Page 9 of Accidental Fiancé

Before I could even turn heel and leave, she stepped in my way. “Where do you think you’re going? I’m not done talking to you.”

I sidestepped, but she moved to block me again. “Chloe, that’s enough.”

“I think you owe me an apology for?—"

Instead of answering, I spun in the other direction to flee. Just my luck, I smacked face first into some guy’s hard chest. Itwas like headbutting a wall. I blinked in shock. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. Jules? Is that you?”

“Yes, I’ve been looking for you.”

I threw my arms around him, nearly squeezing him to death. Julian Black had been one of my dearest friends in school, and I had never been so relieved to see anyone in my whole life. I quietly squeaked, “I’m so happy to see you!”

He murmured into my hair, “Same here.”

-

Chapter 4

Julian

Chloe and Harmony frowned, but Emma was curious. So I lingered in the hug for a few seconds longer than convention dictated.Let them wonder about us. It would serve them right.

Maggie, the former drama student that she was, played into it and leaned against me. I put my arm around her and breathed in her scent. No need to act when it came to sniffing her hair—she still smelled like sweet, rich vanilla, just like she did in high school. It blended well with the whiskey in my other hand.

We had a few classes together, and I was grateful for every teacher who lazily assigned seats in alphabetical order. Black and Bryant always ended up close together. There were certain things that stuck out about those years, and her scent was one of them.

These days, on the rare occasion I have a sweet craving, I always go for sugar cookies. I blame Maggie Bryant for that.

Though I had surpassed even my own aspirations at an early age, I was uncomfortable being surrounded by the high school mean girl squad even now. Strange how emotional scars never really heal. But I wasn’t a kid anymore, and I had enough moneyto cover up at least one murder, maybe three, so I stood tall, daring them to start shit.

In fact, I kept smiling at Chloe Foster despite what I wanted to say to her. “Evening, ladies.”

Chloe, for once, kept her mouth shut. She looked good, considering she was at least fifty percent evil by volume. It was a pity my company couldn’t figure out how to bottle it as an anti-aging cream. We’d make an even bigger fortune.

Harmony, on the other hand, had never struggled to say what she was thinking. “I’m surprised you came, Julian. You?—"

“Yes, I know. I run a big company, and no one thought I’d make it. But you have to make time for what’s important, right?” I gave Maggie’s waist a squeeze.

“I was going to say I’m surprised you were even invited after what you did to Grant Worthington.”

That name clanged through me, and Maggie must have felt it, too, because she stiffened up in my grip. But tonight was not the night to rehash old fights, and I refused to be bated into it. What was done was done, and there was no need for Maggie to learn about what happened that night.

Chloe took that as her cue to jump in. “High school was a long time ago, Harm. I’m sure Julian has no plans to dig up old memories. Right, Julian?” Evidently, she had as little desire as I did to dredge up the past. Tension simmered behind those cold blue eyes.

I smiled. “I believe in letting bygones be bygones, and I’m sure Grant does, too, wherever he is tonight. How are you three this evening? Reminiscing about old times?” I jerked my chin at the memory wall.

Terrible name for the display. The memories weren’t for the whole class. They were for the popular kids. The ones who were asked to pose back then. Not the rest of us. We were merebackground characters in a world that focused on them and them alone.

I wasn’t anyone special in high school. I kept my head down and tried to get grades good enough that my parents wouldn’t give me a hard time, and that was it. Ambition didn’t strike me until the second half of my senior year, and then, I went balls to the wall on everything. Without a lot of luck, I would have been nothing more than a footnote in the yearbook.

But since I’d become successful, whoever put the memory wall together had cropped some pictures to make it look like I was the focus. Amazing what could be done with some editing and effort, but I knew better. The memory of being ignored doesn’t simply disappear because someone altered the pictures.

Emma spoke up, “It’s amazing how much has changed since then.”

“And yet some things remain the same,” Chloe said. She hadn’t turned her attention to the memory wall, instead glancing from me to Maggie. “I don’t suppose there’s a story here…”

“I—"

“We’re engaged,” Maggie blurted.

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