“I didn’t know you were coming tonight. I thought you were stuck at that boring party,” Petra says to Carrick.

“Yeah, I was, and it was worse than boring, so I snuck out to come and hang with you guys.”

“Of course you did. We’re way more interesting than a bunch of stuck-up rich people. No offense.” She grins when she realizes what she said.

Carrick’s rich, but he’s far from boring.

He’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met.

Oh God, I’m at it again.

“None taken. And you’re right. The people here are a hell of a lot more interesting.”

The depth of his voice lifts my eyes to his to find him staring straight at me.

My mouth dries.

“So, how did you know where we were?” I ask, moistening my lips with my tongue.

Something flashes through his eyes. It looks a lot like lust, but because I’m in denial right now, I’m going to pretend it wasn’t.

“Ben told me earlier where you were going to be.”

“Oh, did he?” I slide a look at Ben, but he’s facing away, trying to get served at the bar.

“Andressa.” Carrick’s hand touches my lower back, pulling my attention back to him. His eyes look deep and serious. “Can we talk? There’s something—”

“God, I thought I was never gonna get back to you! It’s packed in here. Why are we here again? The party we were at was way nicer.”

Sienna’s annoying voice rings in my ears like an alarm bell.

I step away from Carrick, causing his hand to fall away, leaving a distinct chill where he just was.

“Get me a drink, will you, Carr? I’m gonna need a large one if I’m forced to stay here for the rest of the night.” She lets out a dramatic sigh.

Annoyance flickers through me. You’d think he’d brought her to a dive with the way she’s acting. This place is really nice—hence, the reason why it’s so full of people.

Biting my tongue from telling her to piss off back to where she came, I turn to look at her.

She looks really nice in a knee-length black lacy dress, which looks like it cost more than my entire wardrobe. And granted, there’s a little bit too much lace, revealing a lot of her assets, but she can carry it off.

She looks a lot prettier than I do right now. I hate that.

But I can handle it. I’m a strong woman who treats other women with respect.

Pushing my dislike for her aside, I force myself to be polite and smile at her. “Hello, Sienna.”

She gives me a blank stare at the sound of my voice. “Oh, good. You’re here.” Then, she rolls her eyes.

Okay…seems Carrick’s little talk with her clearly had no effect.

God, I would love to punch her in her face—just once—but of course, I won’t.

So, sucking it up, I give a tight smile. “I am. And now I’m going. Restroom break. Nice seeing you as always.”

I’m going for the kill-her-with kindness theory. It’d be awesome if it actually worked. That was a joke—kind of.

I walk over to Petra, who is currently scowling at Sienna.

“Restroom,” I say with a jerk of my head.

“Let’s go.” She takes hold of my hand. “Back soon, Benny Boy.” She pats his shoulder as we pass.

By the time we make it to the restroom, I am actually in need of going.

When I’m finished, I come out of the stall. Petra is at the sink, applying her lipstick in the mirror above it. I can see her eyeing me carefully as I wash my hands, but she doesn’t say anything.

I appraise my outfit in the mirror. I’m actually wearing a skirt tonight. Cute little floaty black number that I got when I went shopping with Petra the other day. I’ve teamed it with a pretty sparkly strappy black top and some low silver heels. My hair is down in loose waves.

I look nice. Well, not as nice as the pop princess, but whatever.

I blow out a breath.

“You okay?” Petra asks.

“I’m great.” I flash her a smile, and then I get my gloss from my clutch and start applying it to my lips.

I’ve been faking smiles and saying, “I’m great,” a lot lately.

“I didn’t know Carrick and the mega bitch were coming tonight.” She grimaces.

That’s brings me around to face her. “It’s not your fault they’re here. And I didn’t know they were coming either. But it’s not a big deal.” I lift my shoulders in a way that says I don’t care—when we both know I really do. “I’m fine about it.” I turn back to the mirror to finish applying my gloss. “I’m over the whole Carrick-and-Sienna thing anyway.” I press my lips together, making a smacking sound. Then, I fasten my tube of gloss up and drop it in my clutch.

“Sure you are.” She gives me a disbelieving look. “This is me you’re talking to, Andi, not Ben. You don’t have to bullshit me. If you don’t want to spend the night around Carrick and the mega bitch, then we can go somewhere else, no problem. Today has been a tough day for you, and I’m not having the good mood we’ve got you in ruined by that talentless, humongous pain in the arse.”

I snort out a laugh at her candid description of Sienna.

Yesterday, I did succumb, out of morbid curiosity, and listened to one of the most recent songs by The Diamond Babes. Not my thing, but I can see why they’re popular. The main singer is really talented. That being said, Sienna is definitely only there to make up the pretty numbers. Petra insisted on playing me some of their live stuff—you know, just to torture me. It’s fair to say that Sienna can’t sing a note, and that’s not me being a bitch. She really can’t.