Dirty Little Lies (Dirty Little #2) (3 page)

Corinne smirks at me, reminding me of the young woman that she was before this whole scandal came to light. Defiant, smart, and carefree. It’s a smirk that makes me glad I stood up to these women. It makes me want to make Corinne proud.
 

“Give ‘em hell. And report back to me after.”
 

That’s exactly what I’m gonna do.
 

“This turnout is pathetic,” Mitzi Vandergraff says, as she surveys said pathetic crowd. She’s the only person I know who manages to look simultaneously elegant and, well…like a complete bitch. Her arms are crossed over the (probably) hand-beaded bodice of her couture gown, as she rolls her eyes. “I was right to want you off the board, Marisa.
They
wanted to keep you to spare your feelings.” She sweeps her perfectly manicured hand toward the other architectural board members standing to our right, who look just as worried about the turnout as I feel. “But I told them it was a terrible idea.”
 

“Luckily you never worry about sparing anyone’s feelings,” I reply dryly. The sentiment isn’t as cutting as it could be considering she’s absolutely right.
 

I told Corinne that I was going to come in here and give ‘em hell, but all the fight is draining from me. The me-against-the-world attitude that’s been keeping me going lately has all but fizzled out. For the first time since my parents’ scandal broke, I feel defeated.
 

Not wanting to stand in Mitzi’s judgmental presence for a second longer than I have to, I excuse myself to mingle. I walk through the crowd, looking for a friendly face, for an opening to a conversation. Anything.
 

I’m hit hard by this low attendance. Usually at events like this, the din of the crowd drowns out the ambient music, but the six-piece orchestra is loud and clear tonight.
 

This fundraiser is a dud, as much as it pains me to admit it. What hurts even more is that it’s all my fault.

Why didn’t I just step down? Being a Blake is social poison right now, and if it wasn’t for my pride…

“Marisa?” asks a familiar voice, as the hand belonging to the owner of that voice rests on my forearm.
 

I turn and see Caleb Simmons. He’s one of Ben’s best friends, and someone that I considered to be a good friend of mine, too, once upon a time. We only ever talk to each other once in a while. Not very often at all since Ben and I broke up.
 

That’s one of the things that makes breakups even worse, I think. The divvying up of possessions and friendships. When Ben and I were together, Caleb and I were pretty close. After the breakup, we’re really nothing more than cordial acquaintances.
 

I knew I could count on him to show up tonight, despite the scandal attached to my rapidly devaluing last name. He’s just that kind of guy.

“Hi!” If I’m a little over-enthusiastic, can you blame me? His is the first friendly face I’ve seen all night.
 

Caleb gives me a warm smile, one that I remember him wearing so often when we first met. He opens his arms to me and I go in for a hug.

“How are
you
?” I ask, my voice muffled against his shoulder.
 

“I’m doing well,” he replies. I can tell that his answer is sincere, and he’s not just putting me on, like some people who run in our circle have a tendency to do. Hesitantly he asks, “And you?”
 

I offer him a half-hearted smile and a shrug. “Been better, but you probably know that. Tonight certainly isn’t helping.” I gesture to the room around me, still looking about as pathetic as Mitzi said it was, all things considered.
 

“You know what? Fuck ‘em.” Caleb tips back a sip of champagne, and I can’t help but laugh. It’s a shame that everything that happened between Ben and me strained things between me and Caleb, because I’ve missed him. He always did know how to make me look on the bright side of things, even where his best friend’s shitty behavior was concerned.
 

“Hey,” I say, leaning in close so that no one will overhear me. “My parents didn’t…you know?” I can’t bring myself to outright ask him if my parents stole from him, although I have to know.
 

“No.” His brows furrow together as he considers his words. “Your father contacted my secretary a few times, but—no offense—I never took any of his meetings.”
 

A wave of relief washes over me, and I let out a long exhale. “Thank god. No offense taken. That’s probably shaping up to be one of your better business decisions, don’t you think?”
 

