Serendipity (Inevitable) (24 page)

Cameron felt like kicking Nathan under the table, and pulling Julia’s hair. The fact that her own fiancé was now singing the little bitch’s praises made her stomach clench. And how the hell much time was he spending in her office anyway? Her palm began to twitch with the need to hit something, someone.

When the waiter arrived with her martini, she drank it down like it was lemonade, drawing a raised brown from Nathan.

“Easy, there,” he said in a hushed tone. “What the hell’s the matter with you, anyway? You haven’t said two words all evening and you’ve been belting drinks back like a sailor on shore leave.”

“What’s wrong?” she hissed. “What the hell do you think is wrong? I’m fucking sick of hearing about how fucking wonderful that little bitch is. All of you might as well be kissing her perky little ass.”

“Keep it down!” he urged in a low whisper. “And ease up on the booze, Cam. Maybe we should order you some coffee.”

Defiantly, she poured herself another glass of wine and swallowed half of it at once. “I’m fine,” she bit out. “Now can you act like my fiancé for the first time tonight and try to change the goddamned subject at this table?”

In actuality, it was Julia who tactfully changed the subject when she asked Jackson more about this winery, a topic he was only too happy to expand upon. That only worked for a little while, however, before he began to ask her and Travis questions about potential re-design ideas not just for the tasting rooms but for two of his personal residences.

Julia was well aware of the murderous glares she’d been receiving all evening from Cameron. The blonde hadn’t even said hello to her when they had all taken their seats earlier, nor had she said a single word to her since.

And she had absolutely no idea what sort of little scheme Travis and Anton had cooked up between them, but it was quite obvious to her that something was up. She’d given Travis a couple of little nudges under the table, and frowned at Anton more that once when they had persisted in making her the subject of conversation. It made her very uncomfortable to find herself the center of attention, for she was normally a rather private person. She’d spent almost half her life trying
not
to call attention to herself, and wasn’t very happy that the two men were now doing just the opposite.

The waiters had cleared away the main course and were starting to bring coffee around in preparation for dessert. Julia figured this would be a good time to visit the ladies room, and excused herself quietly. She happened to catch Nathan’s eye as she stood, and was conscious of him watching her as she walked away from the table.

She’d been more than a little on edge all evening with Nathan seated directly across the table from her. Very aware of the presence of his fiancée by his side, Julia had been extremely careful to keep any conversation with him brief and polite, and had avoided looking in his direction as much as possible. But despite her best efforts, there had been several times when their gazes had collided and held until one or the other had looked away abruptly.

It was killing her to see him with Cameron, to covertly watch the other woman touch him, whisper to him, to know that she would be the one sharing his bed tonight. Julia didn’t know if they lived together or not, but it was difficult to believe they didn’t have frequent and very physical sex. Nathan had been such a hungry and demanding lover during their one night together that she knew he’d need to fuck often and hard. She bit down on her bottom lip to stifle its trembling, and refused to let herself picture him screwing Cameron as well and as eagerly as he’d done her. It was obvious from his skill and his dominance in bed that he had a lot of experience, certainly far more than she did, and she realized that there had likely been quite a few women in his life. That realization made her doubt even more that the night they had spent together had really meant anything to him other than another notch on his belt.

The ladies room was mostly empty when she walked in, with one woman washing her hands and one of the stalls occupied. The woman at the sink looked up and smiled at Julia.

“I love your dress,” she gushed. “We’re sitting at the table next to yours, and I’ve been admiring it all evening. Lucky you to have the perfect figure for it.”

Julia smiled gratefully at the woman, who was in her early fifties and garbed in a stylish ivory wool pantsuit. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

The woman, who had close-cropped auburn hair, finished drying her hands. “Oh, to be your age again and have every man in the room panting at your feet. Watch out for that one at your table in the black suit, dear. He looks like he wants you for dessert.”

With a wink, the older woman left and Julia locked herself inside an empty stall. Going around the table in her head, she flushed as she realized the only man in black was Nathan. The woman must have been mistaken, though, for surely Nathan wouldn’t have been looking at her in
that
way, especially with Cameron glued to his side and watching his every move.

She was alone in the bathroom while washing her hands until the door opened and Cameron strode purposefully into the room. The blonde’s gait looked a little unsteady, and as she drew closer Julia recoiled from the smell of alcohol on her breath. Cameron’s hazel eyes were furious, spitting fire, and her mouth was twisted into a tight, angry line.

Julia looked at her uncertainly. “Have they served dessert yet? I was hoping to get back in time. The desserts here are supposed to be fabulous.” She hoped wildly that she didn’t sound too forced in her effort to be pleasant to the other woman.

But Cameron was evidently in no mood to make polite small talk. “You fucking little bitch,” she snarled angrily. “I hope you and your fucking little queer friends are having a good old time making me look like an idiot tonight.”

Julia gasped, unprepared for the harshness of both Cameron’s words and tone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she ventured. “No one is trying to do that to you.”

Cameron smacked her hand against the granite topped sink. “That’s exactly what’s happening. I’m well aware that Travis and his little pet hate my guts, and they know the feeling is mutual. This is their twisted little way of sticking it to me. They want to make me look bad in front of Nate. But it won’t work.”

