“Hart. What’s up, man?” Vincent slapped hands with him while I sank deeper into my seat.
If I hadn’t been convinced the universe was fucking with me before, I was a true believer now. The chances of us running into Clive in this dinky cinema were so slim, they were near impossible, yet here he was.
If I were a more paranoid person, I’d find his appearance suspicious, but it was a huge movie opening and I didn’t have a monopoly on this cinema. Besides, I wasn’t vain or self-centered enough to think a guy would stalk me after meeting me once.
After he greeted Vincent, Clive’s attention flipped to me. His eyes widened, and a slow smile spread across his face.
“Scarlett. Wow. I didn’t expect…” His gaze slid to Vincent again. “Are you on a date?”
Full-body shudders ran through me and Vincent at the same time.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Vincent said. “She’s my sister.”
“Sister?” Clive’s gaze darted back and forth, obviously trying to make sense of our contrasting looks.
“Adopted.” Vincent’s brows drew together. “Wait. How do you know her?”
Oh, fuck. My fingers curled around the edge of my seat. If Clive mentioned Neon, that was a step away from mentioning Asher, and that was a step away from total disaster.
“We met at a party last weekend. She—”
“The one I told you about,” I added quickly. “Remember, Vince? I was there with Carina, and you called me on my way home.”
Clive’s eyebrows rose at the emphasis I placed on Carina’s name. He knew I hadn’t shown up with a girlfriend, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.
Please be smart enough to pick up on what I’m putting out.
“Where was the party? You didn’t say.” Suspicion leaked into Vincent’s voice.
I didn’t blame him. Carina and I weren’t big partiers, and we certainly weren’t the types who usually attended the same events as someone like Clive.
“Some club. I forgot the name,” I said. “The night was kind of a blur.”
“Hart? You remember?” Vincent asked. The suspicion grew from a seed into a sapling.
I saw the instant the pieces clicked for Clive. I was Vincent’s sister. I’d lied about being at the party with Carina so I didn’t have to mention who I was really with (Asher). Like 98 percent of the planet, Clive probably knew Asher and Vincent didn’t get along.
It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
“Peony, Legends, MYX…it could’ve been any or none of those,” Clive said. “Honestly, I was pretty smashed. Don’t remember much beyond meeting Scarlett.”
“Huh.” Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “What happened after you met?”
“We talked for a few minutes. Then I took Carina to the loo because she, uh, got sick and threw up all over the bar.” I’m so sorry, Car. I’ll donate extra to your penguin fund to make up for the slander.
My brother grimaced.
Thankfully, we were saved from further interrogation when the lights dimmed and a prerecorded voice announced the film was about to start.
“How do you know Clive?” I whispered after the rugby player left and took his seat several rows behind us.
My nerves were still in knots from the close call. I needed to know how often Vincent talked to Clive in case the latter slipped up about Asher.
“We have a few mutual friends, but we’re not that close.” Vincent finally took his sunglasses off and dropped them in the cup holder. “Stay away from him. He’s a fuckboy.”
Interesting. Asher had said the exact same thing.
The opening credits rolled. The ensuing action sequences and up-close shots of Nate Reynolds’s face temporarily alleviated my worries, but my bladder caught up with me an hour in.
I snuck out during a lull and quickly used the loo. I didn’t want to miss anything important.
I exited the toilet and nearly bumped into Clive, who was leaving the men’s room at the same time.
“Hey!” He smiled. “Third run-in in a week. I’m starting to think the universe is trying to tell us something.”
The universe has been trying to tell me a lot of things lately. I wished it would keep its mouth shut, but it had a tendency to butt in where it wasn’t welcome.
“Perhaps, though I’m not sure the cinema and the cinema toilet count as two separate instances.” Just because I had beef with an immortal, amorphous force didn’t mean I had to bring innocent bystanders into it.
Clive laughed. “I guess not.”
“Thank you for not blowing my cover earlier,” I added. “Vincent can be a little overprotective, and I didn’t want him knowing that, um…”
“You and Donovan have a thing going on?” It might’ve been a trick of the light, but I thought I saw Clive’s eyes flicker at the mention of Asher.
“We don’t have a thing going on.” If I could bold, highlight, and underline that sentiment three times, I would. “We’re just…” Friends? Colleagues? Acquaintances? None of those terms felt right. “Platonic.”
I was starting to hate that word, but it was the most accurate description I could come up with.
