The Lying Season (Seasons #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,11

and downed her martini. “Poor little rich girl.”

Wow. Katherine had to be drunk to be opening up to English. She didn’t open up to anyone. Hardly even to me.

I opened my mouth to reach for something profound, but nothing was there.

Then Whitley appeared with a super-hot guy from the dance floor, and I didn’t have to respond.

“Y’all,” she cried, “look what I found.”

“What did you find, Whit?” English asked with a shake of her head.

“A guy for Lark.” Whitley not-so-subtly winked.

“Oh,” I muttered.

He was incredibly good-looking. Platinum-blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a dimpled chin. He wore fitted dark jeans and a short-sleeved button-up. He wasn’t exactly my style. But then again, I was used to Upper East Side guys. And while they all dressed nice, they were also douche bags.

“Hi,” he said, stepping forward. “I’m Chad. You must be Lark.”

“I am.”

English nudged me toward him. I stumbled forward a few feet, suddenly losing control of my legs with all the alcohol. It was like it all hit me at once. I’d thought I had control over it. I wasn’t a lightweight. My parents had started me drinking wine at a very young age because they said that you were never too young to develop tolerance and taste. They’d hardly approve of the option before me. But maybe that was perfect.

“Yes, I am,” I said more forcefully. I stepped away from my friends, and Whitley hustled over to the other girls. “So, do you live in the city?”

“Yeah. Queens.”

“Nice,” I said.

“You?”

“I’m on the Upper East.”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh wow. So, I guess your place is closer than mine.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Uh, yeah. I mean, physically speaking, yes?”

He chuckled. “Cool. Well, you ready to get out of here?”

“Already?” I asked in surprise. I was drunk, but I couldn’t be that drunk.

“I mean…you do want to hook up, right?”

I whirled around. “Whitley, what did you say to him?”

Whitley just grinned back at me. “I told him that you wanted a one-night stand.”

I shook my head at her in frustration. “Jesus Christ, Whit! I do not want a one-night stand! Let alone with a guy I just met!”

“Uh…guys,” English muttered.

Katherine had skipped over to the front of the box, and for the first time, I realized through my drunken haze that we had an audience. Camden had just shown up. Katherine must have let him know where we were.

Next to him stood Court and Gavin.

And then, to my shock and utter horror, I locked eyes with Sam Rutherford.

5

Sam

Larkin St. Vincent stood in front of me.

And she had just screamed something about a one-night stand.

Fuck. Me.

Well, this night had just spiraled completely out of control. I should have known better than to agree to hang out with these guys. I liked Court and Gavin a lot. When I’d met them at the campaign office, we’d hit it off immediately. Camden…I was still getting to know. But Court had assured me that Camden’s frosty behavior wasn’t personal. He just didn’t like new people, and it took him a long time to warm up to anyone.

But still, I should have put two and two together. They were Upper East Side. Just like Lark. Why wouldn’t they frequent the same nightclubs and know the same people?

This was a mistake.

I’d just felt like we were on the right foot in the office. Agreeing to be professional. Well, that was fucked now.

“Sam,” Lark said gutturally. Her big green eyes were wide. Her mouth slightly parted. She swayed a bit forward.

She was drunk. And fucking beautiful.

“Oh, you’re Sam?” the girl with the pink hair next to her said twice as loud. She whipped around to the guy on Lark’s other side. She waved her hands away from her. “Shoo, shoo, you. No one-night stand for you.”

Lark looked like she might kill the girl. “Whitley,” she groaned.

Ah. So this was the infamous Whitley.

The guy glanced around in confusion. “This is fucked.” Then he stormed off as if he was personally affronted.

Gavin seemed to take the pulse of the room. “Well, if we’re talking about one-night stands…”

Court just shook his head at him.

English muttered, “Typical,” under her breath.

Katherine was already diverting Camden’s attention.

And just like that, the tension in the room was defused. Gavin called for a round of drinks, and Court seemed to purposely move into place so that I was all alone with Lark.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

I raised an eyebrow. “I feel like we keep asking each other the same questions on