Page 9 of Twenty Years Later

"I didn't tell him I knew who the asshole was, though. Kept that to myself."

"Good. Thank you for that."

He pulled into a large, upscale hotel, the bright lights making a path to the front where valets waited.

"The reunion's here?" I asked, surprised by the shortness of our ride.

"Yes. We could have walked, but I figured it might be uncomfortable in your shoes."

That was seriously thoughtful. The player had definitely grown up… a bit at least.

The valet held the door open, and again, I had to shimmy out to where Alex was waiting for me. He offered me his elbow, and I gladly looped my arm through his, excitement and adrenaline shooting up and down my body.

He looked at me as we headed into the glitzy lobby. "You all right?"

"Mm-hmm. Sure," I said, my voice a little higher than usual as he led me down a long hallway.

"Everyone's going to be so happy to see you."

I nodded, not so sure about that.

He leaned closer to me, his breath near my ear, sending those butterflies into a frenzy. "No one's going to eat you. I'll make sure of it."

What this man did to me. I didn't have much time to think about it or recover my composure because we rounded a corner and went into a big room, straight from my nightmares.

There at the front sat a table manned by a woman who looked familiar. I supposed everyone was going to look that way tonight.

"Hey, Jessica," Alex said. "How's everything going?"

That's right. Jessica Sinclair, one of the queen bitches.

She eyed Alex's large frame and smiled. "Great. Now."

"Sorry I'm late. Had an incident with the little one."

"No problem." Her gaze turned to me, and her eyes went wide. "Jayda? Jayda Jenkins?"

I smiled, surprised she recognized me. "That's me."

Her eyes darted to my arm linked with Alex's, and a small frown appeared on her face. "Wow, I can't believe you're really here. You know, this is like the fourth reunion we've had."

Things were taking a weird turn. "I had no idea," I sort of lied. I'd known about a few but definitely not this one.

"Right. Well, I'm glad you could finally make it." She looked down at all the name badges in front of her. "Oh, I don't think you RSVP'd so I don't have a badge for you. And you didn't pay—"

"Jess," Alex interrupted. "I'll take care of it later. But could you just write her name on a badge maybe?"

"Sure. No problem." She scribbled my first name on a blank name badge, then looked up at me. "Is it still Jenkins?"

"Yes," I said.

"So you never got married, huh? Interesting."

What was that supposed to mean?

"She's a widow," Alex said, grabbing the sticker from her. "Thanks for that."

As he whisked me away into the room toward the bar, I thought about that phrase—a tiger doesn't change its stripes—and realized this was going to be one longnight.

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