Page 116 of It Must Be Fate

Thayer appears beside me with a sly smirk on her face. “Not the first time someone’s done that to you today, is it, Nerita?”

I roll my eyes at her and don’t fight the smile that pulls at my lips.

“Keep your hands off my wife’s ass, Thayer,” Tristan drawls, appearing on my other side and handing me a champagne flute. He presses a kiss to my temple and walks off to catch up with the guys.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you toshare, Tristan?” Thayer calls after him. “How about you get one cheek and I get the other? No?”

We both laugh when he pretends to plug his ears with his fingers, not even bothering to look over his shoulder and back at her.

“They’re so fun to mess with.”

“Who is?” Sixtine asks, appearing next to me. “Hi,” she says, kissing both of our cheeks.

“Our husbands,” Thayer answers.

“Oof. A word of advice — don’t mess with Phoenix tonight, he’s not in the mood,” Six replies.

“How come?”

“Wait, don’t gossip without me!” We turn to find Bellamy holding the hem of her black gown and racing towards us as best she can in her high heels. “Hi, so glad you guys could make it,” she says, flushed from the effort. “What are we talking about?”

“Apparently Phoenix is to be given a wide berth tonight,” Thayer explains. “Six was about to tell us why.”

“Astra came home from school with a Valentine’s Day card from a boy.” Six sighs. “Phoenix didn’t take it well. He’s been calling other schools all afternoon to try and get her enrolled in a new one by tomorrow.”

I hid my laugh behind my flute and catch Thayer doing the same.

“I’m surprised he was unsuccessful,” Bellamy comments.

“It’sSaturday. He was pulling people away from their brunch plans or their children’s activities, so they weren’t exactly in the mood to do what he wanted. And since he was threatening them over the phone and not in person, it was easy for them to just hang up on him and face the consequences later. You can imagine how much that thrilled him.”

“So where did you leave it?”

“I won in the end. I finally got him to agree to let her stay at her school,” Six answers proudly. “Oh, and to only threaten people Monday through Friday, and not on weekends. It’s common decency.”

I lift a brow at her. “And what did that cost you?”

Six blushes the color of her red dress.

“Not another “horseback ride”, I beg you,” Thayer says, horrified.

“No!” she replies, swatting at her. “He wanted… Do y— Do you know what free use is?”

This time, the three of us don’t bother hiding our laughter.

“Sounds likehewon,” Bellamy says with a grin.

Six nods. “He did. I’ll be honest, I might not even make it a full day. He’s… Well, it’s only been seven hours and alreadyfive times. If he continues at this pace, you’re going to have to cart whatever’s left of my body around in a wheelchair by the time next Saturday rolls around.J’en peux plus.”

Bellamy looks over her shoulder at where our husbands are standing together on the other side of the room. Phoenixis speaking, hands buried in his pockets, looking as bored and unmoved as he usually does.

“Do you think he’s introducing them to the concept of free use as we speak?” she questions thoughtfully.

“If he is, no need for him to talk to Tristan about it. He’s alreadyveryfamiliar with the subject,” I note, taking a demure sip of champagne.

Six rounds on me. “You’ve been holding out on us!”

“It was his anniversary present last year. Remember that week we went away to Florence just the two of us? I’d planned an entire itinerary full of museums, wineries, restaurants, you know, the best the city has to offer,” I tell them. “We didn’t leave the room once for those five days.”

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