Page 46 of Awestruck at Dusk
“It makes me want to see what her problem is and maybe get scolded for asking.” He laughed a deep rumble of a laugh again—harder this time. I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“You most probablywillget scolded.” I joked. “Her name’s Cecile. And I’ll introduce you to her, but you better behave. And yes, it’s a warning. She’s one of my best friends.”
It didn’t feel like a bad idea to introduce them. I wanted Cecile to have fun, and this guy seemed like the guy to take care of that. And something told me Cecile wouldn’t mind meeting him.
“I swear I’ll be on my best behavior,” Jordan said, raising his hand. “Willshe?”
“Not a chance,” I said, just to tease him.
“Just how I like it.”
“Right this way then.”
Various Introductions
“CECILE?” I SAIDto her. She turned around and scanned Jordan, who stood beside me, with her signature lifted brow. “This is Jordan Schreiber. Jordan, this is my friend Cecile Dubois.” She stood up and double-cheek kissed him. Jordan didn’t seem to know what hit him. He drained his whiskey afterward and dropped the glass on the table with a side-smile.
Nina straightened herself on her seat. And although Jordan had made his interest perfectly clear, I introduced them just to be polite. They shook hands, but Jordan quickly focused his attention back on Cecile.
“May I sit with you?” he asked her. Ugh. His gentlemanly manners contrasted interestingly well with his tough exterior. Cecile would surely keep herself busy for the rest of the night trying to figure this guy out. I knew her well.
Nathan came back from the bathroom and joined me. We sat with Nina because I didn’t want to leave her alone after introducing Jordan to Cecile, who’d been keeping her company. And CJ hadn’t returned yet. He was still talking toDr. Scott. I couldn’t wait to ask David about him being a doctor.
“Jordan introduced himself to me and asked to meet Cecile,” I whispered to Nathan, just to fill him in on what happened when he was gone.
“Tobias is going to begutted,” he said with a laugh.
“Shit.” I’d forgotten all about Tobias. He hadn’t approached Cecile, and I hadn’t talked to him much. “He’s gonna kill me.”
“Tosh. He could’ve come to talk to her, and he hasn’t. You did nothing wrong, love.”
I hoped Nathan was right.
“So how are things with Juan Pablo?” Nathan asked Nina. “Is he coming tonight?”
Damn it. I hadn’t told Nathan how they had broken up for good. They had been on and off for months now that I guess it’d been hard for Nathan to keep up.
“He’s a lying, holistic, yogi—dick,” Nina said dryly, the right side of her mouth slightly upturning as she pushed her long, dark brown hair behind her shoulders.
Nathan widened his eyes at me and sipped on his whiskey, probably regretting having asked about Juan Pablo.
“I just realized I haven’t told you what happened, what I found out about him. But these past few weeks—well, it didn’t seem like a good time to talk about any of this.”
“What happened? Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I’mwaybetter off without him,” she said, putting her glass down. “A few of his students from the yoga studio reached out to me. I knew he was sleeping around while we were dating, but he always had a perfect new-age excuse for it. Something similar to what you talked to him at your place, remember? I just didn’t know there weresomanywomen.”
“Bastard,” Nathan pitched in.
“Wait till you hear this,” Nina replied. “He’s actuallymarriedto this fifty-something-year-old millionaire. She’s been sponsoring Juan Pablo for years. They have this—agreement of sorts where she pays for everything. The yoga studio, his apartment, food, clothing,everything. In exchange for, well, you know—keeping herhappywhenever she wants.”
“What?” Nathan and I said at the same time.
“You’re kidding,” I said to her.
“I wish I were.” She laughed a sad, bordering on ironic kind of laugh. “I was an idiot for getting myself involved with him. I just—I don’t know. I got all wound up with his words. Eating up all the lies he told me. And it’s so sad because I feel like hedoeshave a gift. I’ve seen it. But unfortunately, he chose to use that to manipulate women. Ugh! I don’t want to judge him, but it’s so fucked up.”
“I’m sorry, Nina.” I could relate in a way. When I dated Thomas, I didn’t really know who he was. He always kept this other side to him hidden from me. It only makes knowing the truth, in the end, a bit more shocking.
