Page 85 of Vengeful Secret

I don’t tell her he’s not my boyfriend. That word almost seems too immature for what we are, anyway. We’re certainly more than friends, but we haven’t talked about where our relationship is going.

“Sarah, Rose, this is Paige and Lara,” I say, pointing to the Burke girls and hoping they’ll do the rest of the introductions because I’ve already forgotten names.

I sit there, quiet, as I take in the scene around me.

Everyone’s smiling, giggling, holding flutes of champagne or glasses of wine. Even Bree and Paige are drinking cider out of wine glasses.

Lara looks over at me, noticing that I’m not mingling. She frowns slightly and walks over to me, looping her arm through mine.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed.”

She nods. “I understand. I have a hard time in crowds, too. I’ll stick close to you.”

I smile at her gratefully. “Thank you.”

The group finally trails into the dining room, and Marisol has put out quite the spread—chicken wings, vegetable plate with dip, spareribs, a variety of fruits, so much food I can’t even process it.

“This looks incredible,” I mumble, my stomach rumbling.

I haven’t been eating as much as I should.

“You look skinny,” Paige pipes up. “Eat up!”

“She’s not eating for two like you are,” Lara chuckles.

Paige pouts. “I’ve still got a few months, and I’m growing a whole human, I’ll eat what I want.”

Lara raises her hands defensively. “Fair enough.”

I’m a bit worried that Paige will stay in a bad mood, she’s been kind of up and down with the pregnancy, but she seems to shake it off.

“When are you having another baby?” Paige asks, and Rose looks up from her spareribs and stares at me with wide eyes.

I choke on my champagne. “Not anytime soon,” I say quickly. “Ciara is enough for me.”

“She’s a little spitfire.” Lara chuckles.

“I’m just saying, if you and Gray get busy now, all our babies will grow up together,” Paige insists, and I snort out another laugh.

“I think they’ll just have to be a little further apart in age.”

Paige shrugs and goes back to her fruit, moaning at the taste of strawberries with whipped cream.

Rose sits next to me, and Sarah across from me. Lara, just like she said, sticks next to me on the other side.

It’s really nice to be surrounded by friends.

Gray was right. This is what I needed.

Sarah looks up, smiling, probably a little tipsy from her three glasses of champagne. “I’m so happy to be invited. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Lara says, smiling. “Friends of Sutton’s are friends of ours.”

“How long have the three of you been friends?” Paige asks, and I laugh.

“Since middle school,” I take a bite of spareribs.

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