Page 67 of False Play
My fingers fidgeted with the corners of my pink floral pull-sleeve dress as if the movement would somehow ease my sudden nerves. I chewed my bottom lip as my eyes flicked to the restaurant doors. The steady pulse of my heart became more erratic in my ears with every painful second. Dread settled at the pit of my stomach, and my throat felt like I had swallowed a pound of sand.
I shook my head and gave myself an inner pep talk.
You can do this. You’ve hung out with them before. They’re your friends. Stop overthinking so much.
The dread was there to stay, but still, with a deep breath, I strode inside the restaurant.
I hated this. I hated knowing I’d grown scared of everything and everyone around me, and I especially hated having to act every second of every day.
I wished things were different. I didn’t want to get backwith Joe—that was the last thing I would do—but maybe I shouldn’t have secluded myself so much. I should have reached out to Evelyn and the rest of my friends and not disappeared off the face of the Earth. Maybe I had brought this to myself.
“Hey, girl!” Evelyn’s high-pitched voice greeted me. She enveloped me in a hug, her nauseating floral scent flooding my senses.
“Evelyn, hey—” The words got lodged in my throat when my eyes landed on the table.
Everyonewas there. As in, every single one of my friendsandtheir husbands. As in, JoewithMeghan, too.
What the hell were they doing here?
I plastered on a fake smile. “I thought you said it was going to be just us girls.”
She shrugged like it was no big deal. “Yeah, we changed plans last minute. The guys wanted to have lunch with us before we went to the boutique. I thought I texted you.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It’s not like it matters, right? You’re not dating anyone,” she replied innocently, though I didn’t miss the lilt of her fake tone.
This was a trap, and I’d walked right into the lion’s den. It should have angered me, but I was just so fucking tired.
“Actually,” I cleared my throat, “I am.”
Joe snorted a laugh.
I looked over Evelyn’s shoulder. “Is there something funny, Joe?”
His eyes met mine, baffled. “Wait, you’re serious? You’re dating thatjock?”
My body flared with annoyance with the way he said the word jock with so much disdain and disbelief. The need to defend Henry was almost overwhelming, because fuck if I was going to let anyone talk bad about him. It wasn’t fair. He didn’teven know him, and just because Henry was a public figure, it didn’t give anyone the right to sputter shit out of their mouth about him.
“Thatjockhas a name,” I snapped.
Evelyn’s eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. “So, the rumors are true?”
“Yup.” A sigh of relief wanted to escape me at the casual tone of my voice. I managed to say it without cringing, so I guess I was making some progress.
“If he’s not doing anything, he’s welcome to join us,” David commented.
Joe shot him a disbelieving glare. “What?”
“It’s Henry fucking Anderson. I’ve always been a fan of the guy,” David said.
Joe leaned back in his chair, and a malicious glint took over his face. “You know what? Yeah. Invite him. If you are dating him, he’ll show up,right?”
A rush of nerves took hold of my chest, making it hard to breathe. I didn’t understand what his end game was. We were both supposed to be moving on. But Joe loved to have the upper hand. And this was no exception.
“Right,” I replied with a visible gulp. “But this is his only day off, and I don’t want to bother him.”
What a pathetic and weak excuse, Kennedy.
