I jerk my head to the side in confusion.
“Yes, I know what you’re doing,” she says. “When are you going to learn that I inherited my mom’s sleuthing abilities? I know just about everything.”
“Noted. Pity, though,” I say and with a wicked smile I let go of the phone. Her gasp is enough for me and with a speed she doesn’t know I have, I catch the device with my other hand and tuck it into the top of my strapless dress. “You really do think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
She shakes her head and holds out her hand.
“Batshit,” she says and signals for me to hand the phone over. You know, as if I didn’t see the waiting palm she’s holding out. Persistent much?
“I don’t want you to get in trouble, so I’ll return it to him myself.” I slip past her and quickly dart out of the women’s restroom and into the hall under the main staircase. All I hear behind me are a string of curse words that would make a sailor blush.
Slipping through the crowd at the edges of the dance floor, I keep my eyes peeled for Hennessey and that dumb little tart he invited. They’re hard to miss—he’s gorgeous, and she’s an idiot. I’ve never met her and know nothing about her except her name—Joy—and what she looks like courtesy of her profile picture on Facebook. Hennessey gave me the link to her profile, and she is one crazy mutha. I think they may have invented the term badge bunny in her honor. I can’t believe after all the whining he did about this Joy chick he was trying to shake that he brings her to the Heroes in Action event. Royal catches up to me in no time and places a hand on my elbow.
“You’re lucky I like you, because being friends with you after this is going to be difficult for me,” she says. I nod in response. I know she’s going to take a personal hit for being my coconspirator no matter how much I deny it. I’m still in shock that she spilled about the ranking system in his phone when I asked how big of a player he really is.
“No it won’t.” I brush her comment off. “Jameson won’t let Hennessey give you crap for this. In fact, neither will your parents.”
“But I owe you, anyway,” I say. “You should have seen the way Hennessey looks at the new bartender at Port of Call. When he looks at her, I see the same look I used to see on Jameson before we got together.”
She just shakes her head and mumbles, “No shit,” in astonishment. A slow smile creeps up on her that I don’t think she wants there. She’s trying to be mad at me and all responsible and disapproving, but it’s not working. She hitches her thumb to the middle of the room.
My eyes follow hers and land on the devil himself. His brown hair is styled in a fauxhawk that doesn’t budge despite the way he’s moving around to the high-tempo song playing through the speakers courtesy of the cover band on stage. I move in closer and stand just a few feet away. The petite blond in front of him has her perky tits pushed up so high in her big poufy dress that I’m afraid they’re going to fall out every time she bounces. I love this song—well, the original anyway—and am normally all about the bouncing. But not here at a society event. What a tacky bitch. She’s got way too much eye makeup on, and her hair is disturbingly still. Even her ruby lips look cheap with her hair color.
I really wouldn’t hate on her if I Hennessey hadn’t dropped a little bit of truth on me that Joy has flirted with Jameson and has gone as far as to say that she doesn’t care that he’s with me. For that alone, I want to shake Hennessey of her.
Before I approach, I check my hair to ensure not a single honey-colored hair is out of place and make sure the girls are as high up as they can get. As quickly as I can, I pull Hennessey’s phone out and open the camera, turning it around to face me, and check my makeup. My deep, smoky eyes are smudge free, and I don’t have any of my red lipstick on my teeth. I tuck the phone safely between my breasts and straighten my back. Okay, so I see a tiny bit of resemblance between her and me, even if I don’t want to admit it, and have to mentally apologize to her about a thousand times for being so mean. I just . . . get carried away, and Hennessey isn’t helping matters. How is he ever going to be a better man if this how he chooses to spend his time?