She groaned and threw her head back. “How long did he think he could go without telling me? Guys like him think they can get away with shit like this just because they’re rich.”

I nodded as if I completely understood. “I know. Personally, it wouldn’t bother me. Except, well, Julian let it slip that Dean refuses to give…” I lowered my voice. “…oral. Even now.”

One of Casey’s eyelids twitched slightly. “I am so over men in this city.”

“Try to cut him some slack. I think he’s just guarded after the Russian mail-order bride fell through last year.” I sighed. “Anastasya.”

Too far? Maybe.

She heaved out a breath and shook her head. “Whatever. I don’t need this. I’m a Knicks cheerleader. Do you know how many guys I could get?”

I nodded with an understanding smile. “Hundreds, I bet.”

“Thanks for telling me though. Girl code, right?”

I grinned. “Exactly.”

We finished primping. She let me borrow some of her red lipstick and I swiped it across my pout, feeling as if I’d just played a winning hand. My hair looked good and there was a healthy glow on my cheeks from walking around the city all day.

Was I being devious by sabotaging Dean’s date?

Without a doubt.

Did I feel guilty as I left the bathroom with Casey on my heels?

I’d never felt so good. Being a diabolical villain was definitely a good look for me.

Chapter Ten

Dean

Dinner was going terribly. Honestly, George R.R. Martin’s red wedding had fewer awkward moments than that evening. When Casey and Lily returned from the bathroom, Casey pulled her phone out of her purse and focused intently on the screen like a sixteen-year-old out at dinner with her parents. I tried to get her attention, but she waved me off as her fingers flew over her iPhone. When I glanced up around the table, Lily was trying to hide a smirk and doing a fairly shitty job of it.

Josephine was busy talking about her job, but I knew Lily wasn’t listening. She stared down at her fingers, twisting them up in her napkin. I knew she’d said something to Casey in the bathroom, I just didn’t know what.

She glanced up and saw me watching her. I narrowed my eyes and she mirrored my expression. It was a silent duel with no witnesses and no judges, but I’d be damned if I let her win.

“All right, here are those drinks,” the waiter announced, leaning over Lily to place her drink to the side of her plate. He followed the pattern around the table, handing me my old fashioned, and then faltering when he got to the extra rickshaw. Lily met my eyes and quirked a brow. I leaned back in my chair and took a deep swallow of my old fashioned. It was perfect, familiar, and most importantly, what I’d ordered.

Lily flashed the waiter a kind smile. “You can set it in the middle. I’m sure someone will drink it.”

I’d only been around Lily three times, but I could already pinpoint what it was about her that irked me: she was opinionated and too stubborn for her own good.

“Y’know, I think your drink choice says a lot about you,” Lily said from the opposite side of the table. Casey slipped her phone into her purse and glanced up, clearly aware that there was about to be a scene. I knew better than Lily. We wouldn’t get along, we wouldn’t be friends. The best thing to do at a dinner like this would be to ignore each other, but Lily kept pushing my buttons.

“How so?” Casey asked when I didn’t take the bait.

I rolled my eyes.

“Perhaps Dean’s a little old fashioned himself? Set in the old way of doing things?”

“I disagree. I’d say I’m quick to make changes when things…or people…just aren’t working out. The other night, for example.”

She leaned forward over the table. “How much money did my section bring in, Dean? Two? Three times the amount each bar usually cashes out?”

I’d checked the numbers the morning after I’d fired her; Zoe hadn’t exaggerated. Lily’s section had brought in four times the amount the other bars had and I had no doubt she could have cashed out with even more had I not fired her in the middle of her shift.

“Tell me, Lily. How many restaurants have you opened?” I asked with a sharp tone.

Her eyes shifted down to the white tablecloth and then back up to me—a simple tell that her confidence wasn’t impenetrable.

“That’s—”

“How many bars? Lounges?” I narrowed my eyes. “Have you ever managed more than a handful of stoned high schoolers at a Dairy Queen?”

Her cheeks flamed red beneath her tan and my conscience warned me to back down. Most of the time Lily acted as if she could spar with the best of them, but I knew her armor had weak points. She was a disobedient puppy, all bark and no bite.

I took a deep breath. “The point is, until you’ve attempted to run a restaurant in New York City, you won’t fully understand all the reasons why I had to let you go.”

Her eyes seared a line of fire across the table and I watched her chest rise and fall in quick successions. I’d pushed too far.

“Suddenly I’ve lost my appetite.” She scraped her chair back from the table and stood. Her napkin fell to the ground as she pulled her purse from the back of the chair and crossed it over her body.

“Actually, I think I’ll come with you,” Casey said, rising from her seat beside me.

What the fuck is going on?

“Uh, I…” Josephine stood and froze, unsure if she should leave with her friend or stick by Julian.

Lily didn’t bother waiting to find out. She turned and spun toward the front of the restaurant with Josephine and Casey on her heels. I felt like a royal ass watching them leave.

Lily brought out my worst qualities. I couldn’t remember ever having driven someone to leave a dinner, but she was gone and I was left at the table with that damn rickshaw staring back at me. Condensation gathered on the side of the glass, taunting me until I picked it up and downed it in one long sip.

Damn.

It was good. Better than my old fashioned.

“That was a disaster,” Julian said quietly, rubbing his fingers across his chin.

I shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad.”

He grunted. “You weren’t sitting in my seat. Watching you and Lily fight like that isn’t fun. I’ve never seen you like that.”

I flinched. “Are you kidding me? Don’t put this shit on me.”

He shook his head and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. I reached for Casey’s unfinished rickshaw, downing it too. I had three empty glasses in front of me, but I still wasn’t calm. Julian and I sat in silence for a few minutes, and when I finally spoke up, I steered the conversation into more neutral territory.

“We need to have our first meeting for the new restaurant soon. Y’know, start going over expectations and timelines.” A few weeks back, Julian had agreed to be a major investor in my next restaurant. I’d presented him with the numbers from my past projects and walked him through the basic steps of opening up a new restaurant. It’d only taken a few minutes to convince him to buy in.

He frowned. “You’re putting me in a tough position here, man. Look, I’m not in the restaurant industry. Opening up a new restaurant with you was supposed to be a fun side project. I wanted to work with you as a friend but I’m already catching shit from Jo about this Lily situation. It’s just not worth it to me if it’s going to cause problems between Jo and Lily.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, gripping the edge of the table.

He’d walk away and pull his funding because Lily and I didn’t get along? That’d delay the project. I was already putting up 50% of the capital. I’d have to scramble to find more investors if Julian walked.