I smirked. "Liv and I both know you'll only need one."

  Liv snorted and then rolled off of her husband. "Honestly, Bridge, you could have given me a heads up. I could have gotten behind before you came in."

  I laughed. "I can go back out, but then it would be awkward because you know I'm listening. Ben is going to put on a show because he's proud of his performance. You're going to try not to scream Livy, but we’ve all heard you scream already. Which was awkward for the rest of us."

  Livy just laughed. "Oh my God, must you remind me? I had no idea you were there."

  I grinned. "Or, you're going to make me insanely jealous that I didn't sweep in and grab you up myself."

  She was already shaking her head as she came over to give me a hug. I gave her a squeeze and over her shoulder, I winked at Ben. "Then it would be my name you're calling. 'Oh Bridge. Oh my God. Right there.' Except it would take me longer than a minute."

  I pulled back and Livy swatted my arm. "Bridge. Enough."

  "Oh, come on. I love winding him up."

  Ben shook his head. "Nope, you can't wind me up today. I'm in a good mood." And then he eyed me closer. "And you seem like you are too.”

  I shrugged. Play it cool.

  He continued to analyze me closely. "Even before the devil took over your life, your best mood was really sort of grouchy and scowly. Right now, you don't look grouchy. And you aren't scowling. Oh, actually,"—he leaned forward, assessing me as he slid an arm around his wife's waist—"Oh my God, is that a hint of a smile? Are you sick? Are you dying? Is that what's happening?"

  I shook my head. "Fuck off."

  Ben chortled. "Can't mate. You wouldn't like me that way. So honestly, what's got you in a good mood?"

  "Nothing. I'm just as grumpy as I have always been."

  He laughed. "If you say so."

  Livy watched me too. She was more perceptive than Ben and East were. "He's right. You look happy about something. Are we finally done with Mina? Did she get all her shit out of the house?"

  I furrowed my brow. "Uh, I haven't really looked."

  "Bridge, you are letting her run all over you. Just like you've always done."

  "I am not. I just haven't really been invested in anything she does. I'm barely there, so I'm not paying attention."

  "You’ve moved Emma in now. I don't know how vindictive Mina is, that can't be a good combination. You're liable to come home to a pile of ashes one day."

  I shrugged. "My money is on Emma."

  Livy grinned. "Mine too. But Mina is devious and mean, so let's not go exposing Emma to that, shall we?"

  I nodded. "You have a point, but Emma can look after herself. She doesn't need me."

  Livy's brow lifted. "Uh-huh. Aren't you the same one who forbade her from working for Middleton?"

  I frowned. "Yes, I'm still unhappy about that."

  "Well, what happened to 'she can look after herself'?" She gave me a cheeky smile.

  "That's different. He’s dangerous."

  "And Mina is not?"

  "Mina is devious, yes. Self-indulgent, absolutely. Dangerous? No."

  Livy shrugged, went back to the couch, picked up an earring, slid it back in her ear and then scooped her hair back as the curls fell over her shoulders. "If you say so. But I don't buy it. I see danger there. But you would know her best, right?"

  What was she getting at?

  East and Nyla arrived next. Hugs were given and drinks were poured. Drew turned up finally. He barely greeted us before he poured himself a scotch. I slid my gaze over at East and inclined it toward Drew. Was he just drinking a lot because he liked the scotch? Specifically, his Macallan that Ben always stocked up on. But he'd been off for a bit. More than a bit. Months now. East had said something about him having an affair. Drew denied it, of course. And then he'd sort of admitted to it, but I had no idea what was going on there.

  Maybe we just needed to have some lads' time away when we finished with Middleton. Take a holiday. Once Livy and Nyla showed up, things got complicated. We had our focus elsewhere. Maybe it was time to head out to the villa in Greece. It was one of our properties for our special visitors. We could all take a holiday. Recharge. Get back to basics.

  East just made a face that said, ‘I don't know mate.’ And Ben, well, Ben was watching him like a hawk, but I didn't know if he was going to do anything about it yet.

