Page 9 of The Winning Ticket

I gape at her. “Are you fucking serious?! Who does that?” I can feel the anger rumbling in my chest when she gives a little nod, her lower lip trembling a little, and tears appear in her eyes.

No wonder she looks miserable. The poor woman should not have been dragged to a party when she clearly just wants to cry.

“Assholes do that. That’s who does stuff like that.” Morgan returns to the kitchen and wraps an arm around her sister while waving her phone in my direction.

I am still watching Bri, so I take a moment to realise that Morgan is trying to get my attention.

“The caterers are downstairs. Can you guys go down and help them upstairs with all the food? And then you all need to get your butts out of the kitchen so they can use the oven and stove.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Will, Chris, and I head toward the elevator.

“Did you know that about Bri’s ex?” I ask Chris, anger rolling through me. “That’s fucked.”

I can’t believe anyone would do that to someone they were living with, especially not to someone as incredibly sweet as Bri.

“Yeah. Bri got home from work on Wednesday afternoon to discover he’d changed the locks and left the fucking country with his assistant on a holiday they were meant to go on together. I told you he was an asshole. He treated Bri like shit, and we all tried to tell her she should leave him, but I think she just got caught up in that whole life down there. I’m glad she’s back. She needed to escape that world.” I notice he’s got his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Will had missed my conversation with Bri earlier, so this is the first time he’s heard about it, and he’s leaning against the elevator wall while shaking his head.

“Fuck man, I’d want to lay the guy out if someone did that to one of my sisters. I mean, Kylie would flatten the guy herself, but that’s rough.”

“Kylie and Tara are still coming, right? She’ll at least know a few people.” I look over at Will, and he nods.

His sister, Kylie, lives with Tara, Annelisa’s younger sister, and they, along with Bri, completed our friendship circle back in school. From what I understood, the girls were still tight with Bri.

The elevator reaches the ground floor, and we see two women standing outside the front glass doors, one about to press the button on the intercom.

“Speak of the devil.” I point towards the women.

Kylie waves at us enthusiastically, and Tara smiles as she removes her hand from the button.

I’m glad they are here. They’d both been close with Bri at school - she could use all the cheering up in the world right now.

5

I THOUGHT I WAS A MAN OF MYSTERY

JAKE

Several hours later, the party is still going strong, and people are spread throughout the apartment and out on the terrace.

Having gone inside to grab another drink, I find Annelisa and Will making out where I’d been sitting previously. I don’t feel much like being a third wheel, so I look around for someone else to hang out with for a bit.

Spying a blonde head at the top of the stairs to the spa area, I head up to find Bri sitting by herself, her legs dangling in the spa while she looks out at the view of the city through the glassed fence. I notice she’s picking at her nails and wonder if she even realises she’s doing it. Even if I hadn’t known what she’d just been through, the way she holds herself now is so different from the confident girl I once knew.

I’d give anything to see that version of Bri now.

“You doing okay up here? Am I intruding?” I announce my arrival, doing my best not to startle her, and she looks over at me.

Thankfully, the sadness I’d seen on her face earlier seems to be gone for the time being, and I’m rewarded with another one of her gorgeous smiles, although I can’t help but notice that the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Of course not. I was taking a break from the party to come and check out the view for a bit. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the people.” She briefly looks down at her hands before looking back at me, that smile still wavering across her lips. “This is awesome. I’d never get out of this spa if I lived here.”

I sit on the lounger nearest to her, and she shuffles along the side of the spa until she is facing me.

“Yeah, this is my favourite part of this place. I’m still terrified I’m going to break stuff inside. It doesn’t feel like it belongs to me. But I can definitely get on board with this view.”

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