Page 33 of Pretend You're Mine
On our way there, Xander got a call from his dad. He pulled over, and I looked out the window, so it wouldn’t seem like I was eavesdropping, even though there was no way I couldn’t hear from a foot and a half away. Their conversation was brief, though, and when Xander hung up, he was scowling.
“What is up with you and your dad?” I asked, without thinking.
Shit. I hadn’t planned on saying anything – it wasn’t really my place – but the question had just slipped out.
Xander’s scowl was settling on his face. “What do you mean?”
“Just….” I frowned. “You don’t seem to get along very well. You almost look offended by his presence more often than not.”
He pulled back onto the road. “He was just calling to make sure we were on our way.”
His cool tone and the way he returned his gaze to the road, as though dismissing me, made my hands clamp into fists in my lap. So I didn’t need to know the whole story, but did he have to be an asshole about it?
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business.”
Xander sighed. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just a sore subject, and one I don’t particularly feel like getting into right now.”
I nodded, but said nothing, turning to look out the window.
I was happy for the silence that accompanied us all the way to the theatre. Even if I’d crossed the line with talking about his dad, Xander didn’t have to be such a dick about it. Anyway, if Xander wanted to play hot and cold, then I was fine with cold.
Once there, ten or so minutes later, we took our time going in. The interior was gorgeous and we spent some time admiring it. The city had just recently renovated the space, and it definitely showed.
They had panoramic windows stretching up the whole front of the façade, along with a chic modern interior that had marble floors that made your shoes clop as you walked. Every next person we passed looked more like a model from a Chanel magazine than the last – avant-garde dresses, pointlessly high shoes.
And then there was me with my nice, but nowhere near chic, black silk dress.
I was completely enthralled with the various fashions and outrageous signs of wealth that surrounded us, but Xander seemed not to notice. In fact, he seemed bored by it all as he reached down to take my hand and guide me through the crowd.
The way his fingers were intertwined with mine made me wish for the briefest of moments that what we had could go on. But it couldn’t, and I knew that. I just wish I hadn’t needed so damn much reminding. This was just an arrangement.
After we gave our names to a woman with an overly exaggerated smile at the front desk, she pointed us down the hall to where Xander’s family was waiting.
A minute or so later we were in the spacious private box his family had booked to view the play from. Already, there were oysters and cocktails being served by two pleasant-looking servers.
“Xander! Naomi!” Xander’s dad said, his belly straining against his shirt buttons as he rushed over to give us hugs. Xander’s reaction as his arms closed around his dad revealed little.
“Glad to be here. Thank you for the invite,” Xander said.
There was something forceful about his words. As he drew back and Xander’s mother came up to greet us, I noticed someone standing at the edge of the group. Several people were looking at her out of the corner of their eyes and speaking in hushed whispers amongst themselves. She looked like a young Catherine Zeta-Jones, although her hair was lighter and curlier. Basically, she was the most gorgeous woman I’d seen in a very long time.
After we said our hellos to several members of the family, the mystery was explained. Xander’s father nudged his son. “You remember Alliana, don’t you?”
Xander smiled, this one real. “Of course I remember Alliana.” He looked her up and down. “Although the last time I saw you, you were a good head shorter and not so…” he swallowed. “Grown up.”
Alliana smiled. “Ten years is a long time.”
My heart tumbled down into the pit of my stomach. Great. So this chick wasn’t just a cousin who’d shown up late to the party. She was someone from his past. And she was smoking hot.
I barely noticed Xander doing the token introduction of me and shaking Alliana’s thin hand. Instead, all I saw was everything ebbing away from me.
Xander and Alliana, chuckling and chatting about the past. The rest of the family beaming over the two.
I grabbed a nearby oyster and shoved in my face.
Then I wandered over in search of the cocktails. Xander had told his family that we were married, and yet some mysterious hottie from his past shows up, ushered right up to him by his father? I was starting to see what Xander’s problem with his dad might be. I looked around the room and wondered just how much more fucked up this day was going to get.
