Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“You’re going to love this one, baby.” He grinned, leaning in conspiratorially. “Miss Bakhtiar is getting married.”
If his proximity didn’t force her to lean back, his words certainly did. “What?” Taliana spluttered, her heart nearly stopping at the shock. “To who?”
“Some Saudi guy,” he answered with a wave of his hand. “Her father arranged it. Supposedly.”
“Supposedly?”
Zak nodded. “I don’t believe a word of it. Your boyfriend, however, seems to be lapping it up.”
Without pausing to think, Taliana took another step forward, which practically put her chest-to-chest with him. “What the hell is going on, Zak?”
He glanced around once again, taking in the faces of the last few stragglers loitering near the front steps. “Still sure you want to talk about this in public?”
Taliana considered that for a moment, weighing her options. Which was worse? Having their conversation overheard, or being seen going somewhere with her ex-boyfriend? Both seemed equally bad, but the former seemed just a tiny bit less appealing.
Her keys were still clutched in her fingers, and she figured there was only one thing she could do.
“Get in,” Taliana mumbled, ducking her head as she moved back toward the car. “We’re going for a ride.”
36
Woes of Conscience
“Tell me what’s going on.”
From the passenger seat of Taliana’s car, Zak shot her a sideways glance as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She was tempted to slap them out of his fingers but kept her hands firmly on the wheel and watched from the corner of her eye as he rolled down the window.
“Like I said,” he began, speaking around the cigarette he’d just placed between his lips. “Her father is supposedly forcing her to marry this guy, but I think it’s just a scam. She must have come up with it because she knew it would get Phillips to come back to her-or at least keep him away from you. Apparently, he’s nicer than he looks, though I find that hard to believe.”
Zak flicked open his lighter, bringing the flame to the cigarette before shoving it back into his pocket. His look of distaste lifted some as he took a long drag and blew the smoke out the window. In that moment, Taliana could finally see the family resemblance between Marcus and Zak, something that had never been overly obvious. Though their features were similar, Zak’s deviousness and Marcus’s sweet innocence put them poles apart, but with this one little vice, they seemed eerily identical.
Taliana scowled, gunning the Lambo as she headed toward Key Bridge. “He would never help her.”
She doubted the words even as she said them. For practically her entire life, Taliana had viewed Sebastian as an asshole through and through. If it hadn’t been for those rare moments where she’d seen the caring person inside, she would’ve never fallen for him. The guy actually had a heart, surprising as that was, and now it seemed Blair was using that to her advantage. Blair knew there was no way he could turn down her plea for help, especially if it were about something so serious. But honestly, if the whole thing were true, Taliana might’ve actually pitied her.
Zak shot her a skeptical look as he took another puff. “I snapped a picture of them looking pretty cozy earlier.”
Taliana cursed under her breath when she hit a red light and looked toward Zak. “Show me.”
He nodded and produced his phone, glancing once more in Taliana’s direction as he scrolled through its contents. “Sure you want to see?”
“Shut up and show me.”
Taliana was trying to draw in a deep breath when he turned the screen toward her, but it caught in her throat when she realized what she was looking at. Blair and Sebastian were the focal point of the dim photo, taken inside of what was obviously the hole-in-the-wall coffee shop Zak had referred to. They were seated across from each other at a small table, both leaning in to hear the other. Judging from their serious expressions, it wasn’t a light conversation.
But Taliana didn’t care. The fact that they’d even been together without her knowledge made her want to scream.
“So you weren’t lying after all,” she mumbled, mouth suddenly dry.
Zak lowered the phone once again, sliding it out of sight. “Why would I lie to you, Lia?”
His words were soft, but his motive was clear. Unfortunately for him, Taliana wasn’t about to play into his hand. “Don’t even try it,” she shot back, thankful that the light had just turned green, allowing her to take off. “Is that all you have?”
“Well,” he began hesitantly, “I did overhear something.”
Her grip tightened on the wheel, preparing for the worst. “What?”
“Don’t quote me, but it sounded like he was going to pretend to be her boyfriend to get her father off her back until she turns eighteen this summer. Not much her dad can do once she’s legal, but that’s plenty of time for her to steal Phillips from you.”
Taliana couldn’t stop herself from scoffing. “Jesus, can anyone come up with an original plot anymore?” she muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, glad he hadn’t heard. “Go on.”
“That was about it.” He shrugged, flicking the butt of his cigarette out the window. “But how does it feel knowing your boyfriend was doing this behind your back?”
Taliana stayed silent, but judging from his smirk, Zak had found an answer in the quickly increasing speed of the car. “That’s what I thought,” he said. “It must hurt.”
Of course it did. But at the same time, Taliana hadn’t given Sebastian the chance to explain himself this morning, and he’d told her they’d talk later in the day. It wasn’t the time for jumping to conclusions.
However, if Taliana thought she was seconds away from slapping Zak before, she was even closer now. “You need to start minding your own business, Huntington.”
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He grinned, reaching over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I consider this my business now.”
“Not in the slightest,” Taliana growled, jerking her head away from his touch.
The sudden urge to throw him out on the side of the road overcame her, but she somehow managed not to. Instead, she made a U-turn and headed back to school. If she didn’t, Zak would end up in some random alley nearby.
“Where are we going now?” he asked, amusement in his voice.
“I’m going back to school,” Taliana answered. “I don’t give a damn what you do next.”
“How…responsible.”
“Oh, shut up.”