The Billionaire Laid Bare by Avery James

Author:Avery James [James, Avery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-11T08:00:00+00:00

CATHERINE

Back outside, on the front steps of the Met, it hits me. I’m back in Manhattan. I’m home. I know I should head straight back to the loft and wait for Blake, but I can’t resist a chance to stroll for a while without worrying about the problems that have engulfed my life. If Ben barely recognized me, I doubt a random passerby would think twice about who I was.

I start walking and lose myself for a while, just glad to be back, when a woman in a bright pink coat nearly walks into me. “Sorry,” I say as I take a step to the side and keep going.

“Cat?” she says. “Is that you?”

I turn and look at the woman. It’s Felicity, my ex–best friend. “Hey, Lis,” I say. I wonder if my old nickname for her is too much now that we’re no longer friends.

She squints and narrows her eyes as she looks at me. “Is that really you? You look so different.”

“I’m trying a new thing,” I say. “This is my official broke girl hoodie.”

Felicity laughs. “It’s a good look on you. The whole thing, not the broke part. You look good, less angry or something.”

“It’s perspective, I think.” I look at her for a second and wonder why I ever got so worked up over what she or anyone else thought. I decide to just tell her exactly how I feel. It’s not worth pretending anymore. “Losing everything helps you realize what and who matters. It really hurt when you guys shut me out, but it was for the best.”

“Just so you know, we didn’t stop hanging out with you because you lost your money. We did it because we weren’t afraid of you anymore. I developed serious self-image problems because of you. I never understood why I wasn’t good enough. Eventually I realized I was, and that you were the problem, not me.”

I want to say something. In the past, my reaction would have been to say something clever and brush the whole thing off, but I don’t want to do that now. I want to tell her the truth. “I’m sorry,” I tell her. It hurts to see the way she looks at me, like she really is afraid of me. I feel awful, ashamed of the entitled brat I was, ashamed that I could hurt someone so badly without even realizing it. “Lis, I’m so sorry. If I can ever make it up to you, let me know.”

She cracks a smile. “I waited for years to tell you that.”

“You should have told me sooner.”

“So we could have stayed friends?”

“So I would have stopped being a bitch,” I say.

“Must be that guy you brought to my party. Looks like he’s been good for you. I really mean that, Cat. You’ll have to tell me what your dad thinks of him.”

“Why do you ask that?” I’m wondering if she has some kind of inside knowledge of Blake and my dad.

“I saw your father five minutes ago walking into a café.

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