Page 33 of Miss Belief

Teagan

Ineeded a moment to step away from Reid. He was too adorable, lying on his couch and being such a great sport. Giving him a facial was bliss for me, and something I could see doing for my boyfriend after work. What it wasn’t however was getting me out of the danger zone. I could easily and completely fall for him.

So much for torturing him. I was the one tortured by the necessity of touching him during the whole process. Jesus, even his pores were perfect. So unfair. I busied myself in his kitchen, washing out the towels in the sink and grabbing a warm bowl of water.

“How about instead of ordering in tonight, we go out? There’s a restaurant across the street from the office that’s good,” Reid suggested while I removed his mask.

Chloe had told me about the place. It was a fancy steakhouse she’d gone to with Aiden. It had linen tablecloths, a fancy menu, an even fancier wine list, and way too many forks in my opinion. Which brought about another area of anxiety. Table manners had never been a high priority when you were lucky to have even one meal a day—often subsidized by the school. Sure, I knew to eat with my mouth closed and keep my elbows off the table, but that was the extent of my knowledge of etiquette.

“I’d prefer to eat in, if you don’t mind.” After removing his mask, I put a layer of moisturizer over his skin and marveled at how soft it was.

After cleaning up and using the restroom, I walked back out to the living room to see him inspecting his face in the mirror. The way he kept touching his newly exfoliated skin made me smile.

His gaze landed on me. “I don’t mind eating in.”

Relief flowed through me. I needed to do some research on table etiquette. Yep, I needed to buy some time and learn some things before I left for the wedding. Two days. I could do it. Watch some YouTube videos. Call Chloe. She’d know what to do.

For tonight, I sat on Reid’s couch, eating Chinese food off his coffee table and dressed in leggings and a baggy T-shirt that said, “Some days it’s not worth chewing through the restraints.” Once we’d eaten and I had a game controller in my hand, I finally felt less anxious. But I also felt bad. He probably missed going to restaurants and hadn’t wanted to go alone.

Reid got his game console ready to play.

“I’m sorry we didn’t go out,” I told him. “You could say I’m a homebody.”

“Hey, I am too. Guess I needed to ensure I wasn’t forcing my homebody, boring self on you.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned being dull or boring.”

“Yes, and the polite thing to do would be to ignore it and pretend I wasn’t voicing an insecurity.” With the remote, he brought up Mario Kart Racing. It was by far my favorite game, and I was still touched he’d bought a new gaming system just so we could play it.

“Mm, ignoring something isn’t really my style. Did the twat of the ex give you a complex about being boring?”

He sighed, probably not happy I wasn’t letting this go.

I picked my character, ready to race.

“She was into the night life, you know, parties and clubs, and I wasn’t. She said my inability to try new things was one of the reasons we didn’t work.”

I snorted with laughter. “I’d say your brother’s penis in her mouth would be the major reason it didn’t work, but hey, who am I to judge?”

His cringe made me immediately regret my unfiltered words.

“Sorry. My joke is funnier if you’re not the one who she cheated on.”

“No, no,” he was quick to reassure me. “It was funny. I was just thinking...it’s Chance’s birthday tomorrow.”

Ah, the asshole brother. “I take it you won’t call him.”

“No, I won’t. It’ll be the first time I don’t wish him a happy birthday.”

I couldn’t imagine being on the outs with my sister to the point I couldn’t talk to her. Then again, I couldn’t imagine the pain if she’d cheated with my fiancé either. “Did he ever apologize? You mentioned your ex blew up your phone with saying she was sorry, but has he?”

“Apologies aren’t Chance’s style. He probably believes I should be thanking him for keeping me from marrying someone who would cheat.”

“Talk about twisting things.” Yet in a weird way, Chance actually had saved Reid from spending a lifetime with a cheater. Some people would say they’d take a bullet for a sibling; perhaps Chance had decided to take a blowjob for his brother?

Reid sighed. “How did we end up on this subject again? You must be completely sick of talking about my ex or anything having to do with it.”

“It’s healthy to talk about it instead of bottling it all up and pretending you’ve erased it from your mind.” That’s what my sister had done when her boyfriend had up and left her with a newborn. She erased him from her life and refused to acknowledge his existence, not even going after him for much-needed child support.