Holt: I want to see you again.
“Are you sure you can make these taste like the ones at the bar?” Charleigh asks twisting in her seat, looking over her shoulder to my sister working away in the kitchen.
I look back down at Holt’s unanswered text still resting in the palm of my hand.
“Trust me, Charleigh. West walked me through the recipe multiple times. I think I’ve got this.” London raises her voice over the sound of her mixing. My back is turned to her, but I picture her lifting a large, metal glass in the air and shaking it as hard as she can.
“Okay,” Charleigh sings, twisting back. “I’ll trust you.”
I’m still staring at the text when she clears her throat beside me.
I snap my head up and shut my screen off.
“You okay?” she asks, grinning.
“Fine.”
“Right.” She tilts her head to the side and studies me.
Leaning back against the couch, I cross my legs and take in a breath. “How have you been these past few days? How’s Asher?”
Charleigh’s grin widens, and I see it in her eyes: her happiness, the light, the love she has for Asher.
“He’s good. Closing out a few properties, but nothing that isn’t too consuming.” She tucks her hair behind her ear. “I talked to my mom about dress shopping soon. She basically cried when I told her I wanted her to go with us. Well, we both did.”
I lean forward and give her hand a squeeze. I know how much this means to her. Charleigh’s worked to rebuild her relationship with her mother after she moved to New York. They grew distant when she’d moved from Connecticut, but when her mom showed up to apologize and tell her she’d left Charleigh’s dad, they began to heal.
“Shit,” I giggle, sniffing. “I might be crying, too.”
“Oh, stop.” Charleigh waves me off. “Tonight is girls’ night. No room for crying.”
The two of us turn our attention to the front of Julianna’s apartment when the door swings open and she emerges from the hallway. Julianna recently moved. Her apartment is larger than her old one. I haven’t told her, but I definitely think it’s too much space for one person. I’ve resisted asking her if she ever feels that it might be, too.
I haven’t seen her since the night of the auction, but even though it’s only been a week, shelooks different.
“Sorry I’m late.” She sighs, a mountain of shopping bags dangling from her arms. “Got stuck in traffic on the way home.”
“Woah.” London stops pouring whatever drink concoction she’s made up, hovering the metal cup above the martini glass. Her eyes widen as Julianna unloads the bags onto the sofa across from Charleigh and me. “You said in your text you were going out for a little light shopping.”
“Not going to lie, I had to laugh at that, Jules.” Charleigh giggles. “We all know you never do a littlelightshopping. I figured something was up, though, when you told me to use your spare key and for all of us to wait until you got back.”
“Yeah.” Julianna sighs with wide eyes, trading glances between the three of us. “Stress shopping was necessary to clear my head.”
Eyeing Julianna wearily, London shrugs her shoulders and pours the remaining bit of drink into the last glass. She begins passing them out to us, starting with Julianna.
Julianna immediately shakes her head and says, “No, thank you.”
“Everything okay?” London asks, handing Julianna’s unwanted drink to me.
I gladly take it. Something tells me I’m going to need it. I tip it back and swallow a larger gulp than intended. The sweet and sour mixture stings the back of my throat. It burns on the way down before settling in my stomach, like the way it felt to have Holt’s hand pressed over the same spot.
My cheeks heat, and I barely chance a glance up at Julianna. I brace myself for truly looking at my best friend for the first time since her brother’s fingers were plunged deep inside me, building what I knew was going to be the best orgasm of my life, even if I was denied the satisfaction of falling over the edge completely.
I plan on telling her about Holt tonight. Not all the grittydetails, but about our date and how he proposed a fake dating arrangement to keep up the rumors.
I haven’t fully committed to dating Holt for show. I’m a conflicted mess at the moment, and maybe part of it has to do with telling Julianna first. Knowing how she’s been against any of her friends so much as glancing in his direction for years, I can’t imagine her being okay with it. Even if it is all just for show.
Once Julianna has her bags unloaded, she sinks into the space between Charleigh and me.