  Telly turned up, still without Carmen. Her wife, apparently, had gone to Bristol. And the only reason I knew that was because I had gossiped with East, because the London Lords has to keep tabs on anything new about our little group. I was waiting for Emma to turn up. I kept looking at my phone to see if there was a text from her, but there wasn't.

  Finally, the doorbell rang, and I almost sprang up to answer. But in a tragically cool way.

  Oh yeah, real cool.

  She bounded in with a smile to everyone. "Sorry. Sorry. I got held up at work. I know this is a party in my honor, I suppose." She was all smiles for everyone. But to me, she gave me a head nod and scooted by with barely a touch.

  I scowled at her and whispered, "What the fuck?"

  "Remember, we’re playing it low key."

  Yeah, but low key was fucking annoying me.

  As my gaze narrowed on her, I had an overwhelming urge to scoop her up, bring her over, and show her how she was supposed to greet her husband properly.

  One, you're not her husband. Two, you should keep a low profile. Three, you're supposed to be playing it cool. Isn't that the way you two would always react to each other before? Pretend she didn't exist.

  Yes, but things were different now, weren't they?

  Yes, different, but the same. You're supposed to be playing it exactly the same.

  Goddamn it. I hated this already. I hated it. Memories of her lips on mine, and that breathy little sound when I hit that spot deep inside kept assailing me. Tickling my soul, forcing me to remember. Oh, fuck. I needed to take care of the erection in my trousers or somebody was going to notice.

  I turned my gaze away from her and focused on something Telly was saying. She was telling us about how, so far, she hadn't found anything on Middleton either. Or his clients for that matter. Nothing that wasn’t already public knowledge.

  And then everybody was talking about the merger and some other bullshit about some other thing. And fucking Emma wouldn't look at me.

  And like an obsessive fool, I tracked her every movement. Every step she took, I was tracking her.

  Goddamn it. I was a goner. Without even trying. Fucking hell.

  When the Middleton portion of our meet up was over, Emma and the girls went up to try on something for the wedding, and Drew frowned at me. "Wait, are we doing the two-wedding thing tomorrow?"

  I frowned. "Why would we do two weddings?"

  "You know, a British one and then a Hindi one."

  I frowned at him. "Why would we do a Hindi wedding?"

  "You know, to give Ems the cultural thing."

  I stared at him incredulously. I was going to kill him. "Why are we friends with him again?" I asked the others.

  East just blinked at him.

  And Ben, well, Ben scowled.

  Drew just frowned and shrugged. "What? What's wrong with you lot?"

  Ben and East left it to me. "You recognize that Emma isn't Hindu, right? She's Catholic. Just like Toby was."

  Drew's eyes went wide. "But she’s Indian. Isn’t it cultural?"

  Was he that daft?

  "Just because she's Indian doesn't mean she's Hindu. Where would you get that?"

  "Well, she ordered vegetarian at dinner the other night, right?"

  "Maybe she just likes vegetarian stuff. You have also seen her eat a steak."

  His brow furrowed as if something in his brain just couldn't compute. "Fucking hell. All this time, how have I not known?"

  "Maybe you're not paying close enough attention, for starters."

  He went and poured himself another scotch, which was another set of problems that we would deal with later.

  "All right, I heard from the old lady that she's very excited to be part of our little shindig tomorrow, so lads, just remember we're being watched the whole time." I shifted my gaze to Drew and waited for him to acknowledge.

  "Yeah, yeah. Why is everyone looking at me?"

  Ben sat back. "Mate, you've been real keen on the bottle lately. What’s happening?"

  Drew lifted a brow. "What? You're my father now?"

  Ben shrugged. "No. But the way you're hitting the bottle, it says something is wrong. So what's wrong?"

  He shook his head. "Nothing. I'm all right as rain. Everything is fine."

  Ben watched him. "Look mate, whatever is happening, you can talk to us about it. Or if not, at least keep your shit tight. No fuckups tomorrow."

  "I'm not the one who's going to fuck up." He pointed at me. "It's that one. That one is going to fuck up. He's bloody shagging her."

  My head snapped around to meet Drew's gaze. "The fuck?"

