Page 10 of It Must Be Fate

“We’re here!” Thayer adds helpfully.

More silence.

“I assume I have you to thank for this?”

“Oh, um,” Thayer splutters, unprepared for the question. “Well, it was a group idea really…”

“Coward,” Nera mouths at her in response.

“I’ll get you back for this, mark my words,” Rogue growls through the phone. “When you’re least expecting it is when I’ll strike.”

“Sounds like you’re announcing the start of a prank war,” Thayer quips.

Bellamy gets to her feet, taking the phone with her as she heads to her room.

“Babe, how could you think I would do that to you?”

I hear his quiet, ruminating answer as she walks away.

“I thought you were getting me back for the shit I pulled with Lyra,” he confesses. “It’s not like I wouldn’t deserve it.”

“So you thought I’d actually cheat on you?” she asks, disbelief coloring her words.

More silence follows.

“I wouldn’t have let you leave me if you had,” he finally answers.

“I told you, never…”

Rogue is still new to the concept of people loving him and actually sticking around. He’s got some abandonment issues he’s working through so I see how this prank could have triggered them.

“I’ll get you all the flowers you want,” he vows. “You won’t ever need to get them from anyone else.”

“I don’t need any more flowers. I’m already yours forever.”

“You’re the only person I truly love, sweetheart,” I hear him answer as her door closes. “I can’t afford to lose you.”

“Rude,” Thayer mouths in the background. “I thought the psycho and I were friends. You think you know someone.”

“She brings out the softest side to him, it’s adorable to see,” Nera says, pulling my attention away from Bellamy’s bedroom and back to the living room where the three of us are still seated.

Thayer is now head bent and giggling as she types away on her phone.

“Why are you laughing?”

She looks up at me with a smile still on her lips.

“Rhys is giving me a play by play of Rogue’s reaction. I’m laughing because he said he’s proud of me for coming up with the prank and that it was hilarious, but also that he wouldn’t be as forgiving as Rogue if I ever pulled that shit on him.”

“Understandable,” I answer. “Of our four guys, he’s the only one who had to watch you date someone else.”

She shudders, her hand tightening around her phone.

“Don’t remind me.”

Before I can say anything else, two ringtones erupt in the silence. I look down and see Phoenix’s name flashing on my screen. Nera holds her phone up and shows me that Tristan is FaceTiming her as well.

With a grin, I swipe to accept the call. My husband’s face comes on the screen and his black eyes soften when they find mine.

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