I almost said I liked her better before, but that wasn’t quite true either. I liked her no matter what, but the most beautiful Nina ever looked was in the morning when she woke up after a long night of letting me tire her out. When her hair was tousled and she wore nothing at all except the afterglow of passion.
She was still her, though. Whatever made her the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen had nothing to do with what was on the outside. Darker hair or not. Blackened eyes or just pure gray. Nina de Vries could paint her face green and wear nothing but trash bags; I’d still follow her around New York like a lost fuckin’ puppy.
She seemed to understand what I couldn’t express, because somehow, her face softened as we stared at each other
“Oh, Matthew,” she whispered in that exact way that melted my cold, jaded heart.
I opened my mouth to tell her exactly that, to say we should just ditch the party and find somewhere to talk for real. Walk through the park like we used to. Get lost with nothing but the trees for company.
But before I could, we were rudely interrupted.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our resident jailbird.”
Nina and I both jerked like we’d been yanked by the hair. With a snarl on my lips, I turned to the intruders: two cocky men with impeccably fitted, if boring, gray suits, matching floppy brown hair, and razor-straight noses that only those from a certain class have. The kind who sparred in fencing matches, not schoolyard battles.
I took a long drink of champagne to hide my irritation. Nina simply resumed the bored expression I’d come to recognize as the trademark mask of the rich and useless. I fucking hated it. It was so at odds with the vibrant, intelligent woman I knew. The woman who was capable of so damn much—if she and everyone else would only give her a chance.
“Chase. Sawyer.”
She greeted the men courteously, but with a caustic edge that either I was the only one to hear, or else they were too self-absorbed to notice. As I caught the flicker of her expression when each man leaned in to kiss her cheek, I was pretty sure it was the latter.
She didn’t, however, introduce me.
“Hey, gorgeous,” said the first jackass as he smoothed back one side of his hair and straightened his tie. “God, look at you. A vision. We were hoping you’d make your triumphant return tonight.”
“And without the ball and chain, no less,” added Jackass Number Two as he examined Nina in her dress like she was something on display at the butcher shop. He actually licked his thin lips before taking a drink of his champagne.
Jackass Number One nodded. “We were all taking bets on how long you and Gardner would last, you know. Grayson had ten years, the bastard. I owe him that fifty grand now, thanks to you. Did you know Gardner’s nickname around the club? Chase here called him ‘The Grub’ once, and it stuck! So, for a while, I guess that made you ‘Mrs. Grub.’”
He grinned like she was in on the joke, and the other one laughed outright. Nina bared her teeth in a polite smile, but her jaw tightened. I wanted to punch both of them in their flash-bulb veneers. As satisfying as it was to know other members of Nina’s social circle thought Calvin Gardner was unfit for this goddess (and resembled a wormy little scavenger), the way they had all been casually betting on her marriage like she was a thoroughbred was infuriating. Where were they, I wanted to ask, when she was being conned for everything she was worth? Where were they when she practically signed away her life and had gotten wrapped up in his schemes?
Where were any of these smug motherfuckers then?
“So, Nina,” said Jackass Number One (I couldn’t remember either of their names, and I really didn’t give a shit either). “How was the big house? Bigger than your house?”
“Did you get lucky on the inside?” added Jackass Number Two as his eyebrows popped up and down like overly groomed caterpillars.
“What a fantasy that is,” said Number One. “That’ll keep me in business for a good while, if you know what I mean. Thank you for that, Mrs. Gardner.”
“Oh God, yes,” agreed Number Two. “Every morning in the shower for the next six months at least.”
Were they for real? Were these two pigeon-shaped hot air balloons actually saying they were going to jack off to the idea of Nina in jail? To her face? What in the ever-loving fuck was wrong with these people?
I opened my mouth to tell both of them to have some fuckin’ respect or I’d teach it to them myself, but Nina spoke up first.
“That’s enough,” she said sharply.
“Come on, now, Astor,” taunted Number One. “It’s just a friendly joke.”
He used what I recognized as her father’s surname—the one she’d given me when we met, but which she’d also shunned as a teenager. Which meant she must have known these jokers long enough for them to have used it regularly back in the day. I didn’t care how long they’d known her. They deserved to have their teeth knocked in regardless.
“It’s disgusting, and you’re disgusting when you tell it,” Nina retorted. “Frankly, Sawyer, I’m surprised you’d bait me like that. Particularly when you might find yourself in a similar situation one of these days.”
The smug grin on Jackass One’s face disappeared. “Excuse me?”
Nina took a step closer, and her voice dropped, thick and husky. “I think you know. The thing about being married to a grub…I know exactly which carrion he devours. Like your father’s company, Sawyer. And the ways in which Calvin may have curried your favor.”
It was a bluff. I knew it was a bluff. Until last September, Nina had known only
