Meadow’s POV:


    The soft, rich sound of ssical music greeted us as we stepped into therge ballroom. The outside was massive and spacious, but the inside…..


    Looked like a fucking dream.


    ss chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the floor was polished, and the crowd of people in the room was intimidating in a way, as if you weren’t rich or extra–rich, you couldn’t belong here.


    d in it.


    I didn’t exactly belong, but I wasn’t a stranger to luxury. After all, I was raised


    “Wow…” I whispered in wonder as I watched the waiters dressed in ck and white weave through the crowd with trays containing wine<b>, </b>champagne–all kinds of alcohol.


    “Yeah,” ric chuckled, looking down at me. “My mother usually goes all out. Doesn’t do mediocre.”


    I tightened my grip around his arm even though I knew he couldn’t feel it. “Yeah, I can see that.”


    Well, obviously it wasn’t just ric who was popr. His mother seemed to have a truckload of elegant


    friends.


    Who were now looking at me?


    I shifted on my feet as a small group of women well over their fifties watched me and ric, leaning into each other’s ears probably to spill a gossip or two. One of them sized me up, narrowing her eyes at me.


    I rolled my eyes as ric steered me away from their sight. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say your


    mother’s friends are jealous of me.”


    “They are.”


    “No, they’re not,” I scoffed. “The only way they would be jealous is if you’ve had something to do with


    them and ”


    I trailed off, tilting my head at him. He only shrugged.


    My gaze narrowed. “<b>Unless </b>you did have something to do with them.” Something ugly settled in the


    bottom of my stomach.


    If this was what jealousy felt like, I never wanted to feel this way again. How many more of his mother’s female friends had he slept with?


    “It’s not what you think, Meadow,” he murmured.


    “Yeah? Well, I don’t think I want to know what it really is,” I said under my breath. “And I definitely need


    something to drink.”


    A waiter slowly passed with a tray and I grabbed a champagne flute from it, my mouth already watering from the relief the golden liquid was going to bring me.


    “Should I be worried about you, Meadow?” his tone was indifferent but his eyes wrinkled with mischief.” We’ve already established that you’re lightweight given the way you acted thest time you had a single ss of wine.”


    Heat crept up my cheeks and I looked away from him, swirling the liquid in the flute. He was referring to the night that he ate me out on the kitchen counter.


    My thighs rubbed together. “That was different. Your fault for letting me drink alcohol when I’d only just gotten off my pain meds.”


    “You weren’t on pain meds, Meadow. You’re just a lightweight.”


    I rolled my eyes. “One ss won’t hurt, ric. You don’t have to be worried.”


    Maybe alcohol wasn’t the best thing to turn to when I was about to meet his mother, but I needed something to calm me down. Distract me.


    And like I said, it was only one ss.


    ric didn’t get to say anything in response because just then, another voice cut through the bubbly atmosphere


    “Well, well, well


    “Well, well, well. If it isn’t my insufferable big brother and his beautiful wife!”


    We both turned around.


    Nn Ashford stood a few feet from us, a drink in his hand and a dark smirk on his face. The ck eye ric had given him was already clear, and he looked so much better than thest time I saw him


    And he still looked fucking good then.


    These damn Ashford genes.


    A tall, gorgeous woman clung to his arm<b>, </b>staring adoringly at him I’m a way that nearly made me roll my


    eyes.


    Either she was just a date who just couldn’t stop admiring his beauty, or this was a case of unrequited feelings.


    I forced a smile, my grip tightening around the champagne flute.


    “Hey,” I said airily. We weren’t exactly on good terms. He was calling a damn gold digger thest time I saw him


    Right before ric mmed him against the wall, stopping him from mentioning a name–the name of the other woman who could touch ric


    “Nn,” ric said.


    “You’rete,” Nn replied, lifting his ss in a ‘cheers‘ gesture before taking a <b>sip</b>. “Mutti <b>was </b>starting to


    think you weren’t going to show.”


    ric’s jaw ticked, but his tone remained dry. “Well, I’m here now.”


    “I can see <b>that</b>,” Nn mused, narrowing his eyes at me. “How are you, Meadow?”


    I refused to back down from the intensity of his stare. “Fine. Nice to see you again, Nn.” I took a sip of my drink


    He smiled wider. “d to hear it. You know,st time we saw each other, I wasn’t sure if you’d been sticking around much longer after… things got <b>ugly</b>.”


    ric took a step forward, his voice cold, tone clipped as <b>he </b>said, “Is there a reason you’re still talking?” His voice was low enough that no one outside of this circle could hear what they were saying, but people


    still turned to look at the obvious tension that was brewing between the two brothers.


    Nn gave a low chuckle, like something about ric being protective <b>was </b>funny to him. The woman on


    his arm blinked up at him but he wasn’t even looking at her.


    His gaze shifted back to me. “You’re braver than I thought, Meadow,” he said. “Most women wouldn’t


    survive a week married to my brother, but here you are, looking like a million bucks.<b>” </b>


    There were two jabs in that sentence. One targeted at me, and one at ric. I didn’t care about being called a gold digger, honestly. I already knew I wasn’t one. But what I didn’t quite understand was the jab at ric. This was the second time he was suggesting that I wouldn’t be able to survive ric.


    The only difference was that ric wasn’t in the kitchen with us when he said it.


    ric bristled beside me.


    “I think your date’s bored,” I said finally, my eyes flicking to the woman. “She keeps staring at you like


    she’s trying to remember why she agreed toe.”


    Nn <b>blinked</b>. ric’s shoulder dropped and I looked up just in time to see his mouth twitch.


    “ws,” Nn muttered. “I like that.” And then he took a sip of his drink. “Well, I’ll let you lovebirds get back to whatever the hell you’re doing. Go find our mother, Ric<b>.</b><b>” </b>


    And then, he walked off, but not before his eyes narrowed into slits at me again.


    Nn knew his brother could feel me, but why did I feel like he didn’t like <b>that </b>at <b>all</b>?


    I turned to ric, taking the final sip of my drink and dropping the ss onto a passing tray.


    “What is your brother’s deal?”


    “My brother doesn’t like what he can’t understand, Meadow,” he muttered. “And right now, you’re on top


    of that list.”


    My breath caught.


    ric tensed again as he looked away from me, his eyes focusing on something else.


    Or


    r someone.


    “And here Mutties.”


    I froze.