Club Saturday: Contemporary Menage Romance (Sarasota Sin Series Book 2) (23 page)

He kissed her forehead. “Under the watchful eye of several bodyguards and plain clothes security, you’re spending a couple of hours at the spa before heading to the boutique.” Since the boutique manager couldn’t get to the loft due to boatloads of paparazzi, Vania was forced to go there.
 

“Evan and I will handle this.” Drake slipped his phone in his pocket. “This is our mess, not yours.”

“It
is
mine.” She closed her eyes, hating how weak she felt, as if a virus had zapped her energy.
 
“Pictures of Evan kissing me are everywhere, alongside that stupid altercation with Gayle.” When Vania heard her phone go off again, she kicked her purse. “My family’s blowing up my phone.” None of this compared to what the vultures said about Matt and Vania.

“Everything will die down.”

“I doubt it. I’m getting messages from people I haven’t heard from in years. I swear they all want money or fifteen minutes of fame.” She opened her eyes. “I’m sorry. I said I could handle this.” Vania squeezed their hands. “Obviously, I’m shit at it.”

“You would handle this fine,” Drake countered, “if Matt hadn’t been hospitalized last night. The press is making this out to be something it’s not: you partying at a club while your ex fiancé was in a terrible auto accident.”

She looked at Drake. “Matt was on my to-do list this morning. I wanted to confront him, was more than ready for having it out with him after seeing the elevator footage, even before that man touched me again.”

“We tried to get information from Matt last night,” Evan confided.

Vania whipped her head around. “How? You were with me all night.”

“Right.” Evan’s dark eyebrows lifted above his sunglasses. “But I sent investigators to question Matt. I wanted every detail of that night he sent you to Club Saturday’s elevators.”

“A sicko is after you.” Drake turned on the bench seat and wrapped his arms around her. “And the whole damn deal is Matt Lambert’s fault.”

Her stomach twisted, but somehow Vania felt stronger for Drake’s expression. She’d seen it before when he was dismantling companies and selling off the chunks like rusty parts. “Did you find out anything before Matt,” she trailed off, couldn’t finish.

“No.” Drake’s face turned to stone. “To avoid questioning, the idiot jumped in his car when our investigators approached him, and then pulled into traffic going the wrong way. He’s lucky he got by with a few broken bones.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry that he’s hurt.”

“This. Is. Matt’s. Fault.” Evan tore his hand from hers and fisted it on his knee.
 

The car stopped behind The Easton Hotel.
 
A few reporters were hiding among dumpsters, though several were waiting in plain sight at the backdoors. Thankfully, they weren’t allowed inside the hotel. If they crossed that line, The Easton Company would have them trespassed, which would make it impossible for them to investigate future stories — most likely would get them fired, as well.

“I know it’s Matt’s fault. Evan, come on, talk to me.”

“Might I remind you that a man put his hands and mouth all over you?” Evan snapped, “A stranger, Vania, a fucking stranger who touched you. When our people approached Matt for help, telling him —"

“Matt knew I’d been attacked last night, and he took off anyway?”

“Yes,” Evan said curtly, but she knew his anger wasn’t aimed at her. “And I have the distinct impression he knows who was in that elevator with you. Problem is — conveniently, none of our people are allowed in his hospital room.”

“By what our investigators told us, though, Matt looked nothing short of guilty,” Drake added.

Vania grabbed her purse from the floor. “I have to go see Matt, make him tell me the truth.”

“You’re right,” Evan bit out. “I’ve scheduled your visit after the fundraiser gets underway.”
 

“I must stay there all night,” she argued. “Remember? It’s Avery’s thing —"

“You’re going to make an appearance with Aunt Gilda and me,” Evan said. “Press is too hot on this story. You need to make both appearances tonight, Baby. I’m sorry.”

Drake rubbed her shoulder. “I’ve ordered a villa for us, for afterwards.”

