“I’m not interested.”
My mother gave me a stern look. “It’s good and well that you’ve been focused on your schoolwork, but it doesn’t hurt to look around. You never know. You might like him.”
Grant. I liked Grant. No do-gooder Harvard grad from high-society was going to compare to Grant. I almost couldn’t believe those thoughts had just crossed my mind. Hadn’t I thought the same as my mother only four months earlier?
“Henry!” my mother said, fluttering her fingers.
Oh God, she had just been walking me right to him.
“Diana, so good to see you,” Henry said. His eyes swept past my mother and landed on me. “And you must be Aribel. I’m Henry Arbor.”
I handed him my hand to shake, but he brought it to his lips. His blue eyes stared straight through me. I managed not to squirm uncomfortably, but I quickly retrieved my hand.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
I got my first real glance at Henry, and he was everything I’d suspected—tall, blond, blue-eyed with a suit to rival my brother’s, and a smile that could charm a snake.
My mother smiled brightly at our introduction and then went back to find my father in the crowd. I avoided Henry’s curious glances and scurried after her. I spent the remainder of the evening tucked into a corner of the room, wasting time on my cell phone. A text pinged on the screen from Grant, and my heart raced.
Merry Christmas, Princess. Hope you get everything you want. Unless you manage to get a ticket into Jersey, I’m afraid I’ll be without the only thing I want. Stay warm, and come back soon. I miss you.
Tears swam in my eyes. Damn him! How did he bring out this much emotion in me from a simple text message? Ugh! I felt positively dreadful. There was no other way to put it. I missed him, and I wanted to make things right. I’d have to find a way to talk to him.
“Are you all right?” Henry asked, materializing out of thin air.
“Oh!” I blinked the tears away. “Sorry. I’m fine.”
“Do you want to take a stroll around the hotel?”
“Did my mother send you?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Henry looked taken aback, and I wasn’t sure if it was an act or not.
“No, of course not. I just saw that you looked sad and wanted to get you out of here in case other people noticed.”
“So…this is about appearances?” God, my stupid mouth.
“Have I done something to offend you?” Henry asked plainly. “You looked like you needed an escape. I can provide one.”
“All right,” I said softly.
I wanted to push Grant’s text out of my mind anyway. Henry walked me to the nearest door, and we started wandering leisurely around the hotel. He didn’t say much, which was a relief. The silence was better anyway.
“Want to see something?” Henry asked.
“Um…sure.”
He pushed open a door and led me into an empty ballroom. It was dark, the only light coming in from the panel of windows along the far wall. Henry shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket and walked me out to the balcony overlooking the city.
“Here,” he said, slipping his jacket over my slim shoulders.
I felt a touch of guilt for taking it, but I was glad I had it.
“God, it’s freezing.”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “It looks better in the summer. You’d like it.”
I shrugged. “So, how do you like working for the company?”
“It suits me. How are you enjoying Princeton?”
I turned my face back out toward the city. “It’s nice.”
“Will you be in town much longer?” he pried.
“Through the rest of break. I don’t have school again until the second week of January.” That meant I would be away from Grant for a couple more weeks. Could I wait that long?
“Do you have plans for New Year’s?”
New Year’s. Oh my God! Why didn’t I think of that before? My whole face lit up. Grant would be in New York for New Year’s. He still had to be opening for The Drift. I could go there. We could talk then before I came back to school.
Realizing I hadn’t responded to Henry, I spoke up, “I’m going to be in New York City with one of my friends.”
He looked disappointed but managed to cover it up. “What about after that? I’m leaving on vacation with my family to Paris for a week, but I get back on New Year’s Eve. I’d love to take you out.”
Oh…
Oh!
“Um…I really appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing.”
“Well, just think about it. I’d like to see you again,” he said, turning me to face him.
He looked completely one hundred percent sincere. I guessed I’d somehow charmed him in our short time together, or it was the parental influence behind the whole exchange. He was rather handsome. Before Grant, I would have totally been into this. But now, all I saw was a life I didn’t want to fit into because it was one without Grant.
Henry’s eyes dropped down to my lips, and I saw his intention a split second before he leaned down to kiss me. I turned my face at the last second, and he chastely kissed me on the cheek. Henry cleared his throat. I’d embarrassed him. That much was clear to me.
“Perhaps we should get you back inside. You’re shaking.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” I whispered.
I was certainly shaking but not from the cold. It was from what had almost happened.
Grant and I were on a break.
We needed space.
We needed time.
We weren’t broken up.
Chapter 43: Grant
“Not a drop to drink?” Vin asked me, holding the bottle of tequila out in front me. “I bet we could get someone over here to do body shots.”
“Not interested,” I said.
I leaned back against the bar and surveyed the crowd hovering backstage at The Drift’s New Year’s show. We were low profile compared to them, and while girls still gravitated toward us, most of the attention was on the other band—mostly Donovan to be honest.
I’d driven into the city a few days early to meet with Hollis. He’d hooked me up with Donovan, and we got along so well that he’d ended up inviting me to some exclusive party last night. I’d had a few drinks there but nothing to throw me over the edge. I wasn’t looking to do that tonight before the show—not after what had happened before our last show with The Drift. Not after what had happened with Ari.
I still hadn’t heard from her since she left the ski lodge. I hadn’t messaged her since Christmas, and I was going to try to keep that up until she got back to school. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from rushing over to her place as soon as she was supposed to be home.
“Bro, when are you going to stop this shit? I’ve only been back around you for a fucking week, and already, I’m tired of you sober,” Vin complained.
“I just don’t feel like drinking tonight. You drink enough for both of us anyway.”
“Is it still about that chick?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said quickly. My standard answer.
“Good. Don’t talk about it. Just fucking get over it.”
“I’m not just getting over her either, so just drop it.” My voice lowered dangerously.
Vin knew this was a bad topic, yet he wouldn’t let it go. One day, he was seriously going to get his ass handed to him.
“I know what you should do.”
“What’s that?”
“That,” he said, pointing out a banging brunette who had been eye-fucking me all night.