7. Lucia
seven
Lucia
As I maneuver around all my moving boxes, I make my way back into the living room and plop down on the blanket I have spread out across my floor. My girls are over right now for one final girls’ night before I move out tomorrow.
With everything packed up, girls’ night right now means eating pizza straight out of the box as we drink wine out of plastic cups.
It feels more like a high school party than anything else.
The one tipping them back the most is Ella.
And while any other time that would be normal—Ella’s always been down for a good time—right now, we all know what that means.
“You’ve had a good bit to drink tonight, Ell,” Harlow says gently.
Ella sighs. “Yup. Might as well since there’s no reason I can’t drink right now.”
Liv wraps her arms around Ella’s shoulders. “Don’t give up hope.”
“It’s hard,” she replies softly. “It’s been eight months. What if I can’t actually get pregnant?” As soon as she says the words, a look of horror washes over her. “Oh God, I shouldn’t even be complaining about that right now.”
Liv laughs lightly and hugs her tighter. “You’re fine, Ell. I’ve had six years to come to terms with my infertility. But it all worked out for me in the end because now I have the world’s best daughter.”
“Have you and Josh thought about seeing a specialist?” I ask.
“We’ve talked about it,” Ella shrugs. “We want to give it a year before we really start trying to look into fertility treatments.”
Rory rests her hand on Ella’s leg. “Then you’ve still got four months.”
“Go home and jump on Josh’s dick,” I chime.
Ella rears her head back and laughs. “Joshy already knows that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“There you go. Go have all the sex with none of the protection.”
She’s all but cackling now. “That I can do.”
My bluntness has its perks. Like right now, where I got Ella to smile and laugh.
That’s all I wanted.
She deserves to have what she wants, and I hope she and Josh get exactly that soon. They’re going to be incredible parents.
Plus, Sage is getting older, and I’m apparently destined to be an old maid. I need someone to have a baby I can enjoy.
Harlow looks at me and changes the subject. “You ready to move out tomorrow?”
My shoulders sag, and I sigh. “Honestly? No. I love this apartment. It sucks that I can’t afford it anymore.”
“And what about your new roommate?” Ella asks warily.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, I would love nothing more than to never live with Ari Morgan. This just isn’t my year. My ex cheated on me. My landlord is raising the rent. I have to move in with a man I can’t stand.” I lay back on the floor and let out a breath. “What a fucking year.”
“Year’s almost over,” Rory chimes.
“Just a few weeks until New Year’s,” Liv adds. “When does Ari come back from Seoul?”
“A little bit before Christmas is what he told me. I still have at least a week of peace.”
Harlow takes a sip of her wine. “How do you think you’re going to get along?”
I let out a derisive laugh. “I don’t think we’re going to get along at all. My plan is to spend as little time with him as possible.”
Ella eyes me curiously. “You know, you never did tell us how you ended up deciding to move in with Ari. You were always adamant that you weren’t going to, and then out of the blue, you tell us you’re moving in with him. It doesn’t really make sense.”
I take a large gulp of my wine. “I was trying to save face.”
“To whom?” Rory asks.
“Matt,” I sigh. “Ran into him at Urban Grind and accidentally slipped that I was looking for an apartment. Matt, in all his chivalry, offered to have me live with him, never mind that he was still dating the woman he had cheated on me with. So, rather than admit I had no idea what I was going to do, I told him I was going to move in with Ari.”
“Why did you want to save face with him?” Lo questions. “He’s a dick, so I can’t imagine you cared much about his opinion.”
“I didn’t,” I reply quickly.
Liv gives me a soft smile. “It hurt to see him, didn’t it?”
Yes.
“Of course not,” I state with as much conviction as I can muster. “I barely even think about him anymore.”
Another lie.
But I keep those thoughts to myself.
I’m the strong one. The confident bitch who doesn’t let anyone walk all over her. I can’t let someone bring me down, especially when that someone is a man.