“Marisa…”
 

He has this look on his face that most people get when I try to make light of the situation, but it’s the only way I know how to deal with this. “It’s okay. I know joking about it makes it awkward, but I’m not really sure how to deal with it otherwise.”
 

Caleb nods; I know he understands. There was a time when he knew me well enough to understand my coping mechanisms, and it looks like that knowledge has carried over through the years. He knows exactly where I’m coming from.
 

“So, what have you been up to? Ben filled me in on the mini empire you’re building,” he says casually. “He said you have a new site up and running. I checked it out earlier. The functionality is amazing. My girlfriend loves it.”
 

I’m sure my mouth is hanging open, because he just casually dropped a Ben bomb and then moved right along with the conversation. I’m having trouble processing the information. Ben is aware of what I’ve been doing with my business? He knows about my site?
 

“Ben…” I can’t quite figure out what I want to say next, or which question out of the thousands that are floating through my mind I should ask first. I settle on, “What?”
 

“Caleb!” Mitzi sidles up right in between us.
 

Caleb schools the exasperated irritation that flashes across his face in a second. “It’s so good to see you! I’m glad you decided to come despite the…” she shoots me a dirty look, her perfectly lined beady little eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “Circumstances.”
 

With a tight smile, Caleb says, “It’s a pleasure to come out and support a cause that my friend is so passionate about.”
 

Mitzi preens under Caleb’s compliment, and the sight of it turns my stomach.
 

“And,” Caleb continues as he steps to the side, “I was in the middle of talking to that friend, so if you’ll excuse me.”
 

If I could bottle up the look of undignified horror on Mitzi’s face as she realizes that Caleb has just dismissed her, I’m pretty sure I could live off of it for a year.
 

She walks off, scandalized, and I just want to hug Caleb again.

“Thank you,” I say gratefully, as I grab a flute of champagne off of the tray of a waiter passing by.

“My pleasure.” He grins in that playful way I remember, whenever he, Ben, and their other friend Oliver were up to something. “I know she was pushing to have you removed from the committee.”
 

I furrow my brow. “How did you know that?”
 

“Ben filled Oliver in on it, and they, in turn, told me. Oh.” He pats at his breast pocket. “Oliver couldn’t come, but he sent me with a check.”

I smile. “Thank you. And I’ll be sure to thank him, too. But…Ben. How did Ben know about the committee? How did Ben know about my site, and-”

“Hey.” A pretty brunette in a stunningly gorgeous dress slings her arm around Caleb’s, and he beams down at her like she’s the sun.
 

“Hey there.” He gives her a kiss, followed by this dopey little grin. It’s such a far cry from the detached, closed-off guy that I knew in college that the whole exchange takes me back a bit. Still, I can’t help but smile at them. They’re one of those disgusting couples who just radiate bliss.

Apparently they’re also one of those couples who forget about the world around them when they’re around each other, because it takes Caleb about a full minute to remember that there are other people in the room.
 

He shakes his head, remembering himself.

“Marisa, this is Mia, my girlfriend. Mia,” he says purposefully, giving a pointed nod in my direction, “this is Marisa.”
 

Mia’s whole face lights up at the mention of my name; she reaches out and enthusiastically shakes my hand. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she says. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
 

Caleb clears his throat, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was warning her to be quiet, probably to keep her from telling me everything that she’s heard about me. Which…why is she hearing things about me, exactly? I feel like I’m in some kind of twilight zone.
 

Ben—ex-boyfriend Ben, serial cheater and breaker of my heart Ben—is reading up on me? He’s following my life and my work and telling his friends about it?
 

Mia must get a sense that I’m about to barrage her with questions. “Caleb told me a lot about you,” she hedges, even though I know it’s a lie. She’s so sweet I don’t call her out on it. “You two knew each other in college?”
 

I nod, then take a sip of my champagne. “We did, and I somehow lived to tell the tale.”
 

