"You will. Any one of these coffee shop people are going to be your mate. It's going to happen just when you stop expecting it."
"I stopped expecting it a couple decades ago. If there was any lingering hope, it disappeared when Liv found Niall. Fate fucking hates me."
I bit back a grimace.
He slid behind the wheel of my car. "Ready to pack up your shit?"
"Yep."
He was done talking about fated mates. Or at least, he was forcing himself to be. I knew he was struggling with it, and I hated that I had contributed to the difficulty, even if it wasn't really my fault.
"We should plan some kind of celebration after you find your mate," I said. "A vacation or something."
"Family trip to the Honeymoon Hotel?" Darius drawled.
"Sure. We can book one suite and stay together until we're all too annoyed at each other to stay any longer."
He snorted. "We'd be better off at Liv's house. That place is basically a resort."
"I doubt Niall would be on board with all of us staying there. Our scents would be all over everything."
"We could pay someone to clean afterward."
I nodded. "That would work. We can suggest it at the girls' night. AGoodbye Lonelinessparty, since we'll all have mates."
"Assuming I make it that long."
I smacked him on the arm with the back of my hand.
He grumbled. "Someone has to be realistic here."
"I didn't realistically think I could make it work with Grayson, but he's coming to the girls' night."
Dare flashed me a look. "Darke wants to talk about feelings?"
"I didn't bring up feelings. I didn't even invite him, actually. I mentioned that you, Niall, and Callum would be there, and he invited himself."
"If he's insisting on coming to girls' night, there are emotions involved for him."
"Maybe."
"Not maybe, Mer. I'm glad he has feelings for you. You deserve to be happy."
My lips tipped upward. Just a little. "I've always been happy."
Darius snorted. "None of us havealwaysbeen happy. We've just survived as well as we could."
"I guess. I'm proud of us for it, though."
"Me too. And I like him," Darius added.
"Grayson?"
"Yeah. If he wasn't your soulmate, I would've?—"
"If you sayfucked him, I'll kill you," I said calmly.
Darius flashed me a grin. "I was going to saybefriendedhim. He's chill."
