Page 96 of Wright Together

Charlotte.

And she’d seen me a mile off. Now, our eyes met in the six feet that separated us.

I’d never met the woman. Arnold’s wife. She was gorgeous. A petite woman with straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She was thin and toned, like the Pure Barre moms I saw come into the gym sometimes. She had some wrinkles. Enough to say that she’d lived a good life, smiled a lot. She should have been treasured, a woman like that.

When we’d met, I’d had no idea he was still married. He insisted that they were separated and the divorce was in the works. To be honest, I didn’t ask too many questions. That was stupid of me. I wasn’t entirely innocent in all of it, but I’d ended it as soon as I’d discovered that he was a fucking liar. I never told his wife.

But someone had.

Because her eyes were red-rimmed and sad. Like she might burst into tears at any moment.

I wondered what she thought of me.

I knew what she thought of me.

I wished that I could tell her I wasn’t who she thought I was. That I regretted dismantling her life. That I thought she deserved better.

But I didn’t get to say any of that before Arnold stepped into my line of sight, breaking my eye contact with Charlotte Sinclair.

“What are youdoinghere?” Arnold hissed. He reached out and grasped my wrist—hard. “You need togo. You don’t belong in a place like this.”

I tried to jerk my arm out of his grasp. “Let me go.”

“I’ll let you go once you go back to where you belong.”

Whitt was still at my side. “Ah, Arnold Sinclair. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He stepped forward menacingly. “I would recommend you release my girlfriend.”

Arnold dragged his eyes away from me and took in who Whitt was. He quickly dropped my wrist. “Girlfriend,” he said, as if the word was anathema to my existence.

“Indeed,” Whitt said.

But Arnold was already looking away from him, back to me. Assessing me. Judging me. The way I’d seen him judge a million other people when we had our illicit affair. I knew what he was thinking before he said it. Knew what he saw with me in a slinky cocktail dress and designer shoes, on the arm of a Wright. But there was no way to prevent it. Not now.

“So, you’re with a Wright now? From a Sinclair to a Wright. Classic Eve.”

“Shut up,” I snarled.

Then, he laughed in my face. “The same gold-digging slut you always were.”

I saw black at the words. Even though it wasn’t the first time I’d heard them. Even though they were the furthest from the truth. If I was such a gold digger, then why was I so goddamn poor? Fuck.

For a second, I thought Whitt was going to clock him. His blue eyes hardened in fury. He pushed forward into Arnold’s orbit. The rest of the party seemed to turn as one to take in the action.

“I would suggest you take back your words and apologize to the lady or else we are going to have a problem,” Whitt said.

“Lady,” Arnold said on a laugh.

“I don’t think you understand where you are, Mr. Sinclair,” Whitt said in a voice I’d never heard from him before. It was lethal, unyielding, and more than a little terrifying. “Perhaps I should have introduced myself. I’m Whitton Wright. You’re currently at an event for Jensen Wright to become the mayor of Lubbock. All of his friends and family are here. That includes Eve. Your family has a shoddy history at best with our family. Does Sinclair Realty want to get on the wrong side of Wright Construction? Do you want to be on the wrong side of the Wrights?”

Arnold straightened his suit. “Are you threatening me?”

“Of course not,” Whitt said. “Just reminding you of reality because the minute you denigrated my girlfriend, you crossed a line that I sincerely doubt you want to see come to fruition.”

“How dare you!”

I pushed past Whitt, my blood pressure spiking at all of it. “He means, get the fuck out of here,” I snapped. “And don’t show your lying, cheating face again.”

“Security,” Whitt called. He snapped his fingers, and two men appeared as if they’d done this a million times. As if Whitt had personally thrown people out of an establishment.