The woman in front of me was gorgeous. She had long brown hair that curled artfully down to her waist, but I knew for a fact they were extensions. She had long legs and a fake tan to match her fake boobs. Her smile made people stop and stare. She was a former Miss Arkansas but now worked for some charity or another, not that she actually cared about anyone but herself.

She threw herself into my arms, and I caught her out of habit. I extracted myself as quickly as possible, but she had limbs like tentacles. “I’ve been trying to reach you for months, River. I wanted to talk to you. I’ve missed you.”

Yeah, I knew that. I’d been avoiding her calls like the plague. I wished I could say her voice was an annoying whine, but it wasn’t. It was husky and sexy, and once upon a time it had made me hard just listening to her say nasty shit to me. Now, it had the opposite effect.

“Oh? I changed my number.”

It was a lie, but if I told her I’d been dodging her calls, she’d throw a very public tantrum.

She smiled brightly, and once, that smile would have been considered enchanting. Now, it just reminded me of a shark. “Oh, I’ll have to get it from you. Luckily, they told me you’d be here. Is this Alana?” She turned to Nova, whose eyes were bouncing between us like she was watching an accident in slow motion.

“No, I’m Nova.”

I watched as all the false friendliness fell from Marissa’s face, and all that was left was poison. “And who the fuck are you?”

Nova’s eyes flew to mine in panic. I shifted, drawing Marissa’s eyes back to me. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Marissa’s face scrunched. “I’m your girlfriend.”

Now it was my turn to look panicked. “No, you aren’t. You’ve never been my girlfriend. What we had was just an arrangement, Marissa. One you signed a contract not to talk about,” I reminded her, because she was a vindictive bitch.

“Is she why you left me? I was pregnant with your child!”

Ice ran through my veins. “What?” Shock briefly wiped my mind of all coherent thought. Eventually though, my higher function turned back on. “No, you weren’t. You have an IUD, and I always wore a condom.” I mean, it could happen, but statistically? No fucking way. It was part of our agreement that she’d gotten an IUD—with proof—but still, I’d never gone bare with Marissa. I knew her far too well.