“Probably.”
“Well, there you go. That’s why she’s a goddess to him.”
“Sure—but who cares? His tight ass would be worth it.”
I laugh. “So that’s your life goal. Be gorgeous and date a hot guy with a nice ass.”
“Hey, it could be worse. And she’s rich, too, which is important. Having your own money like a boss is amazing, don’t you think? But enough aboutmoi, what about you and your hot guy?”
“Me?”
She leans closer. “Yes, you. You andNicholas.” Her eyes sparkle with conviction that there’s something romantic and sexy going on between us.
“Don’t you feel weird calling your brother ‘hot’?”
She scoffs. “I didn’t meet him until I was eighteen, so I don’t get that ick feeling, if that’s what you’re worried about. Come on. Tell your bestie everything.”
“Well… He won a date with me,” I say, all casual and cool.
“But before that, you guys told Nikki and Ted you were dating!” Georgia says, her eyes sparkling. “I was listening!”
“You were?”
“Yes! And itkilledme to keep my mouth shut that it was you on the phone! She couldn’t stop speculating about Nicholas’sgirlfriendand asked me to help her figure out who it was.”
“I was just helping Nicholas fake it because they were so insistent about wanting grandbabies. So it’s good you didn’t say anything.”
“Oh my God, I know! She would’ve started calling you about making babies with her son.” Georgia’s eyes narrow. “But there’s gotta be more. He spentfive million dollars. Nobody spends that kind of money at a charity bachelorette auction.”
“Apparently, they do it to launder money,” I murmur darkly.
“Ah, shit.” She knows what that means. “Your dad heard about it, too?”
“Oh, yes. And he wasted no time getting in touch.”
“He’s such a shitty human being. I can’t believe you still talk to him.”
“Well. He is my dad.” The only family I have left—and I’m the only one he has left. Maybe that’s why I find it so hard to turn away from him. And while I resent his hurtful comments, a tiny voice inside wonders if he’s right—that his cruelty is really a desire for me to see the truth. Truth is supposed set you free, though, not make you want to crawl into bed and never come out.
“Forget your dad. No man spends that kind of money on a girl he isn’t interested in. Trust me. Nicholas is totally into you!” She puts a hand over her mouth to contain her excitement. “I always knew there was something about the way he looked at you.”
“What about the way he looked at me?”
“You never noticed? When I first introduced you to him, he was struck dumb. And healwayshas something to say. He looked at you like he’d discovered the eighth wonder of the world.”
Georgia and her exaggerations.I laugh. “He was distracted.”
“Yeah, by you. His eyes were super-glued to your face.”
I flush at her insistence, especially since she’s misremembering what happened. “He was staring at the grass in my hair.”
She shakes her head. “You are so,sosad.”
“No, seriously! Remember Jordi? He put that in my hair.” He was in my U.S. government class, and liked to put stuff in my hair for some reason. Thank God it wasn’t bugs or gum that day.
“That totally wasn’t why,” Georgia says. “But okay, fine, I’ll give you some credit—I wasn’t one hundred percent sure either, because he kept dating different women. But that was back then, andthis is now. Why are you refusing to see what’s so obvious?”
“Nicholas is bigger than life, so we’re just attaching more meaning to this little situation than we should. I’m not going to delude myself simply because you think there’s something more. I just want to enjoy what I have with Nicholas while it lasts.”
