After I Fall (Immortal Billionaires #1) - Melissa Sercia Page 0,21
you have a boyfriend?”
“I’m seeing someone. He hasn’t called in a few days but I’m trying to give myself another twenty four hours before I go into full panic mode.”
I shoved him playfully in the arm. “Ah, so it’s you that needs the distraction. And here I thought you were trying to help me out,” I teased.
He handed money to the ticket salesman for both of us. “Okay maybe I had an ulterior motive. But it’s a win-win for both of us.”
The museum was enormous. It was like its own city. We spent hours walking from room to room, looking at everything from Picasso paintings to Medieval artifacts, to an actual replica of an Egyptian tomb. It made me long for that summer I spent at Ozi’s vineyard in Italy. I wished I could afford to see more of the world.
We parked ourselves on a bench in front of a John Singer Sargent painting—Madame X, it was called. I loved this painting. It was such a mysterious piece, the way the subject is looking away yet her body language faces forward. Like her body was present but her mind was somewhere else. I often felt like that. I wondered what her secrets were. What was she holding back? And that black dress…one of the most gorgeous dresses I’d ever seen and could only dream of wearing.
“So, you want to talk about the phone call you got last night? The one that literally made you run out on a perfectly delicious appletini,” Max probed.
I stared at the painting for a minute before answering. I knew that this was going to come up and I couldn’t dodge it all day, but I still felt like I was teetering on the edge of crumbling at the mere thought of it. “It was from my ex…he’s getting married.”
Max puckered his lips into a sad face.
“To my sister.” There, I said it out loud.
His shoulders perked up and his face twisted into one of shock and horror. “Ohhh…what the…”
“Yeah, I know, it’s fucking weird. That’s the kind of shit that happens when you grow up in a small town, I guess.”
Max shook his head in disgust. “Girl, that is some sick Freudian bullshit if you ask me. What do your parents think?”
I shrugged and took a sip of the coffee I was still nursing, wincing as it hit my tongue. It was ice cold now. “Nothing really. My sister always got what she wanted. When we were kids, if she liked a doll I got for Christmas better than hers, she would just take it. My parents would never tell her no. I think it was the guilt. She almost died when she was a baby. They coddled her ever since. So when she decided it was my boyfriend she wanted, they didn’t object.”
Max’s eyes were so wide, I thought they might pop out of their sockets. “That’s the craziest shit I’ve ever heard, and I’m from New Jersey. Damn girl, no wonder you left. How long ago did this happen?”
“It’s been a year. Now that they are getting married, I’m not going back there ever. That’s it. I’m done. It just hurts too much. He was the first boy…the only boy I’ve ever loved. I didn’t just lose him; I lost my family too. I am really alone now.” I could feel the tears threatening to well up again. I took another sip of the cold coffee in an attempt to shock my system out of wanting to cry.
Max threw an arm over my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Raven, but you’re not alone anymore. I’m glad we met. I’m here for you whenever you need.”
“Thank you.” I leaned into his shoulder and it felt good. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been shown any affection. Even the platonic kind.
“Now, let’s go get a drink. My mimosa buzz is wearing off.” Max pulled me to my feet and dragged me in the direction of the Met Café.
The place was packed and there was only one space at the bar. As I glanced around the brightly lit café, looking for an empty table, my gaze locked with a familiar face and my stomach did a little somersault. Ozi.
“Ozi, are you listening to me?” Cassius asked. I wasn’t. Raven and Max had just walked into the Met Café. What were the odds?
I waved toward them. “Yeah—crypto, coding, lots of numbers, all that stuff.” I was not a numbers guy.