  "I can tell from the looks you've been giving her and the ones she's been sneaking to you. Did you think we wouldn't notice?"

  Oh, he was slick. It was a classic diversion. If everyone was looking at me, no one was looking at him. "I'm not shagging her."

  Unfortunately, my lie must not have been convincing enough because East piped in. "The fuck? Are you shagging Emma?"

  I shook my head and lied through my teeth. "No. I'd be in a much better mood if I was."

  It was then that Ben's gaze narrowed on me. "I'm not saying you are, but if you were, you know that would be foolish.”

  East threw up his hands. "Little Tobes? Are you trying to tell me you would shag little Tobes?"

  "First of all, keep your fucking voice down. Second of all, I'm not shagging anybody. Remember, you lot put my dick on lockdown."

  East shook his head at me. "You, of all people. You know how important this is. I know you're pissed off about Mina, and I understand you are angry. Which I get, but you would shag little Tobes? Fuck."

  "You think I'm in a right strop about Mina, do you?" I leaned back and crossed my arms. "I wonder why I'm on a scruff about her? Maybe if my mates had seen fit to tell me that she was a plant from my father, I wouldn't be in this mess nor be in this drama, right?"

  Ben cursed under his breath. "Okay, okay, everyone relax. Bridge, just be careful with Emma, yeah?"

  "No, bullshit. Why am I being warned about Emma?"

  East pushed to his feet. "Why? You know how emotional she is about this. There is zero negotiation with her about any of this. She walked right into Middleton’s office and took a bloody job because we weren't moving fast enough. When it comes to her brother, she cannot see straight. She can't. And you're going to fuck with her?"

  "Is that what you think I'm doing? Fucking with her?"

  "You haven't been able to keep your dick to yourself since you found out about Mina. Instead of manning up and just saying how twitched you are about the whole situation, you've been fucking your way through London. And that's all well and good with anybody else, but not baby Tobes."

  "You recognize she hates it when we call her that, right?"

  East looked at Ben for help and threw up his hands. "Are you listening to this?"

  I don't know what it was about Ben. But it was like he saw a little too much. "Bridge is the least stupid of all of us. He's not going to do anything to jeopardize any of this, is he?"

  I frowned then. "Who gets the stupid award then?"

  Ben tipped his thumb toward Drew. "That one."

  Drew flipped him the bird. "Fuck you."

  But Ben grinned. "Are we not going to talk about Mandy Williams?"

  Drew winced. "Ugh, mate, that one? Why are we bringing up old shit?"

  "Just so you'll have a perfect understanding of why you've been a knobhead every time, and why no matter how much you try, it's not going to be East or Bridge. Certainly not me."

  "How was I supposed to know her father was best mates with the Prime Minister?"

  "Pay attention."

  Drew sat down with his glass, tugging up his trousers as he went down. "Whatever. I'm not a knob head."

  East rolled his eyes. "Yes, you are. You're still our mate, but you are. Also, you didn't know Emma wasn't Hindu and that she was Catholic, so that makes you an extra knob head."

  He sighed. "Fine, whatever. If it makes you feel better to say that."

  I scowled. "Are we done here?"

  East turned his attention to me. "Not if you're shagging Emma."

  "Who I shag is none of your fucking business. Also, when did you become the self-appointed protector of Emma?"

  "It's supposed to be you. But right now, you're looking at her like she's bloody steak and you haven't eaten in a month. So, you'll forgive me if I don't believe you."

  "You think I have shagged Emma? Let me ask you this, would Emma shag me?"

  And with that question, all the lads relaxed.

  Ben sat back. "That's a good question. Unlikely. I don't know what you did that pissed her off in the past, but she's not exactly your biggest fan."

  "Yeah, thanks for the reminder." I hated that they’d caught that.

  Ben sat forward. "But you need to clear the air about Mina, mate."

  I shook my head. "Bygones." They were bygones, weren't they?

  "You say it's over, but how can it be? You're clearly still tweaked about it."

  "You know what, we're not having this conversation. I don't want to talk about this."

  Ben leaned forward and placed his glass on the table. "Look, we know we fucked up. And we never really had the chance to clear the air."

