Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
While Maddy was trying to stutter out a response to Eva’s words, she became aware of her body in a new and terrifying way. Specifically, she became aware of a single bead of sweat sliding slowly down her spine.
It started somewhere between her shoulder blades and made a deliberate journey downward, as though it had all the time in the world. As though it wasn’t currently exposing Maddy to herself.
She sat very still. If she didn’t move, it might not count. If she didn’t acknowledge it, it might not mean anything.
The problem was, it meant everything.
Because Maddy did not sweat like this. Not in a perfectly climate-controlled spa restaurant. This wasn’t heat. This was something else.
This was panic.
Something that had started the moment Eva had looked at her and said, plainly and with a level of eye contact that would bring anyone to madness, I think you’re incredibly hot.
Maddy stared fixedly at the table. At her leftover rice noodles. At the careful arrangement of cutlery. At literally anything that was not Eva.
You are getting married to the love of your life. This is nothing.
Except it didn’t feel like nothing.
‘I—I…’ Maddy tried, aware that several seconds had passed and she was still verbally malfunctioning.
Eva was still looking at her. That was the problem. If Eva had laughed, if she’d reduced it into a joke, Maddy could have recovered. Pretended it was just part of the game.
But she hadn’t. So Maddy needed to speak. Now.
‘Thank you,’ Maddy said finally, ‘but I’m not into muff.’
Oh god. Where did that come from? Abort, abort!
‘Muff?’ Hannah said, her lips practically aquiver with horror.
‘Muff,’ Eva said quietly, with disappointment.
‘Muff?’ repeated her mother. That added fresh horror to it.
‘To Muff!’ giggled Mary, raising her drink in the air. ‘And all who sail in her!’
‘I’m starting to feel left out,’ Aria muttered. ‘MUFF!’ she declared loudly.
‘Jesus, can everyone stop saying that?’ Maddy begged.
Mary drained her drink. ‘You started it,’ she said and burped. There was laughter around the table, but it all felt strangely distant.
The bead of sweat reached the small of Maddy’s back and settled there.
This was ridiculous. It was a game. A stupid hen-night game. Eva had been prompted. It didn’t mean anything.
Except… Maddy had seen the moment before Eva spoke. The decision. That hadn’t been for the table. That had been for her. It had been real.
And then Maddy felt…
Maddy reached for the stack of cards with sudden, desperate purpose. ‘Right,’ she said, too brightly. ‘My turn.’
Hannah lit up. ‘Yes! That’s the spirit.’
Maddy didn’t hesitate. She pulled a card and flipped it over, already bracing herself. Her eyes scanned the words. Then stopped. Then, reluctantly, read them again.
‘What’s it say?’ Hannah demanded.
“Steal something from the person to your right without them realising. You have one minute,” Maddy read aloud.
Mary made a sound of pure delight. ‘Ooh.’
Maddy turned her head, slowly, to look at Eva. Eva raised an eyebrow, entirely unbothered. ‘Well,’ she said, taking a calm sip of her drink.
‘You have one minute,’ Hannah sing-songed.
This was fine. Maddy could do this. She would just take something small.
Eva set her glass down, watching Maddy with quiet amusement. ‘Go on,’ she said softly. ‘I’m intrigued.’
Maddy’s stomach flipped. She leaned cautiously into Eva’s space. Close enough to notice details she absolutely did not need to notice. Her fresh scent. The way a loose strand of dark hair curved near her neck.
Maddy reached for the safest option. Eva’s napkin. She lifted the napkin, holding it up like proof of innocence. ‘There. Done.’
‘That’s it?’ Mary said, deeply disappointed. ‘You had a full minute!’
‘It’s a perfectly valid theft,’ Maddy said defensively.
Eva tilted her head. ‘Except that I did realise you were doing it.’
Maddy narrowed her eyes slightly. ‘Are you saying it doesn’t count?’
‘That’s your call,’ Eva said, arching an eyebrow.
The bead of sweat was back. Or maybe it had never left.
Maddy hesitated. Then, some mad instinct took over. And Maddy, for once in her life, didn’t fight it. ‘Actually,’ she said, lowering the napkin slightly, as if reconsidering. ‘You’re right. This is a bit uninspired.’
Maddy leaned in again, closer this time. Close enough that it could still be explained away as part of the game.
‘Hold this,’ Maddy said, and without waiting for permission, she pressed the stolen napkin lightly into Eva’s hand.
Eva blinked, caught off guard for the first time. It was all Maddy needed. Because while Eva’s attention flicked down—just for a second—Maddy’s other hand moved.
Her fingers slipped just inside the edge of Eva’s jeans pocket. She felt it. A small, smooth shape. Maddy withdrew her hand just as neatly, curling her fingers around the prize as she leaned back into her own space, pulse thundering in her ears.
Eva’s gaze snapped back from the napkin to her pocket and then up at Maddy.
Maddy held it for a beat. Then she opened her palm. A lipstick.
There was a collective gasp around the table. ‘Oh my god,’ Hannah breathed.
Mary looked delighted. ‘That’s a proper crime, that is.’
Maddy barely heard them. She was watching Eva.
Eva glanced at the lipstick, then back at Maddy. She looked delighted.
‘Impressive,’ Eva said quietly.
And a second bead of sweat was trickling down the nape of Maddy’s neck.