“Polly, give me a little credit,” I said with my hands on my hips. “I wasn’t going to beat her up unless she forced my hand. Or fist.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right,” Lexi said, completely disgruntled. “Daddy will have an absolute fit. And you don’t want to make a scene in front of everyone who works with Patrick. As entertaining as that might be, it wouldn’t look good for him and would probably only turn out in David Stone’s favor. Bastard’s been itching to find a way to force Patrick out of the company ever since they inherited it from their fathers. Even though everyone knows Patrick’s the one who does all the work.”
“Besides, that dress is far too expensive to ruin for the likes of Julie Frost,” Polly tacked on.
“You know what you should do? Kill her with kindness,” Lexi suggested, and then a wicked smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. “And it probably wouldn’t hurt if you copped a feel or two of Patrick in the process. You know, just to remind him who he belongs to.”
“That was the plan, Lexi. But, from the looks of it, Noah seems to be quite okay with the woman copping a feel at the moment.” I was going to kill him as soon as I was done with Julie. I mean, how embarrassing was that? I was his date and he was letting her hang all over him like they were about to throw down some triple-X action right in front of everyone. It was a disgusting display, and it was clear the chick was good to go. Noah was embarrassing himself just as much by letting it continue.
But then the thought occurred to me that while Julie might be acting the part of the whore, I was the one playing it in real life. And I really had no claims on him. Noah wasn’t mine. We had only been playing house, or Penthouse or whatever, but it wasn’t real all the same. That wasn’t the case with Julie.
He’d been in love with her once upon a time, and maybe he still was to some extent. Maybe she was more his type. Or maybe, having come from money herself and being way more familiar with Noah’s lifestyle, she was just able to pull off the façade much better than me. My family only ever lived from paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes we’d had to stretch that more than was comfortable. We weren’t cut from the same cloth, Noah and I, and I would always feel that difference. I was merely a hired hand, or body, as far as he was concerned. Maybe Noah and I weren’t in a committed relationship in the traditional sense, but he’d come with me, and I was a real person with real feelings, and he was making me look and feel like quite the fool.
Polly stepped in front of me and grabbed both of my shoulders, giving me a little shake so that I would look at her and away from the free porn show happening across the room. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was how I saw it. “Lanie, I know Noah. He’s getting absolutely no enjoyment right now. He’s merely keeping up appearances for appearances’ sake. He’s probably doing everything he can to keep his dinner down at this very moment. So go easy on him and give him the benefit of the doubt. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” I lied. I wasn’t going to make a scene, but I sure was going to make my presence known—with dignity and class. And if Noah had a problem with that, then it was his problem to solve. All my brain was processing was that Julie’s hands were all over my man, and Noah was doing nothing to stop it. In fact, he was smiling, looking damn gorgeous, and seeming to be enjoying himself a little too much. And that in no way sat well with me.
I needed a drink so that I could get my head straight and figure out my plan of action. Marking my territory was a really good suggestion, but as angry as I was at Noah in that moment, I’d probably mess around and yank his nuts off with my bare hands. And that would get pretty gruesome, thereby defeating the purpose of not causing a scene.
As I turned to look toward the bar, I saw David Stone standing there. All alone. A plan started to formulate in my head, one that I fully intended to implement, because I knew that if there was even one ounce of Noah’s possessive nature for me left, what I was about to do would most certainly force him to pay attention.
“You two go ahead,” I said to Lexi and Polly. “I’m just going to grab a drink and take a moment to calm down before I hike up my skirt to piss on Noah’s leg.”
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Lexi asked with a look of adoration on her face, and then she bumped her shoulder into mine. “Grab me a shot of Patrón, will ya?”
“Sure thing, and thanks,” I said with a genuine smile before I turned and headed toward the bar. David Stone was my weapon of choice for making Noah Crawford feel just as insignificant as he’d made me feel.
“Patrón Silver, on the rocks, two,” I told the bartender when he greeted me.
“Well, hello there, little lady,” the scumball of an ass fucker said as he sidled up next to me—just as I’d hoped he would. He reeked of cologne that would have smelled good if it had been applied in a smaller dose. Plus, there was a lethal dose of obnoxygen spilling from his pores. I recognized the scent because Polly gave off a little bit of it, too. Luckily, she had been only mildly contaminated, whereas David Stone was obviously the poster child for it.
“Hi yourself,” I answered him, turning on the charm.
He introduced himself, extending his hand. “David Stone.”
I returned the cordial greeting, taking his offered hand. “Delaine Talbot.”
“Wow! Nice bracelet. A gift?” He examined the cuff bracelet that marked Noah’s territory like a jeweler sizing up its worth. “Crawford, huh? You related to Noah?”