Page 1 of Rich Girl
ONE
“I am so hot right now,”I murmur in between sips of my fruity drink. All my friends echo my sentiments, the heat being almost unbearable.
We are at a resort in the Dominican Republic. It was sort of a spontaneous trip after I caught my boyfriend of a year and a half cheating on m e.
“Have you heard from Chase at all?” My friend Adeline asks as if she can read my mind.
She catches me mid-sip when she asks that, and I almost choke on it. The hurt I feel at hearing his name is weakening my knees.
“Not a word,” I confirm. “I didn’t really expect to hear anything anyway,” I rush to say when I see the pity on her face.
We all come from affluent families, and we are expected to marry into money as well. Chase Hawthorne seemed to be the perfect fit for me. Until I walked in on him screwing one of the servers at the country club we both frequent. Ironically, I was going to forgive him and stay with him. However, when my friends heard about it, they smacked some sense into me.
“Well, it’s like the end of an era,” Adeline declares and takes a healthy drink out of her own glass. “I was already planning myoutfit for your wedding. Now I will have to figure out where else I can wear it.”
I try not to let her words hurt me. I know she didn’t mean any harm, but the way they came out, it sounded as if what was to be my wedding to Chase Hawthorne was just another party to attend.
In all fairness, we do attend a lot of parties, and a lot of weddings. It is a rite of passage of sorts for all of us as we prepare for our own weddings.
“How are you and Derek doing?” I ask Adeline.
My voice catches right at the end when I try really hard to hide my envy at the fact that she has a fiancé and I don’t. I never have. Just a boyfriend who, I found out later, cheated on me with any female who would bother.
Adeline’s face lights up at hearing her fiancé’s name.
“We’re really good. With the wedding this close, it’s been so stressful, you know? But the planner assures me that…”
I nod in all the right places, but I sort of space out from that point on. Adeline goes on and on about her wedding that’s in less than a month.
“He almost didn’t let me come on this trip.” She stops talking when she needs to take a breath in between all the words.
“Who didn’t?” I shake my head in confusion. “Derek?”
“Yes,” she giggles. “He said nothing good ever comes out when four young girls are alone on a tropical island like this. People take advantage.”
“Geez,” Janine and Emma snort from the other side of Adeline. “How stupid does he think we are? Not like this is our first trip away like this.” The disdain in Emma’s voice is making me laugh.
“He is just very possessive like that,” Adeline comes to her man’s defense. “And I love it!”
Emma slides her sunglasses down her nose to take a better look at her.
“You love the fact that he is a controlling asshole?”
Adeline sits up in her lounge chair, her face a mask of animated emotion.
“Just because he loves me and is concerned about my wellbeing, it doesn’t mean he is a controlling asshole, Emma!”
They start going back and forth on the subject. I just lean my head back against my seat and stare at nothing. My mind goes back to Chase and how he was with me. I can honestly say that I never felt he cared much about my whereabouts. Now that I know he’d been cheating on me the whole time, it makes a lot more sense.
Hearing Adeline talking about Derek’s controlling ways does make me wonder what it would feel like being with someone who loves you enough to keep tabs on you. Then again, Emma is right, it does sound controlling. I just want a happy medium. Is that too much to ask?
“Who are you bringing, Hayden?” Emma calls to me from the seat on the other side of Adeline.
“Bring where?” I have no idea what she’s talking about. I guess we are not on the topic of Derek and Adeline’s relationship anymore.
“To my wedding,” Adeline chimes in. “You can’t show up alone. You already RSVP-ed with a plus one,” she reminds me. “It would throw my entire table chart off if that changed.”
I roll my eyes toward the sky.
