Page 19 of Sinful Palace

“I’ll be quick,” I said. “Besides, he already saw me. It’ll look weird if I don’t go over and say hi, and I know you don’t want anyone to start suspecting anything about us for any reason.”

Logan scratched at his cheek, brows drawing together in a conflicted frown. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. Go say hi. I’ll give you five minutes,” he said. He turned and waved a hand at Mal and Adam. “Go with her.”

I hurried across the lobby and walked into Varsity. It was mostly empty, aside from Rowan at his table and a few older men sitting up at the dark mahogany bar.

“Hey!” I said, approaching Rowan with a wide smile.

“Hey, you,” he replied, reaching out to give me a hug.

I closed my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me. “It’s so good to see you,” I said.

Rowan pulled back and frowned. “You okay?” he asked, probably wondering why I was acting so weird. We’d never really had the kind of friendship where we hugged and gushed over how much we missed each other.

I nodded and swallowed hard. “I’m fine. I just haven’t seen you in a while, that’s all.”

He lifted one brow. “Well, you’ve been busy with your new fiancé.”

My cheeks flushed. “Yeah. Sorry I didn’t tell you about that, by the way.”

He waved a hand. “It’s fine. I figured you must save all the relationship chatter for your girlfriends,” he said. “I have to say I was surprised, though. You always told me you hated Logan.”

I nodded, blush deepening. “Yeah. I know. It was all very… sudden.”

“Well, as long as you’re happy,” he said. He cocked his head to one side. “Are you?”

“Yes,” I replied. The lie felt like it was burning a hole in my tongue. “I’m very happy.”

He nodded slowly. “Then I’m happy for you.”

I changed the subject. “What are you doing here, anyway? Wonderland doesn’t really seem like your sort of place.”

He shrugged. “It’s not. I came here with a guy from work to watch the game tonight,” he said, nodding up at the widescreen TV on the other side of the bar. “He likes this place.”

“Oh. Where is he?”

“He had to go and make a call,” he replied. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“There was a fire at Thorne House, so Logan and I are staying here while the place gets fixed up.”

Rowan raised an eyebrow again. “I thought the Thornes owned a ton of houses.”

“They do, but Wonderland is the closest property to D.C. that’s actually available at the moment.”

“Ah. Right.” He nodded and took a quick sip of his beer. “How are you doing with all this scandal stuff, anyway?”

I sighed. “Not great.”

His brows pulled down, and he gently patted my shoulder. “Sorry. It really sucks.”

“Yup.”

“I don’t know if this will make you feel any better, but my parents and I think it’s all bullshit. Your mom didn’t do anything wrong.”

I gave him a watery smile. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

He waved a hand. “It’s nothing.”

“No, really. It’s so nice to hear someone being supportive, because I keep hearing everyone on the news ranting about how Mom and Jamie are definitely murderers, even though they don’t even know how Rutherford died yet. It’s like everyone’s already made up their minds, and the truth doesn’t matter.”

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