“I’m sure that’s not -“

Cameron gave her a sudden, vicious shove, cutting her off. “Shut up! I’m sick of hearing you talk tonight, sick of seeing you looking at
my
fiancé like a lovesick calf. You’ve been sending him little suggestive glances all night, thinking I wouldn’t notice. He’s
my
fiancé, Julia.
I’m
the one he loves and is going to marry. Leave him the fuck alone!”

Julia gaped at her, one hand propped against the wall to steady herself. Cameron might be thin but she was also tall and strong, as evidenced by the push she’d just given her. “I’m well aware of that. Nathan is my boss, that’s all. And I don’t poach on other women’s territory.”

Cameron’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh, but I bet you’d like to, wouldn’t you? He’s awfully yummy to look at, and
sooo
good in bed. You can’t tell me you don’t want him to fuck you? Or has that already happened? Have you been fucking my fiancé, you little bitch? Have you?”

Julia flushed. “Stop this. I think you’ve had too much to drink and -“

Crack!

The sound of Cameron’s palm making contact with her mouth reverberated though the cavernous bathroom. Julia whimpered in pain and pressed a hand to the corner of her mouth, startled to see blood staining her fingers. She’d noticed the massive ring on Cameron’s engagement finger earlier, and realized it had just cut her lip.

Memories of the night when Philip had tried to rape her came rushing back, for he’d struck her across the mouth in much the same manner, also drawing blood. Julia was shaking, tears running silently down her cheeks as she turned away from Cameron, afraid another blow would fall.

But Cameron seemed content to lash out with words alone. “Stay the fuck away from Nate,” she threatened. “If I catch you looking at him again tonight, you’ll be sorry. He isn’t interested in you, bitch, so leave him alone.”

She stormed out of the bathroom then, slamming the door shut behind her. Julia clutched the granite countertop, her legs trembling like crazy. She forced herself to take several long, deep breaths, afraid she was going to throw up or pass out. Hoping desperately that no one else came into the bathroom, she grabbed a paper towel and wet it before pressing it to her mouth. The bleeding stopped fairly quickly but her lip was swollen and sore, and she winced when reapplying as much lip gloss as she could stand to camouflage the cut. She dabbed under her eyes with a tissue to dry her tears and hoped her eye makeup wasn’t destroyed. After brushing her hair, she forced herself to return to the table, though it was the very last thing she felt like doing. She wasn’t about to give Cameron the satisfaction of driving her away, or letting the evil witch think she was afraid of her.

But something in her face must have betrayed her, for Travis frowned instantly upon seeing her and whispered urgently in her ear, “What the hell happened to you? Have you been crying?”

Julia bit her lip and turned her face away from the others to whisper back. “Can’t talk now. I’ll tell you about it later.”

She was silent and subdued for the remainder of the evening, which fortunately ended sooner than later. She was more than happy for Cameron to take control of the conversation, especially since the nasty bitch was quite obviously well on her way to being sloppy drunk, and making an ass of herself in the process. Even Jackson murmured to Julia, “Looks like someone’s been enjoying my wine a little too much.”

Julia absolutely refused to glance across the table where Cameron and Nathan were seated, even though she felt the almost continual force of Nathan’s gaze upon her. As drunk and obnoxious as Cameron was quickly becoming, Julia wouldn’t put it past her to make a scene if she caught Julia looking at him again. She kept her gaze downcast and hoped no one tried to engage her in conversation.

Travis, with his famed sense of intuition, seemed to have put the puzzle pieces together fairly quickly, and fortunately wrapped things up and made their excuses to leave as soon as dessert was finished.

“I’m sorry to eat and run, everyone, but Julia and I are meeting a client at 8:00am in the office tomorrow,” he explained. “We all need our beauty sleep, especially me, so we’ll bid you good night.” He pulled Julia’s chair out and helped her to her feet. “And I promised Julia that we’d all share a cab home.”

Julia could have thrown her arms around her boss and kissed him, but settled for uttering a subdued “Good night” to everyone at the table, without singling anyone out.

Jackson set his napkin down on the table and stood. “Let me walk you out,” he offered. “We still need to exchange business cards.” He placed a hand on the small of Julia’s back and steered her out of the room, with Travis and Anton trailing just behind. Normally Julia would have shied away from such contact, but for some reason Jackson’s light touch was oddly comforting tonight.

She managed to hold it together until the three of them were safely ensconced in their cab, and then she lost it, sobbing onto Travis’ shoulder while Anton squeezed her hand comfortingly. She managed to choke out what had happened in the ladies room between sobs.

“I’m going to make sure Nate knows what just happened,” warned Travis. “In fact, he’s getting a text as we speak.”

“No!” Julia put a hand over his. “Please don’t. Let’s just leave him out of this.”

Travis’ mouth firmed. “No. His bitch of a fiancée assaulted my employee at a business function. She’s fucking lucky I’m not calling the police right now.”

“Travis, please. I don’t think Cameron would have acted that way if you and Anton hadn’t acted like the co-Presidents of my fan club. What were you two thinking anyway?”

Anton grinned. “That we’d piss her off real good. But I guess we pushed a few too many buttons.”

“Yeah, that elevator went all the way to the roof,” said Travis wryly. “I’m sorry, sweetie. We were just trying to rile her up a little, get back at her for all of her previous nastiness. And also trying to get her Dr. Jekyll side to surface so that Nate could see she wasn’t the sweet Miss Hyde she pretends to be.”

Julia sighed, gingerly probing at her split lip. “Well, I think that part at least was successful. Too bad I’m going to have a fat lip as a result.”