Page 23 of Closer

I already had my fair share of drinks so I could face him, but screw that. Screw being over Sebastian. I shouldn’t have come with them, because I think I saw him and he wasn’t alone.

The whole ballroom falls silent, the string quartet the only source of noise.

“Miltons,” Mary says.

“Who?” Gemma asks.

“Elijah and Connor Milton. Very rich and successful—the total package,” Mary says. “And, of course, Ms. Whitman has already sunk her claws into the older one. What a surprise…”

“Seems so,” Gemma says.

I follow her line of vision. Everything is better than seeing Sebastian. “Wait, the left one is Connor Milton? The one you told us about?”

“The one and only.” Mary’s shoulder slump.

She had mentioned that they became more than close and then kind of broke up recently. He really changed a lot from college. No wonder Mary didn’t recognize him.

So the other is Elijah, and with him is a blonde woman who clings to him like her life depends on it.

I turn back to Gemma, who stares at them. Her face is drained of color, and her eyes narrowed.

“Are you okay?” I ask. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Gemma says.

Mary and I exchange a look, and she raises her champagne glass. “No men tonight, and instead, to an unforgettable evening with my best girls.”

“Cheers.” We clink our glasses against hers.

“Don’t look,” Mary says.

Of course, Gemma and I whip our heads around, and at least I regret it immediately.

Sebastian, with an elegant brunette, strides over to Connor and Elijah. They exchange brotherly handshakes, and Sebastian flashes his dazzling smile, the one that used to be directed at me. Now it’s reserved for his new girlfriend, apparently.

In the end, it was to scratch an itch.

“Seems like Bash is a good friend of his,” I say.

“They’ve been doing business together and got pretty close,” Mary says. “Best friends.”

“How do you know all this?” And not that Sebastian has a new girlfriend. Although would I even have wanted to know? It shouldn’t concern me anymore.

“Well, that’s one advantage of having the queen of gossip as a mother.”

Gemma’s eyes dart between us. “He’s my one-night stand from the masquerade.”

Mary chokes on her champagne.

“I guess your mother missed a tiny detail.” I plaster on my happy face despite the knot in my chest.

“Apparently.” Gemma freezes. “Shit.”

Sebastian points our way, waving her over.

This is the perfect excuse to escape without them thinking it’s because of him. “Want to go grab some burgers?”

Gemma’s eyes dart back to her drink. “No, we stay.”

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