Seattle last week.”
Avery cocks her head to the side while her eyebrows pinch together. “When Carter walked you back to the hotel?”
I nod again, confirming. “That night”—I pause, biting my knuckle—“and then again in the morning.”
Avery’s eyes are as big as saucers. “Oh my god! Lina!”
“Why hasThe Poppybecome a place of confession for us?” Bailey shakes her head, her voice even. It’s like we’re not surprised by our own antics anymore.
“This is true,” Avery states matter-of-factly, tilting her head back.
Piper quickly chuckles and then turns to me with a straight face. “How do you feel about it?”
“I’m not sure. I think it was a one time thing.” I slump in my chair. “Carter is …” Sigh. “… different.”
“I know that look,” Piper says, coyly flipping her hair to the side.
“So do I.” Bailey raises her eyebrows, sipping her cosmopolitan martini.
