Once Upon A One Night Mistake

ever, was having none of it. "I'll be back," he announced, getting up and stalking out of the room.Sebastian glanced at

before these do."Together, they sat on a nearby bench, watching the bumper-to-bumper traffic slowly inch down the street. Though his posture was relaxed, Sebastian could tell his friend was seething, something he didn't see too often from Marcus. Clearly Zak had rubbed him the wrong way, but Marcus wasn't alone in that.Zak was Sebastian's polar opposite. Sure, they both had attitude problems, Sebastia

ing to the curses Marcus was muttering under his breath. "Huntington," he greeted with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "It's been a while."Zak had the decency to at least give him a curt nod. "Phillips," he murmured. "It hasn't been long enough.""I could say the same." Without another glance in Zak's direction, Sebastian turned to Marcus and fished his car keys out of his pocket, not wanting to suffer through a

and Taliana couldn't deny she felt glamorous as hell wearing it. If the twins wanted her to go all out, this was certainly the way to do it.There was a flurry of action after Taliana slipped on the diamond, and somehow, she ended up downstairs with the twins ushering her toward the front door."Mom! Dad! We're leaving!" Marissa shouted over her shoulder as she wrenched open the door."See you later, girls!" Katherine called from the living room. "Have fun!""Be home by midnight!" Charles added.They shouted their goodbyes and stepped out of the house, once again piling into Vanessa's car. The drive to the club was short, but the line to get in went down the block and wrapped around the corner. The twins didn't even seem to notice though, and if they had, they were choosing to ignore it. Taliana followed like a lost puppy as they went up to the velvet ropes, flashed a smile at the bouncers, and strolled right inside. There were a few cries of protest as they entered since they'd skipped the line completely, but Taliana put her head down and hustled in behind them.The club was packed, and flashing, colorful strobe lights illuminated the space. Most people were pressed up against each other on the dance floor, and nearly every seat at the large bar off to the left was taken. As far as Taliana could tell, the lounge to the right was at capacity as well. She had to grudgingly admit that Sebastian had to be pretty damn popular to invite this many people.Taliana glanced up briefly to the glass-enclosed second floor, which was host to the VIP room and overlooked the dance floor. Though she could barely see inside, she assumed Sebastian and his close friends were up there, and she hoped that was where they were going to stay. The crush of people made her relax slightly, since that made the chances of her running into the birthday boy about a thousand to one.Taliana looked to her left to say something to Vanessa, but to her surprise, neither she nor her twin were anywhere to be found. Damn it. Had they seriously abandoned her five seconds into being there?Taliana began searching for them, growing more and more desperate by the minute, but she couldn't seem to find the platinum-haired girls anywhere. After ten minutes of weaving her way through the packed club, she gave up and plopped down at the bar. If she hadn't found them by now, she probably wasn't going to see them for the rest of the night.Part of her considered leaving-what was the point of being here if she didn't know anyone? It wasn't like she was going to have fun just sitting alone. But another part was determined to stay and make the best of it. She wasn't about to let the twins' efforts to make her look halfway decent go to waste.So with a huff, she turned to the bartender and shouted her drink order over the music. The man set it down in front of her shortly after, and she was surprised-and a little impressed-that they were actually serving alcohol to what looked to be mostly minors. Sebastian had, apparently, done something right for once.She downed the rum and coke in a few sips and ordered another as soon as she could snag the bartender's attention again. She sipped that one a little slower, knowing she'd be drunk off her ass in no time. Her friends back in LA had always called her a lightweight, but hey, why not enjoy the free booze? It was all on her enemy's dime, after all.Drink in hand, she turned away from the bar and surveyed the crowd, trying to see if she could spot any familiar faces. She wasn't really expecting to considering she'd been gone for years, but she figured it was worth a shot.And then she saw him.Either Taliana was hallucinating or she was already drunker than she thought, but standing less than fifteen feet away with his arm around some random brunette and his eyes locked on Taliana was the last person she wanted to see.Surprisingly, it wasn't Sebastian Phillips.She sat frozen in her seat as she watched Zak Huntington shove the girl away, not noticing the dirty look she gave him in response. Even if he had noticed, he probably wouldn't have cared.It wasn't like he had a heart.Zak had been the driving force behind her sudden departure from LA, the reason she'd decided she needed to start fresh. Taliana's unfortunate one year of involvement with him had resulted in her being arrested for vari