  "Consider it cleared. I'm glad I know. I just… Why didn't anyone trust me enough to tell me before?"

  Ben pressed his lips together and slid his gaze to East and Drew. But he didn't say anything because it wasn't his style to toss the two of them under the bus like that.

  East ran a hand through his hair. "I knew your Dad's plan to let Mina into your life. It was a shitty judgment call and you weren't supposed to get hurt, but you did. You were unhappy. I made the call. That was my fault."

  I turned my attention to Drew when he said, “You know what mate, you wouldn't listen at all. And when someone won't listen, you can't tell them anything. We would have lost you if we'd said anything. So we just kept as close an eye on her as we could, but not really telling you about it, and maybe that was a wrong choice. But we did our best for you at the time."

  I thought about that. Would I have listened? Now I could look back and say that I would have if they’d just fucking told me. But maybe that was the appeal and lure of Mina. I couldn't see. I was blinded by her. Unable to see anything beyond her perfection.

  I nodded. "It's something to think about."

  East gave me a nod. "Yeah mate, think about it. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here."

  And I knew they would be. I was just going to have to figure out something to get past it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Emma

  I was getting married today.

  It was the most surreal feeling. I'd woken up in Bridge's bed, which was probably bad luck, but who the hell knew, because this wasn't exactly a real marriage.

  Didn't you just tell him that you are going to give it a chance?

  I had said that and meant it at the time. I was going to give it a chance. But it was safer to hedge my bets. And this marriage was so unconventional already. Not at all the proper order of things. I was agreeing to date, not to be married to him forever.

  Fuck. Had I really agreed to this?

  I patted the bed next to me and the sheets were cool. I'd heard him moving around the floor, maybe gone to the gym or downstairs to do a lap in the pool. I wasn't sure. I rolled over to my side of the bed and grabbed my phone. In all of this craziness, I hadn't called Mum. And if I was getting married today, I should probably mention it to her. Except, what was I going to say?

  Automatically, I dialed speed dial number one, and she answered on the second ring. "Darling, why are you calling now? It's the middle of the night."

  Fuck. "Sorry, Mum. Why are you up?"

  "Oh, I just got back from this midnight exhibit at this fabulous art gallery here in New York."

  I blinked. My mother? I didn't even know she liked art galleries. "By yourself?"

  "For your information, I am a grown woman and I can go to art galleries by myself. But I was with some friends and Pinky Auntie."

  I frowned. Friends? My mum had friends? Oh sure, through the years she'd made friends with other mums. You know, play group mums and all that sort of thing, making sure that I had people to talk to. I just assumed that those were her friends. And yes, there were people she had dined with every now and again, and she had her best friend Aunt Tildy. But Aunt Tildy lived in Ireland. So who were these other friends?

  "Who are these people? Do I know them?"

  "Sweetheart, I know that it's confusing for you, but I have people in my life other than you now."

  "Yeah, I know. I just didn't know you knew that many people in New York, that's all."

  I could hear her sigh. "Yes, love. For all you know, I'm even dating."

  I coughed and then sat straight up. "What? Who are you dating? I already told you that if you are going to start dating you need to let me do the picking. I don't trust your taste."

  She laughed. "Sweetheart, I'm not going to do the Tinder."

  "Please, no, Mum. Never Tinder. There are other options. Bumble, Raya, I mean, you are a famous artist after all. You could apply for Raya, that's the one where famous people meet other famous people. Oh my God, what if you dated someone like Brad Pitt?" Famous was a stretch, but she’d had a piece bought by a Kardashian, so that was something.

  Mum laughed. "Oh my God, darling. I love that you think that I could pull Brad Pitt."

  Mum was beautiful. I wanted to look exactly like her in twenty years’ time. Her skin was still smooth and unlined, thank you melanin. Her hair was still dark, though she aided it along with hair color every now and again. Her henna treatments took all bloody day. And she kept in shape. Yoga. Running. She even took a hip-hop dance class once. I wondered if she was still dancing. "Mum, you're a hottie. Agreed. Everybody would think so. I'm just curious about who you are dating."