I’d come back to New York, thinking I could keep Penn at a distance. I hadn’t anticipated falling for him again so easily. Like sand through a sieve. The more I tried to guard my heart to keep from getting hurt again, the more he broke down all the barriers I’d put up, leaving me bare.
But maybe…just maybe, he wouldn’t shy away from this new side of myself I was just discovering. If I could fall for the two sides of Penn, maybe he could fall for both sides of me.
Chapter 14
Penn
Natalie had told me not to do anything stupid in regards to Lewis. And this wasn’t stupid.
This was very smart.
I wouldn’t seek him out. But if we happened to be called to the same meeting by Lark, then it wouldn’t hurt to show up and knock some sense into him. I could be perfectly rational about it. Not that he deserved it. One way or another, he was going to back the fuck off.
I stepped into the elevator for Rowe’s place, only a few blocks down the street from my own. When it opened to his incredibly monochromatic living room, I was greeted by the overeager expression from one Larkin St. Vincent.
“You came,” she said in obvious relief.
“I did. I don’t think any of us have missed a summons before,” I said.
“True. But you were so adamant.”
“Well, I hadn’t planned on coming. Changed my mind at the last minute.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” She stepped aside, allowing me into Rowe’s penthouse.
Rowe was seated in a white armchair, his face buried in his computer, like always. Lewis was at the bar, holding a bottle of gin and adding olives to a martini. Katherine was lounging back against the chaise as if she were some golden goddess. Her skin was sun-kissed from the weeks she had spent in the Maldives with Camden. Even her dark hair had honey streaks in it from the sun.
For a second, with all of us assembled like misfit Avengers, it felt like coming home. As if the last year hadn’t occurred. As if we were back in high school or college, where our friendship was everything we needed. When we couldn’t live without each other.
But the illusion was just that.
We weren’t those people anymore.
We might have a shared past with secrets aplenty, but that didn’t mean we had loyalty anymore. Something had been irrevocably broken between us. And a meeting with all of us together couldn’t possibly change that.
Rowe glanced up then, looking up at me from under a pair of thick black glasses. He hadn’t worn glasses since elementary school. “Sup.”
I cracked a grin. Because despite it all, Rowe was exactly the same. “Hey, man.”
“Drink, Kensington?” Lewis asked as he strode to Katherine’s side and handed her the martini.
“No,” I said tersely.
“Oh, how I do miss this level of service already,” Katherine said. “The resort we went to took care of literally everything. I don’t know how I’m supposed to live otherwise.” She shifted her attention to me with a twinkle in her eye. “How are you, darling?”
I fought to keep from clenching my hands into fists. I could play this game. I was the expert after all. But I simply didn’t want to.
“Maybe we should get started.” I slid my hands into my pockets and waited for Lark to begin.
She sighed heavily and then took a seat next to Rowe. “Just sit down, Penn.”
“Let him brood,” Katherine said with a hand wave. “It’s what he’s best at.”
Rowe snorted. “So true.”
“Mmm,” Katherine said, raising her glass to Lewis. “Excellent bartender.”
“Pleased to be of service.” He shot her a mocking smile and then sank into the couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.
“Uh, no,” Rowe said. He pointed at Lewis’s feet.
Lewis snickered and then dropped them back down to the floor.
“Penn, sit,” Lark said again, “so we can get started.”
“God, Penn, listen to the woman,” Katherine groaned. She shifted in her seat, wincing slightly as she slid from her hip to her backside. “We’re not going to bite you. Not unless you ask us to.”
I casually took a seat, and said, “Didn’t get enough biting from Percy the last month?”
Katherine narrowed her eyes as she adjusted her seat again. “Let’s not.”
“You can give it but can’t take it?”
Lewis rolled his eyes across from me. “Look who’s talking.”
“You’re perfectly aware that I take as good as I give,” Katherine said with a note of pure seduction to her voice.
“Good lord,” Lark groaned.
I heard her words, meant to remind me of times we had been together, but that all seemed like a lifetime ago. Why I’d ever played her games, I had no clue.
“Or did you already forget, love?” Katherine asked. She sat up and then hissed, jumping off of her ass and then slowly settling back down.