Chapter 19 #2
“I don’t care. I’ll be taking photos. It’s fine.
” She presses her lips together. “Go take your call for work, and I’ll see you down in the restaurant for breakfast.” There’s a coolness that permeates the air, the shift causing a chasm between us that I know can’t close in the time we have available to us right now.
Staring at her face makes me think of days when we’d argued, and she’d said she was fine, but gave me the silent treatment.
There was something about the silent treatment that felt worse than being shouted at or cursed out.
The silent treatment’s like an ache that couldn’t be soothed.
“Okay.” I nod and then walk out of the hotel room. I don’t want to just leave, but I know for both our sakes, I need to.
My footsteps feel leaden as I head to the elevator. There is a somberness that I feel in the air, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Mia and I are not connecting how we normally do—how our friendship normally is.
We are always light and funny and laughing, and now it’s complex and complicated.
I step into the elevator, and I’m grateful that it’s empty.
I really don’t want to run into anyone from the wedding party, especially not Rex or Talia.
When the elevator dings and alerts me that I’m in the lobby, I step out and decide to walk outside the hotel to take my phone call.
I call the office and wait for my assistant to update me as I lean back against a large white column. Several couples are waiting near the entrance in matching outfits. One of the women notices that I’m looking, and grins.
“We made the guys wear matching shirts. They didn’t know it was going to happen.”
“That’s cool. You look like you all could be related,” I say.
“We’re just best friends who came to Coconut Beach to relax. It’s amazing; I feel like I want to move here.”
“We can’t afford to move to the island,” the man behind her says. I’m pretty confident that’s her husband or boyfriend. “But it’s just so gorgeous. Imagine being able to watch the beach every day and go to food trucks for delicious food.”
“And then that cool mobile bookstore. I would absolutely die if we had that back home,” she adds.
“My girlfriend owns the bookstore, actually,” I tell them. I’m still on hold, so I don’t mind carrying on the conversation.
“Oh, really? That is so cool. Your girlfriend must be amazing.”
“She really is,” I say.
Then it suddenly hits me: I called Mia my girlfriend, not my best friend, and it didn’t feel weird or unusual. There is a part of me that likes her having that moniker. There is a part of me that wishes that this weren’t a pretense.
“She specializes in romance books, so if you like romance, definitely head down to see her and her best friend, Juniper. They can recommend books if you tell them what you like, but I know they also have quite an extensive collection of thrillers and psychological thrillers and murder mysteries, even some sci-fi and horror.”
“Oh, I like sci-fi,” the man behind her says. “Maybe I will go back with you later.”
“Oh, yay. Thank you, Dylan.” She turns around and kisses him, and then looks back at me. “Thank you for convincing my husband to take me to the bookstore. I was begging him to come with me last night, and he was like, ‘I don’t want to go to the bookstore.’”
“Well, you were just going on about all the romance stuff,” he says. “I don’t care about romance books.”
“What do you say when your girlfriend talks to you about romance books? Do you say you’re not interested?”
“I can honestly say that when Mia mentions romance books to me, I listen with half my brain, and the other half of my brain thinks about work.
“But she can’t stop loving love, right?”
“No, she can’t.” I nod.
“Well, I think we’re going to head out to the beach now, but it was really nice meeting you.”
“Nice meeting you too. You have a good day.”
My phone has disconnected, and I want to curse because I waited so long. I’m about to call the office back again when I see Rex walking into the lobby. I quickly step back out of the line of sight so he doesn’t see me. I really don’t want to have a conversation with him.
A couple of minutes later, Mia steps out of the elevator with her camera. She spies Rex and heads over to him. I frown as I watch them. What is this about?
“So, Mia, Mia, Mia, you are looking absolutely stunning this fine morning,” Rex says to her loudly as he looks her up and down. He lets out a low whistle, and I watch as she blushes. “When we were teenagers, I didn’t really notice you.”
“What do you want, Rex?” Mia asks, holding the body of her camera in her hands. She looks uncomfortable, but she also looks like she’s still willing to give him the time of day, which annoys me.
