Page 111 of The Love Bandits

Lainey looks up at me. “It’s down the hall and the last door on the left.”

“Why do you know where our bathroom is?” Nina asks, gasping. “No one’s gone back to use it yet.”

Lainey swears under her breath, then starts laughing, burying her head into the arm I still have wrapped around her.

Nina’s dilated eyes fix on her. “It wasyou!Those wereyourunderwear in the downstairs closet.”

Well, fuck.

Turning toward Anthony, still sitting next to her on the couch, Nina smacks him across the face with her open palm while he gapes at her. “How dare you screw your mother’s assistant in our house! Never have I ever fucked someone in our closet. Honestly,the closet?”

She picks up the nearly empty teacup sitting in front of Anthony on the table and shoves it at his chest, splashing warm tea all over his collared shirt.

He continues to gape at her as if he doesn’t understand what’s going on, probably because he doesn’t, and his mind is further muddled by the tea. I feel another wave of sympathy for him. He’s in so far over his head he can no longer see anything but water.

“Oh dear,” I hear Joy mutter from her position by the wall. She wanders off, presumably to help Rosie. Or maybe she’s just appalled by her own handiwork.

“Are you accusing my son of infidelity?” Mrs. Rosings says, rising to her feet. “You?I saw you and Wilson canoodling, but I knew if I told Anthony he’d never believe me. He’s too trusting.”

Something flashes over Nina’s face as the name clicks into place for me. Wilson is one of Anthony’s friend’s—his buddy from college or something like that. He’s mentioned him a few times at our drink meetings.

“Is that blond dick?” Lainey asks, swatting at my arm. “You’re talking about blond dick, aren’t you? We saw the photos.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Anthony snaps, pulling the now-empty teacup from Nina’s hand and throwing it at the fireplace. It bounces off of the grate before landing right-side up on the carpet. He gapes at it, as if the cup’s failure to break represents a deeper failure.

Mrs. Rosings clears her throat and grips the arm of her chair as if to steady herself. “The floor is…” She shakes her head and meets Anthony’s gaze. “What’s going on is that Nina has been unfaithful and is accusingyouof being unfaithful. It’s a classic ruse for people of despicable character. You cannotmarry her.”

Anthony turns to Nina, his expression desperate. He looks like a man being torn in half. “Nina, is that true?”

“There were underwear in the closet, Anthony,” she deflects, lifting her chin. “A woman’s underwear. I’m surprised you weren’t more discreet.”

Screw it. Might as well come partially clean, since we’ve already been backed into a corner.

“ThosewereLainey’s underwear,” I admit.

“I knew it,” Nina practically shrieks, banging a fist against the tea spot on Anthony’s chest. He flinches but doesn’t try to push her away.

I shake my head, seeking out his gaze. “Your mother asked Lainey to come by the other night to look for proof that Nina was up to something, and I came as her lookout. We kind of got carried away in the closet. Sorry.”

“Oops,” Lainey says, laughing softly. “Oops-a-daisy.”

Anthony looks like he got pole-axed and then run over by a car. Maybe it’s a blessing that he’s high on whatever Joy dosed everyone with. “You broke into my house and fucked your girlfriend in my closet?”

At my nod, he says, “I thought you were my friend.”

I could object that I’d only done it to be a good boyfriend. That I’d thought I was helping him out too, but some kind of madness compels me to be honest. Maybe because I truly feel like I’ve wronged this man. Maybe because I’ve stumbled onto the need to make amends, and he’s on my list. I take in a deep breath and say, “That’s because I wanted you to think that.”

“You’re no different from the rest of them,” he says. “Everyone wants something, and no one’s honest about what they want.” The look of accusation in his dilated eyes hammers into me.

He doesn’t say anything else to me, or to Nina, who’s busy glaring at Mrs. Rosings. He just lowers down onto carpet, which has a pattern that does resemble a mass of snakes, pulls his knees up, and buries his head into his hands.

Fuck, this isn’t good. None of this is good. There’s a sick feeling in my chest, made worse by the sight of Anthony sitting on the floor. Seeing him like that makes me hate myself.

I was dishonest with him. I tried to make myself see him as a spoiled rich kid. An entitled asshole. But he’s not, or he’s not only those things. He’s a person, and today, he’s a person who got dosed with mushrooms and then found out his fiancée has been cheating on him and his new best buddy has been lying to him. I want to comfort him, but I’m the one who caused part of the damage, and there’s nothing I can do except be sorry for it.

“Now, Nina,” Mrs. Rosings says, still holding onto one of the arms of her chair for dear life. “This is your goodbye party, and I think we can all agree it would be better if it came to a close. Your bag is already packed, becauseyoualready packed it, and Lainey tells me there are five necklaces nestled inside. Very expensive necklaces.”

Nina’s eyes bulge. “I didn’t—”

---