I want to maintain my appearance of nonchalance. I want to seem like I’m not broken by what Matt did.
But I am.
I loved him, and he betrayed me in such a hurtful way.
That wound runs deep.
Nobody needs to know that, though.
I’m Lucia Torres, the independent woman who doesn’t need a man to be happy.
Never fazed, never hurt, never fractured.
All the bandages holding me together just happen to blend in enough that nobody can tell they’re even there.
I grab my favorite leggings, throw on an old T-shirt, and pull my hair up into a high pony before walking back into my living room, surveying the chaos surrounding me.
Boxes stacked everywhere.
Furniture that I have yet to figure out where I’m going to store.
Miscellaneous items on the kitchen counters I still need to shove into a box so I can take them with me.
It’s eight in the morning, and I can already tell this is going to be a long ass day. The guys are coming over at nine to help me move everything to Ari’s apartment in NoHo. In the meantime, I’ll just work on the last few things I need to get packed up.
A loud knock sounds at the door, though, leaving me wondering who the hell is here. The guys aren’t supposed to be here for another hour.
I stalk over to the door and swing it open, surprised to find a group of men on the other side.
“Uh, can I help you?” I ask, hackles rising because there are literally unknown men standing at my door.
“Just here to help you move, ma’am,” the one in front says with a southern drawl.
I don’t move from in front of the door. “I didn’t hire a moving company.”
He seems confused and looks at the paperwork in his hand. “Are you…” he trails off, flipping through the pages. “Lucia Torres?”
“Yes, that’s me. But I didn’t hire you.”
“Someone did,” he replies with a light laugh. “We’re booked to move you to NoHo today.”
“I can’t afford that right now,” I say softly. I make decent money, but movers in NYC are expensive, so I know I don’t have this in my budget at the moment.
“Already paid, ma’am,” he shrugs before showing me the paperwork he’s holding. “If you want our help, you’ve got us for today. You don’t need to do a thing.”
I stand there for a moment, stunned, but eventually get my bearings. When I do, I slowly move out of the way, opening the door wider and gesturing for the men to come inside. “Um, yeah. That would be great. Thank you.”
The men nod at me as they all file inside, and I immediately pull my phone out.
Lucia
Which one of you hired movers for me?
Cole
I thought we were moving you?
Lane
Same, but I’m also totally okay with not breaking my back today
Olive
You’re such an old man
Lane
I am NOT old
Knox
You’re literally the oldest one of us
Harlow
And your girlfriend is the youngest
Josh
We’re meeting you at nine, right, Luc?
Rory
Always fun when Josh comes in clueless
Josh
What did I miss?
Ella
Read the messages, Joshy
Someone hired movers for her
Josh
Who?
Lucia
I have no fucking clue, and apparently, none of you do either
But I didn’t ask anyone to do this
Ari
Most people would just say thank you
Lucia
You?
Cole
Aww, look at Ari being nice
I roll my eyes and exit the group chat, which is no doubt going to blow up after that, and text my new roommate off to the side.
Lucia
Why did you hire a moving company, Ari?
Ari
Because you’re moving?
Lucia
No shit
But the guys were going to help me
I didn’t need movers
Ari
You’ve got some interesting ways of saying, “Thank you for the help, Ari. I was wrong about you.”
Lucia
You’re so annoying
Ari
I aim to please, Spitfire
I rest my phone on the counter and groan, throwing my head back.
Ari Morgan has always irritated me. He’s not supposed to do nice things. He’s supposed to be an asshole.
I know he doesn’t like me; he’s made that abundantly clear. So he did this for a woman he doesn’t even like.
He paid God knows how much for movers, and according to the paperwork, only some of this is going to NoHo. The rest, like the furniture I won’t need right now, is going to a storage facility here in Chelsea.
He did all of this just to help me.
And now I’m wondering if maybe I judged Ari a little too quickly…