“I just wanted to say that I regret not giving you a chance. If I had known—”
“I know. You’ve already mentioned this,” she says.
“Well, I want to mention it again.” He reaches out and touches the side of her face. “You’re beautiful, Mia.”
“Thank you,” she says, and she blushes again.
I squeeze my phone in my palm, trying to control the anger building inside of me about this exchange between them.
“I want to tell you something that I don’t think you know,” Rex says.
Mia tilts her head to the side and looks at him with a curious expression and wide eyes.
“What’s that?”
“I want you to know that Luke will never marry you.”
Her jaw drops, and so does mine. What on earth is he talking about?
“Sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” she says, frowning.
“Have you ever heard that saying, Why buy the cow when the milk is free?’” He grins. “I’m just trying to be honest with you, Mia. He’s fucking you because you’ve grown into an exquisite woman and you look like you have a body to die for, but he’s never going to marry you.”
“I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”
“I am saying, no one in my family knew he was dating you, period, okay? And if he was serious about you, he would’ve told us. Also, I know you’re not really into him.”
“What are you talking about?” She takes a step away from him.
“I’m just saying, I know he’s the consolation prize.”
“What?”
“You wanted me. You couldn’t get me, so you got the second-best Haverbrook brother.” He shrugs. “Look, you know you would’ve done anything to be with me. Well, now’s your chance. Don’t you want a chance with the best Haverbrook brother?”
“I think you’re fucking rude as hell, Rex,” Mia says.
I smile at her response to him. I know I should step forward and let them know that I’ve witnessed the conversation, but for some reason, I want to see how Mia handles it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rex says.
“You think I give a shit about you? You think that you’re going to send me some wedding invite with a note and be like, Mia’s a loser, and she can’t get a date, and I’m just going to take it, lying down?”
“Look, Mia, our families are close. Of course, you were going to get an invitation. Everyone got the same note.”
“Everyone did not get the same note,” she says. “Juniper didn’t get the note. Wendy didn’t get the note. Louisa didn’t get the note. Josie didn’t get the note. Gigi didn’t get the note.”
“To be quite honest with you, you’re listing a bunch of names, and I don’t know half of these people, and I don’t care about them. I don’t even know what was written on the invitation.”
“You’re telling me you don’t know what was written on the invitation?” She glares at him. “You’re such a pig to think that I ever thought you were cute.”
“You thought I was cute. You thought I was sexy. You wanted me to be your first. Remember?”
“Thank God that never happened,” she says, shaking her head.
Rex steps forward and grabs her by the hand. “We can still make something happen.”
“You’re getting married, Rex!” She’s practically screaming at him. “You’re such a jerk.”
“Maybe I want to sample some other pieces of meat before I finally decide which cut I want.”
It’s then that I have to step forward.
“Excuse me, what’s going on here?” I ask.
Both Rex and Mia turn to me with shock in their eyes.
She runs over to me, jumps up into my arms, grabs my face, and kisses me hard and passionately.
Her tongue slides into my mouth, and I run my fingers through her hair.
She’s breathing heavily, and I can’t stop myself from kissing her back passionately.
Our tongues twist together, and her fingers run down my shoulders.
She presses herself against me, and I wrap my arms around her waist and squeeze her ass.
She’s wearing a pair of shorts, and I slide my fingers up her inner thigh. She giggles slightly as she steps back.
“There you are, my knight in shining armor yet again,” she says.
I kiss her on the lips and turn to Rex, giving him the most disdainful glance I can muster. “Don’t you ever hit on my girlfriend again. Do you hear me?”
Rex stares at me in shock, saying nothing.
“She’s mine.”
Rex turns and walks away.
Mia looks up at me and takes a deep breath. “I can’t believe I ever thought he was cute. Why was I such a fucking fool? He’s horrible. I’m sorry. He’s really, really horrible.”
“I know. I really do. Did you kiss me because he was there and you wanted to prove to him that we were together, or—”