Page 13 of It Must Be Fate

“A fewyears, love?”

“Can I speak with my fiancé now, please?” I finally cut in and ask.

Rhys makes a disgusted noise. “No need to show off, Nera. You can have him.”

Six, Thayer and I turn at the sound of a door opening and then Bellamy walks back into the room.

“Alright, I finally managed to calm him down.”

“I take it you’re never doing another prank again?” Thayer asks.

“I’ll get back to you on that tomorrow. Depends how the makeup sex is,” she finishes with a wink.

“Ewwww,” Rhys calls through FaceTime. “Never conjure that image of Rogue thrusting in my mind ever again, Bellamy.”

“That’s my girl,” Thayer says proudly, ignoring her boyfriend.

“Oops, sorry Rhys. Didn’t know you were on the phone. I’m ready to get back to girl’s night if you guys are.”

“We are!” Six says, before turning back towards my phone. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Nix.”

“Talk to you tomorrow, wild girl. Love you to the stars and back.”

“Love you to the moon and back.” Once he’s gone, she smacks a kiss on my cheek. “Sorry for taking over your FaceTime, Nerita.”

Six joins Thayer and Bellamy in the kitchen as they pour the next round of drinks.

“I have to go as well, Tristan.”

“What were you going to say before?” he asks. “What’s today?”

I look at the time in the top left corner of the screen.

“As of twenty-one minutes ago, it’s exactly eleven months until our wedding day.”

Tristan’s eyes gleam heatedly, his gaze burning an intense path across my face. “I’m counting down the days, baby.”

“Me too.”

“Okay,” he says with a sigh. “I guess I’ll let you get back to it. Have fun and remember – keep track of your laughs for me.”

“Have fun with the boys. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be waiting with breakfast. Love you so much.”

“Love you too.”

I hang up and put my phone away just as the girls come back to join me around the coffee table. They sit and Six hands me a fresh glass of champagne.

“Alright, we let ourselves get a little distracted by the boys,” Bellamy starts.

“My fault,” Thayer cuts in.

“But we’re back on track for girl’s night now. So I wanted to propose a toast of sorts,” she says, holding up her glass. “It’s going to be half toast, half speech, so bear with me.”

We raise our glasses to match hers.

“A year ago, I was living in Chicago. I could count on one hand how many flights I’d been on and I’d never been out of the country. My life was a routine. Safe and comfortable. One that I probably would have been very content with, never knowing what else was out there. So I want to thank you, the three of you, for showing me exactly what I was going to miss out on. For opening my eyes to the world. For always having my back and supporting me. For thebestyear of my life so far.” She smiles at Six and I. “I met Rogue, but I also met you two and that’s meant just as much to me.”

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