“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” She pouted even more. The little dimple in the middle of her lower lip drove him insane more than usual.
“That face. That tone.” He put his hands on her shoulders and met her eyes. “I’ll make it. I’ve never missed any of your birthdays. I’m not gonna start now.”
A wide grin lit her face. “Yes,” she crowed and tossed her arms around him. When she drew away, she held the velvet box in front of his face. “I know it’s late, but I got you this for Christmas.”
“Oh. Thank you.” He smiled as his hand worked the lid. The glimmer of the oval sapphire centering the silver ring in the box let a hushed gasp out of his lips. “It’s beautiful.” He slid it on his finger, admiring the detailed engravings in the silver around the stone. The beauty of the ring almost made him overlook the chevron bracelet nestled in the upper part of the box, also blue, with the letter M engraved in silver in the middle. He held the bracelet and glanced up from the box. “I’ll never take them off.”
She took it from him and helped him put it on his wrist. “Yes, you will, when you finally confess your love to your mystery girl, and she dumps her boyfriend to be with you and gives you new jewelry.”
“And we’re not done with that.”
“Not till you tell me who she is.”
I did. You just didn’t listen.“Okay, hear this.” His gaze locked with hers. “I promise you if I ever tell her, you’ll be the first to know. And I promise you, I’ll never take these off unless you tell me to. Are we good now?”
“We were never notgood.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Awesome, ‘cause I really need your help with something.” He got the scripts from the chair. “These are the finalists from the screenplay contest. I can’t tell you how much I love them both, but I can only choose one winner, and I need you to help me decide.”
“Me?” She winced. “Don’t you have a jury for this?”
“Yes, and they narrowed the ten thousand scripts we received to five, and I narrowed them to these two. I’m the final judge, but I can’t bring myself to decide. Please help.”
“Okay,” she said, hesitant when she grabbed the scripts. “Let’s see.” Her eyes read the title of the first one, and they glimmered with joy. She grinned from ear to ear, making funny noises in the back of her throat. But when she glimpsed at the title of the second script, her eyes darkened, and her grin turned into an awful grimace.
“What?” he asked, worried.
She barely looked at him. “I’m so sorry.” Her voice was too low, he almost didn’t hear her. “I think I ruined your contest.”
Scene27
Maggie
Dark Hopesby M. C. Nickolas.I stared at the script cover page one more time, everything in my life spiraling down in one drain of WTF.
“What do you mean you ruined the contest?” Mike chuckled.
“I swear I knew nothing about this. I told them not to…” I stepped away from him and dropped the scripts back on the chair.
“Knew nothing about what? Is there something particularly wrong with these scripts? Do you know who wrote these? Is that what it is?”
I pressed my palms to my eyes. “Iwrote these.”
“What?” A surprised laugh burst out of his mouth.
“I co-wroteBlack Sheepwith Raoul, butDark Hopesis all mine.” I gulped. “I swear I didn’t submit. My friends must have done it. M. C. Nickolas, how fucking original! I specifically told them I wouldn’t, and they went behind my back. I’m so sorry, Mike.”
“Sorry for what?” He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. “This is…”
My stomach tied in a painful knot. “You have every right to be mad. I’m gonna kill those fuckers. I told them it’d ruin the integrity of the contest—”
“What fuckin’ integrity? This is…this is fucking awesome.”
“Wait, what? You’re not mad?”
“Mad?” he asked in disbelief. “I’m gonna kiss your friends…on the mouth. These scripts are amazing, exactly what I was looking for. And there was nothing in the rules that said you couldn’t submit.” He laughed again, his brown eyes sparkling. “I should’ve known it was you. No one could ever understand me better.” He pressed me to his chest. “I love you so much, Carolina. So much.”
