Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(19)
Author: K.A. Linde

“Is this some kind of phase? You know your brother went through something similar before he met Sarah.”

I distinctly remembered Aaron with his arm around some random girl when we had gone out over Christmas break. If he’d had a phase, it didn’t seem to be over.

“It’s not a phase!”

“Aribel,” my father said sharply, “we’re in a public place. Why don’t we discuss this at another time?”

“Fine.”

All I’d wanted to do was be honest with my family about my relationship with Grant. I’d known it was going to go down like this. I’d told Grant it wasn’t going to be easy. But then again, I hadn’t promised him that my parents would accept him. I’d just said that they would know he existed. Now, they knew.

With the conclusion of our meal, I stood and followed my father and Henry out of the room. I’d secretly hoped my father would want to stick around and do something together, like maybe go ice-skating in Central Park, but I could already tell he was all business.

“It was good to spend some quality time with my baby girl,” my father said. He kissed the top of my forehead and then handed me a box. “Happy birthday.”

My eyes lit up with surprise. I tipped open the box, and my mouth dropped open. Inside was a small platinum ring with a string of diamonds around the band that decreased in size from the center. “Oh my God! Is this mom’s ring?”

He smiled, but there was something under the surface. “Our original engagement ring. Yes.”

My father had replaced my mother’s ring many times over the years. They had gotten more and more extravagant as the years went by, but I always coveted the very first ring.

“Your mother and I thought it was appropriate for you to have something befitting the woman you are turning into.”

I slipped it out of the box and onto my right hand. It shined brilliantly, and it made my heart ache. Staring at the ring made me miss them.

Then, unexpectedly, the sight of it on my finger made my stomach flip. Would I one day wear a ring like this from Grant? I was way too young to think about marriage. I needed to finish school and probably get a good job before I ever saw wedding bells in my future, but still, the glittering ring did make me wonder, if even for a moment.

“Thank you,” I murmured, giving my dad a hug.

“You’re welcome. Now, I have to meet one more colleague tonight before I can get back to the hotel.”

“I’ll get her home, sir,” Henry said.

“Good man,” my father said, clapping him on the back. “Take care of my baby girl.”

There was no way I wanted Henry to take me home. I was turning twenty this week. I could get myself around New York City. It wasn’t as if I was staying in a sketchy part of town. My father had gotten me a suite at The Kimberly after all.

My father lightly squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s have brunch at Norma’s tomorrow, sweetheart. We can talk more before I leave the city.”

I sagged and nodded. “Okay, Dad.”

With that, he turned and left the restaurant, no good-bye necessary. I swallowed back my rising anger. This was not the night I had bargained for.

“Come on. I’ll hail a cab.” Henry pressed his hand against my lower back and guided me outside.

“Really, I’m fine. I can get there by myself.” I pulled away from his hand and walked to the elevator.

Henry followed me with a smirk. “So, this guy you’re seeing, is it the same one you forgot to mention on New Year’s?”

“I don’t really want to talk about this with you,” I said.

“All right.”

They got into the elevator, and it let us out on the bottom floor. Despite my annoyance, Henry hailed a cab.

“I can do that.”

“I’m sure you’re capable, but I wanted to do it for you.” He opened the door for me.

I turned to look at him before I got inside. “You can catch the next one.”

He smiled smugly and leaned forward into me. “Then, how am I going to give you your birthday present?”

I leaned away from him to deter him from doing anything drastic, like kissing me. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Trust me. You’ll like it.”

“Are we moving or what?” the taxi driver yelled at us.

“You heard the man,” Henry said, helping me into the cab.

“Where to?” the cabbie asked.

“The Kimberly Hotel, please.”

“Beacon Theatre,” Henry corrected.

“What? Why are we going to Beacon?”

From his jacket pocket, Henry produced a pair of concert tickets and passed them over to me.

I looked down at the tickets, and my stomach turned. “You got us tickets to see The Drift?”

The flashy bright sign outside of Beacon Theatre on Broadway glared down at me. I glared back.

This was the last fucking place I wanted to be tonight. But I’d agreed. I’d made a deal with the devil, only for it to be thrown back in my face. Hollis had been the connection I used to get Ari and me into that snooty restaurant on Valentine’s Day. All the good that had done me. Even though it hadn’t worked out how I had intended, I still had to keep up my end of the bargain.

That meant I had to walk backstage with the rest of the guys and hear Hollis out.

“Come on, bro,” Miller said, clapping me on the back. “Showtime.”

I wished we were playing this fucking venue tonight. The Drift had sold out the theatre for the evening on the kickoff of their new tour for their album that had dropped last week. It had soared into the Top Ten on the Billboard charts. As much as I wanted to hate them for it, the music was good, and Donovan’s lyrics were better than ever.

I followed the rest of the band backstage and navigated through the controlled chaos. They had a crew that clearly knew how to run this place like a well-oiled machine.

A pretty brunette in a short skirt gave me a once-over as we passed by. Her friend nudged her forward, and they both broke down into giggles.

Fans, not groupies. It was strange to notice a difference. Before Ari, I’d have probably lured her in. It would have been so fucking simple, too. Now, I just turned my back on the girl I would have had on her back in about ten seconds.

Hollis stood at the end of a hall, talking to some Asian chick in a pantsuit. She looked pissed and not caught up in his charm like every other fucking person around him. His eyes lifted from the woman as we walked down the hallway and landed on me. I couldn’t tell if his smile was relief or smugness that I’d shown up. I clenched my fists at my sides and resisted the urge to knock the smile off his overconfident fucking face.