I wished all that had been true.
“Ew,” Delilah said, nose wrinkled again. “Cute, though.”
Simon laughed again, turning his attention back to me. “Now that I’ve embarrassed you in front of your sister, did you want something?”
You, I didn’t say.I want you.
Before I could say what I’d actually been looking for him to tell him, footsteps interrupted me.
I turned just in time to see Corey swing around the doorway. He was wearing sunglasses indoors, and I wished more than anything for a heartbeat that Mom would come in, too, and catch him. He’d never hear the end of it if she did.
Or maybe that was just me.
“Just the man I’m after,” he said, taking the sunglasses off with a flourish. “You softened him up for me, yet?”
Dammit. I’d come in here to warn Simon, but now it was too late.
I opened my mouth to intervene, but Corey beat me to it.
“Hi, Simon,” he said, giving a wave with his sunglasses. “Will you do me the honor of being my best man?”
11
SIMON
“Well, youcouldhave refused,”Theo said, throwing his hands up. “You justdon’t, ever.”
“Maybe I could have if you’d warned me,” I pointed out. The mattress squealed under me as I sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through my hair.
“Maybe I could have warned you if you hadn’t been so busy cozying up to my sister, who, by the way, ismarrying my ex, who you justagreed to be best man for.”
“Your sister was sobbing over the seating charts. What did you want me to do?”
Theo knew,knewI couldn’t have left anyone to cry on their own like that.
“Let her!” Theo said, voice rising. “For once in your life, you could have just let someone have a problem without running in to be their knight in shining armour. Not every single problem in the world is yours to fix, Simon.”
We’d had this discussion before. Dozens of times.
Theo had never seemedmadabout it before, though. He’d never yelled at me before.
I didn’t take being yelled at well. Never had.
“Oh?” I hissed. “So it’s justyouI’m allowed to do favors for?”
As soon as the words escaped my lips, I regretted them. The way Theo’s face fell only made it worse, my stomach knotting up so hard I thought for a second I might throw up.
I swallowed down a wave of nausea, staring at the wide-eyed look Theo was giving me. He looked like I’d punched him in the gut.
Then his jaw tightened.
“When have Ieverasked you foranythingbefore?” he asked, eyes glinting like the edge of a small, sharp knife. At his sides, his hands curled into fists.
“You didn’t have to!” I said, and nowmyvoice was getting louder, and my stomach was knotting up tighter, and my ears were pounding.
We didn’t fight. I didn’t fight in general, and never,everwith Theo. I had no idea how to handle this.
“You didn’t have to because you know—”You know I love you and I know you try not to take advantage, I know that, but I love you so much and all I want is for you to be happy and I don’t want to fight with you.