“Won’t the press follow me to the hospital?” Both men looked at her steadily, not blinking. “Oh, you
want
the press to follow me from the fundraiser to the hospital.” She wasn’t normally slow but stress did wonders for brain functioning.
 

“Yes, for two reasons,” Drake explained. “We want the fundraiser to be successful for the hospital, and these headlines are negative press to fling at it. Secondly, since he was the one kissing you in the pictures, Evan needs to be photographed walking you in the hospital to see Matt. A public appearance this soon would show the vultures and their readers that we have nothing to hide.”

“We’re making visual statements for the press’s sake?”
 

“For my sake and yours, Vania,” Evan said. “The meddling part of the world needs to know that you and Matt may have broken up but you remain amicable, and there’s no love triangle involving me. He’s supposedly suffering in a damn hospital bed and appearing as the victim. It can’t go down this way in the media.”

“Otherwise,” Drake added, “the press will run with this and end up exposing truths you don’t want exposed. In our world, privacy is a paid-for privilege. You don’t want everyone knowing what really happened between you and Matt, then about Club Saturday’s elevators. Right?”

“Right,” Vania whispered. She felt the water rising in her new fishbowl, curious eyes peeking in with flashing cameras and greedy smiles. “No matter what you two have, there’s no room to breathe, is there?”

“We
will
have privacy later. When we celebrate your birthday in style. Lots of gifts.” Evan took off his glasses and winked at her. “Lots of skin on skin.”

Vania leaned toward him. “How can you even think of celebrating at a time like this?”

“Because our woman’s birthday is today and that means
everything
.”

She shook her head, sensing a standoff.

Drake rubbed a fingertip between her eyebrows, soothing her frown line. “Ready?”

Evan smiled brightly when the limo’s door opened. “I’ll do all the talking. Don’t cling to Drake.”

Don’t cling to Drake? Did Payton have to do this? Pretend she was with one man only in the public eye, while loving two in secret? Yes, of course she did. The world thought Payton Easton was Dylan Easton’s wife, solely belonging to him and not Avery.

 
She tensed as Evan pulled her from the limo.
 
He ran his hand down her spine until it rested possessively on her lower back. Drake stayed behind them.

It felt weird.

And wrong.

Completely hypocritical.
 

“Miss Lange!” A stranger called, his strobe blinking in her face.
 
“Anything you want to say about your fiancé’s accident?”

Flash.

Snap.

Flash.

“Have you visited Dr. Lambert yet?” another asked.

Snap.

“Who is Gayle Murphy to you, Miss Lange?”

Flash.

“What brought on such violence on her part?”

Snap.

“How long have you been seeing Mr. Easton? The wedding venue hasn’t even been canceled with Matt Lambert yet.”

Flash.

Snap.

Flash.

Questions and snapping shutters were endless, turning the one-minute walk to the backdoor into ten. But Vania stayed at Evan’s side, keeping her mouth closed while he fielded each question hurdled at them. She had no idea what Evan was saying but she kept her chin at a normal level — not down as though she were ashamed, not up as if she didn’t care. She’d been drilled before she got in the car. No talking permitted because Vania had no experience with the media.

When they finally made it inside the hotel, Vania spotted Cora.

Drake fell in step beside Evan and Vania. “I called her.”
 

“You’re not making her work on her day off.
 
Are you?” Vania peered up at him, wishing she could kiss away the knots forming in his jaw. “I’ve offered to come upstairs and help for as long as I can.”

“She’s here for you, Baby.”
 
Evan tugged her along by the hand. “We thought you might need some girl time while picking out your clothes and enjoying the spa.”

“You’re paying for Cora to join me at the spa?” Cora made decent money, but The Easton Spa was a no-go for anyone making less than six figures.
 

“Yes,” Drake assured her with a light squeeze to her shoulder. She hated the distance and wanted to touch him as much as Evan.

“Thank you and don’t worry.” Vania forced a smile. “I won’t say anything to Cora about us.”

