Page 38 of The Charmer

I looked straight at Kyle. "Not sure why you think your insults hurt me in any way. They just annoy the shit out of me and out of Julian, so please fuck off."

Kyle jerked his head back. Since he hadn't even bothered to break up with me in person, he had no idea how I could be when I was angry. At Julian’s bar, I'd been too surprised to react. But now I had my wits about me.

Julian let go of me and moved closer to Kyle. "We can take this outside right now. Right fucking now."

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Kyle said.

"Half the people in this room will cheer for me bashing in your face," Julian said through gritted teeth. "You shouldn't even be here, considering you've swindled half this city."

Now it was Kyle's turn to look angry. His smug smile disappeared. "Don't speak on shit you know nothing about."

"But I do know," Julian said. "So I’m going to tell you one last time. Fuck off."

"Whatever. Suit yourself." Kyle snorted before walking away.

Julian stood rooted to his place, breathing in and out quickly. I took the glass of water to him.

"Need a refreshment?" I asked.

"Yes." His voice was a bit on edge.

"I'm really sorry about that."

"Georgie, don't start apologizing again. Not your fault he's a jackass."

"What do you mean about swindling?" I wasn’t intending to put Julian on the spot, but I had to ask.

"A while ago, he asked a lot of people to invest in this bright new venture. He ended up losing all their money. At least, that's what he told them. I'm pretty sure he pocketed it. It was a Ponzi scheme. I knew that without even reading the fine print."

"So, how did he get away with it?" I asked.

"Connections work in mysterious ways. And don't forget, no one wants to admit being made a fool. Especially no one in this room."

"Julian," a male voice said, and then a man came over to us. "What's that I hear?" He looked straight at me. "After all these years, you’ve finally brought a lady to introduce to us."

Julian's demeanor changed. He straightened up and schooled his features. "Robert, how do you do?"

He shook hands with Robert and then turned to me. "This is my Georgie."

Robert beamed at me. "Georgie, you are a miracle. I couldn't believe it when Kyle told me that Julian LeBlanc was here with a date."

I stiffened. What’s going on?

"What's your family name?" he asked.

"Melrose," I said.

"Hm, that doesn't ring a bell."

Julian put a hand on the middle of my back. "Georgie runs Books & Beads in the Quarter. She makes the best damn Carnival items in town."

He spoke as if he couldn't be prouder of me. It filled me with warmth.

"That's great," Robert said. "Listen, Julian, I haven't had time to look over your proposal or Kyle's. Are you going to be at the Landrys’ event?"

"I wasn't planning to," Julian said, "but if you’ll be there, I'll RSVP."

"It's going to give us a good opportunity to talk. It's not the brightest and best on the social calendar, but it's good for business. I look forward to seeing the two of you again there..." He looked at me as if he couldn't quite place me.

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