Page 46 of Renegade

Charlotte was Lauren.

She was even wearing the same dress from the wedding. It looked better than I remembered. Her red hair was longer, but no longer wavy.

She came to a sudden stop next to Elizabeth, her eyes wide with surprise. David and Elizabeth began talking, but I blocked it out, completely focused on her. She stuck out her hand, “Hi, I’m Lauren.”

I gripped her hand tightly in mine and managed to croak out, “Mike.”

David told the two of us to go on ahead, while he and Elizabeth locked up the house. There was a limo waiting at the curb when we walked out—just another one of David’s big surprises.

Infidelity…limousines…seriously, where did it end with this guy?

“So, how’s your surfing career panning out?” Lauren bit down on her lower lip and gave me a small smile and I was taken back to the moment I met her.

I tried to play it off as if seeing her was no big deal, even as my heart was pounding with lust. “Surfing’s not so good here in the desert. You know you still owe me that drink.”

I’d really wanted to ask her why she hadn’t come, but I wasn’t a pussy.

Her smile faltered slightly, but she recovered. “I do still owe you a drink. Let me buy you a round tonight?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t count.”

The garage door opened and Elizabeth gasped. She turned to David and he grinned from ear to ear. “Surprise, Beth. Happy Anniversary!”

Lauren jumped up and down excitedly, “We pulled it off!”

Her tits also bounced up and down in her dress and I wondered how David would react if I threw her over my shoulder and ran to my truck.

I laughed at the thought and all three turned to me.

Elizabeth brought her hand up to her chest. “You all planned this? How’d you keep it a secret?”

The driver stepped out and opened the door for us as David wrapped a hand around her waist, “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. I can keep some things from you.”

I thought of his words from earlier and a surge of anger flowed through my body. Sure, it was all fine for him to fuck his wife’s best friend, but god forbid his very much SINGLE friend be given the same opportunity.

I grabbed the brown paper bags from the backseat of my truck and looked up to see that Lauren was bent over, getting something from the backseat of her own car. Her dress rode up just enough for me to see the lace from the black boy shorts she was wearing.

“I knew it,” I whispered to myself, while simultaneously wondering how in the hell I was going to keep my dick locked away for the evening.

Lauren retrieved a large paper bag from the backseat and then closed the door with her hip. Once we climbed inside and unloaded our bags, it was clear that she and I had purchased enough alcohol for twenty people.

I’d grabbed beer and vodka, while she’d splurged on champagne. I took the bottles from her hands and settled them into the built-in ice cooler. David got the tunes cranking, while Elizabeth watched us curiously. “Lauren, do you really think we need this much to drink?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s the first time I’ve ever been in a limo, so we are going to take full advantage of that.”

I handed David a beer and opened one for myself. I was just going to have one or two—nothing that I needed Grey’s approval for. He’d specifically mentioned the hard liquor and I’d done well to stay away from it. A beer every night wasn’t gonna kill me.

Lauren popped the top off two beers and handed one to Elizabeth before raising hers in the air, “To young love and the best friends a girl could ever want.”

She’d never looked more beautiful.

I was well and truly fucked.

“So, found any up and coming artists I need to know about?” I leaned over the railing of the deck atNick’s.

Lauren had insisted on buying a round of drinks for everyone, but had disappeared soon after. Leaving David and Elizabeth alone, I’d found her near the edge of the patio, staring off into space.

She turned her head toward me and grinned. “You know how the art world is—always changing…” Her voice trailed off and she began picking at her nail polish.

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