“Eventually she needs to know,” Drake said carefully. “She is my PA, after all. But for now, Cora knows only what the media has put out there. She’s smart enough to sniff through garbage and already knows Matt cheated on you. So let’s leave it at that.”

Evan pulled her in for a light kiss and hug. “We’ll be right upstairs if you need anything.” His eyes circled the side lobby. “Your people are in place.”

“I can’t believe I have people,” she said of her security team.

“Believe it.” Drake traced her lips with his eyes.
 

She nodded, wishing she could kiss him, too. But…
 
“I don’t like this part.”

“Dylan, Payton, and Avery are happy,” Drake whispered as he started walking away. “It’ll take time but we’ll find our comfortable spot in public, too.”

“Don’t look that way, Birthday Girl.” Cora walked up to Vania and threw an arm over her shoulder. “Doesn’t matter what the press is saying,” she whispered. “You’ve landed the hottest men this side of the equator. Fuck the jealous world, my friend. Fuck them all.”

It took Vania a moment to catch up. “Men?”

“You think I didn’t see the way my boss was eating you up with those crazy wild eyes of his.” Cora bit her plump lip. “Sorry, I guess I won’t be talking about how gorgeous Drake Easton is anymore… at least around you.”

“You haven’t mentioned how gorgeous Drake is. Only had eyes for Julian, I thought.”

Cora waved a nonchalant hand. “I’m done with him.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Drake and Evan were right; Vania needed girl time. How had they read her so well? “You’ve wanted Julian for longer than we’ve been friends.”

“Have you seen Patrick Newson in legal?”

“No, but I’ve talked to him several times on the phone. He’s one of the lead attorneys who deals directly with Avery. Why?”

“When you next see him, you’ll understand why I’m forgetting about Julian Easton.”

“Any man who can make you forget about Julian is worth a trip down to legal.” Vania laughed. “I’ll get on that first thing Monday morning.”

“You won’t have to wait till Monday,” Cora singsonged. “Patrick invited me to tonight’s fundraiser.”

Vania sensed her first, genuine smile of the day. She tugged Cora inside the spa. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Chapter 26

“Vania, I can’t believe you bought me this dress.” Cora preened beneath a Live Oak tree where candlelit lanterns floated among branches.

“Drake and Evan bought the dress so you can thank them later.”

“I will.”

Evan and Drake were MIA. That Singapore conference call couldn’t have come at a worse time. Fifteen minutes into the fundraiser and poof, they were gone. But a deal of that magnitude collapsing, she realized, could lower Easton stock, which wasn’t ideal in
any
economy much less this struggling one.
 

“You look absolutely gorgeous, Cora. Spa treatments and expensive clothes suit you.”

“
Cinderella
tonight turned pumpkin tomorrow.”
 

“Not one day have you been a damn pumpkin.” Vania cast her eyes on the closest tent. “Go you, by the way. Patrick looks more like a movie star than an attorney. He’s only got eyes for you, even with those women shooting fuck-me flares at him.”

“That’s the problem with dating hot men, huh?” Her dark brows bunched a moment, as if remembering something she shouldn’t. “Anyway, I see Miles Easton here tonight.” Cora discreetly nodded where Miles stood by Gilda Easton. “Strange how quickly he’s coming on board. Anytime I see him with the others, however, Miles is tense. You know, the odd man out.”

“I noticed, too.
 
Funny how he’s kept from the media’s clutches and I’m not.” Vania studied Miles a moment. Even from a distance, he was the carbon copy of his half-brother Dylan. “Though his name wasn’t Easton before, I don’t think.”
 

“I heard Dylan’s father never claimed him.” Cora lifted her eyebrows meaningfully.

Vania knew nothing of Miles, had seen him in the office on occasion while under the tutelage of Julian.

When Cora opened her mouth, Vania whispered, “Shh, they’re coming this way.”