Everything Started Here With You

Expensive Thief

"Do you know why you are unhappy? Because of the gap between what you want and the reality. Try to be less greedy."

Jung Joon Hyun
-- Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

See, making a plan and putting it into action are two different things. I was expecting many people to ask me about this after party, but most of them just stared at me then went back to their little conversations. How was I supposed to get everyone to believe Lexi was having an after party no one, but Hayden and I, knew about? I'm sure most of the guests here were hoping to go straight home after the party.

I felt my phone vibrating in my clutch and had an idea. Unfortunately, it was the guy calling about the party. He wanted to know the color scheme and how long he had before anyone started coming. I had to give him a risky estimated timeframe, not knowing how long it was going to take people to believe me and start leaving.

"What?" I yelled into the phone.

"Kera, did you give your mom my phone number?" Tamera asked.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Of course it is!" She barked. "You know how much I hate that woman. Now she's thinking she can dump your kids on me and I don't like this. I have things I'm dealing with right now."

"I'm sorry, queen. I didn't know she was going to try and make the kids stay with you. Bring them to Jacobi. Maybe his father will look after them. He told me I could have them over any time I needed them out of the way."

"Ugh. I hate seeing Jacobi even more, but I'll do it."

"Night..."

She hung up the minute I said that. Didn't matter. No one knew that. I started a fake conversation with a "friend" who was at the gala. We talked about the after party out of town and how everyone was going to be there. I may have exaggerated a bit on what particular celebrities were going to be there. I mean...from my point of view it was believable. Names and statuses meant a lot.

Soon enough people were asking me for the address. I was hoping the party planners were fast and had everything ready by the time people actually started leaving. Hayden and I met up again just before Cameron spotted us.

"What'd you get?" he asked.

"Not much." I shook my head. "Some people did ask me for the address."

"That's good. Lexi's having a panic attack in the house. Most likely dealing with Luca, but we'll deal with him later." Hayden turned me around to face the very man we had been avoiding since we got here. I'm surprised he didn't come looking for us earlier. It would have done him some good.

"Hayden, it's been a while," Cameron greeted. "How is the office without me?"

"It's alright, I guess. Not as busy as I hoped," Hayden said. "There haven't been many problems since you left."

"What can I say, no one can cause trouble like me." He chuckled. "Sha'Kera, I heard you got a great promotion. How's your new position?"

"Sucks," I said cautiously. He's onto us. "It's like being you, but without all the fun. Have you seen Lexi? I've been meaning to talk to her."

"I don't know where she's not." Cameron smiled. "She's a busy woman tonight. Now that everyone knows about Vincent and Asher, she hasn't been able to hide much."

"That sounds like fun. I should find her and join her."

Without another word, Cameron walked off. I was fine with that. It just meant that we needed to hurry and get people out of here. I could see the yard was emptying on its own, but not fast enough. It was still too crowded. Were we not convincing enough? I'd hate for Luca's money to be wasted. If nothing worked, I'd just post it online and send random people there.