Mia and Caleb let out a chuckle, then Mia looks a bit wistful. “I would’ve liked to have known Caleb back then.”
 

“I don’t know if this will disappoint you or make you happy, but I don’t have any scandalous stories about him. Caleb was always the perfect gentleman when I was around.”
 

Mia narrows her eyes at me like she doesn’t believe me, but I’m telling her the truth. Caleb treated me better than Ben ever did, often times sticking around in the aftermath of a breakup, offering me a pint of mint chip and a shoulder to cry on.
 

“Did Caleb tell you that Oliver couldn’t make it tonight?” Mia asks.
 

I nod.
 

Caleb laughs. “I told you I wasn’t going to forget.”
 

Mia shrugs. “I just wanted to make sure. Ben should be here any second,” she says, scanning the crowd. “I told him not to be late, but he’s late.”
 

I invited him, so the fact that he’s coming isn’t a complete surprise, but knowing that his appearance is imminent makes my heart skip a beat.
 

I’m not sure I want to examine the reason for that too closely.

“Marisa,” Caleb starts, and I know for sure that I don’t want to hear what he’s going to say. I have a feeling that it’s going to be exactly what I don’t want to hear: that Ben’s changed, that he really means it this time, that he wants to give us another shot. “Look, about Ben…”

I just…I can’t hear that right now.
 

“I’m sorry, I just remembered that I have a…I have a thing I have to attend to over there.” I hope I sound as friendly as I’m trying to sound, and not completely like I’m bailing, even though Caleb knows me well enough to know that I’m bailing. “I’ll see you two before you leave?”
 

Mia gives me a friendly smile. “Maybe we can meet up for coffee sometime?”
 

I nod. Yes, coffee. “Sure, that sounds wonderful.”
 

I practically trip over my own feet as I make my way to the door, desperate for some fresh air.
 

The Murphy Building is an exquisite structure in a city full of exquisite structures. Sure, its cracked marble stairway needs some repairs, and the grand, ornate columns along the front that stretch up toward the sky aren’t as polished and unblemished as they used to be. In a place like New York—where every inch of real estate is precious—the fact that such a beautiful building fell into this state of disrepair is appalling.
 

It’s always been one of my favorite places in the city, ever since I was old enough to climb to the top of the stairs on my own. I’d look out at the crowded streets full of taxis and buses, the sidewalks packed with people hurrying from here to there. For the first time in my young life, in a city that is so easy to get lost in, I felt big.
 

My nanny would take me on picnics here on my first and last days of school. She’d lift me up onto the short marble ledge that ran along the East side of the building, then pull herself up to sit beside me. We’d eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and dangle our legs while we ate, our heels clicking against the concrete wall.

Ben kissed me for the first time on the steps of this building. I was a freshman in college, and he was a sophomore. We met in the library at Columbia, when Ben bumped into me in the stacks. I had my arms full of books, and he helped me carry them to my table. He took a seat next to me, and walked me through Professor Calderon’s syllabus. He had taken a class with her the year before, and was familiar with the assignments.
 

He sat a little too close, his shoulder brushing mine. We leaned over the paper together, smiling at each other as I made notes in the margins. He smelled like soap and spice, and I wanted to know what his full, pink lips tasted like.
 

Later that afternoon, we went on a New York native’s tour of our favorite places. He walked me across Bow Bridge, and I brought him here, to this building. There was a street performer playing the violin, and Ben danced me across the promenade. We both laughed when he dipped me, and after, he brushed the backs of his fingers across my blushing cheek. I was breathless from wanting him so badly, and when his lips touched mine, I knew my life wouldn’t ever be the same again.
 

If I knew then about the heartbreak and the pain that would follow that perfect kiss, I wonder…would I have done anything differently?

“Hey.” Ben’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
 

I wish I could say that I’m surprised to see him standing here, but that sixth sense of his must be in full effect tonight. I’m definitely feeling emotionally vulnerable, so of course he found me.