Unwanted (bxb)

Chapter 9

I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that Maddie still hasn't called me back and there were no messages for me in our group chat. I took a few deep breaths and told myself she'd call. She'd probably lost her phone or something else had kept her from just hitting the damn button and talking to me.

That clouded my mood as we reached the hotel. To my surprise, a bunch of photographers were there waiting to immortalize the moment when Richard Williams would expand his company and with it his fortune. I felt so out of place that I would have taken off running if I wasn't wearing those damned expensive shoes I didn't want to crease.

"Cole should be here already," Richard said. His attitude was serious. "He knows the family photos come at the beginning of the dinner." This was the first time since I'd met Richard that I'd seen him actually angry.

We waited for ten minutes in the limo while people shouted for us to come out so they could get a picture. It was ridiculous to stay huddled in there, but I guessed millionaires didn't mind making dozens of photographers wait for their damned snapshot.

Then there was a commotion, and the photographers turned away and started shouting my stepbrother's name.

"He's here!" Richard shouted, irritated but also relieved. "Come on, honey," he told my mother and opened the door.

As soon as I got out, I could see the photographers' flashes practically blinding Cole and his date. They looked like real movie stars, and they were being treated like they were, too.

How could so many people know his name?

Our eyes met. I looked at him with indifference despite how handsome he was, and he scowled at me before turning back to his girlfriend or friend with benefits or whatever the hell she was. He kissed her on the lips, and the photographers went wild.

When they separated, the people shouted for more.

"Katie, how are you?" Richard greeted Cole's date. He was clearly livid. "If you don't mind, we need to take some family photos, but we'll be back with you in a few minutes." What a gentle way of getting someone off your back!

Katie eyed me up. I could tell she hated me, probably for all the trash Cole had talked. And I hadn't even had the pleasure of getting to know her. I ignored her and went over to my mother so we could take the damn photos and get them over with. We stood in front of a backdrop with ads for God knows what, and the flashes blinded me for a second.

When my mother had married one of the most important lawyers and businessmen in the United States, I hadn't been surprised to hear she'd sometimes popped up in the papers or magazines, but this was totally crazy. Williams Enterprises: that was the logo you saw everywhere. I even saw actual stars. I freaked out when I spied Johana Mavis in one corner in a dress that was out of this world.

"Tell me that isn't my favorite writer," I said, grabbing the person next to me, whom I thought was my mother. But when my fingers touched that forearm, I realized it was too hard to be hers.

"You want me to introduce you?" he asked, and I looked up at him, immediately retracting my hand.

"You know her?" I couldn't believe it.

"Yeah," he said like it was no big deal. "My father's firm handles a lot of Hollywood bigshots cases. From the time I was a kid, I've known more stars than probably anyone else in Palm Beach. Famous people like lawyers they need them to stay out of jail. You'd be surprised how much it happens."

I took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter with a nervous feeling in my stomach.

"What about your girlfriend?" I asked to distract myself. "You didn't just leave her alone after that public display of affection, did you?"